The relationship among distributive and procedural justice and correctional life satisfaction, burnout, and turnover intent: An exploratory study

Distributive and procedural justice, two dimensions of organizational justice, have been found to be salient antecedents of many correctional staff attitudes, such as job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment; however, little correctional research has examined their relationships with the life satisfaction, burnout, and turnover intent. Multivariate regression equations were estimated to determine the association of personal characteristics, distributive justice, and procedural justice with the life satisfaction, burnout, and turnover intent of correctional employees based on a survey of 160 staff at a private midwestern maximum security institution. Both distributive and procedural justice had a statistically significant inverse association with burnout and turnover intent, while procedural justice had a significant positive relationship with life satisfaction. Additionally, the results indicated that the association of procedural justice was larger than the association for distributive justice. Similar results were obtained using only responses from correctional officers.     

The Issue of Control in Jail: The Effects of Professionalism,Detainee Control,and Administrative Support on Job Stress,Job Satisfaction,and Organizational Commitment among Jail Staff

Jails are important, yet understudied, components of the American criminal justice system. While most research on correctional personnel has focused on prisons, a growing body of work is beginning to emerge on jails. This is encouraging given the unique circumstances that occur within jail environments (e.g., diversity and mobility of offenders, health issues among detainees, overcrowding, lack of training among staff, etc.). Given these conditions, the staff members who run jails become the glue that holds them together. The following study contributes to this burgeoning area of empirical inquiry by examining a variety of antecedents of job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment among jail personnel. Using survey data collected from a large county correctional system in Orlando, Florida, the findings indicate that staff perceptions of professionalism, detainee control, and administrative support all significantly impact degrees of job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment.     

Exploring turnover intent correlated to jail and prison officials: A Taiwanese perspective

Although a review of literature related to turnover intent in the correctional workplace has focused primarily on prison officers, jailers have frequently been overlooked. Specifically, a comparison between jail and prison officers’ perceptions in Taiwan is limited. In order to fill the gap, our study was based on three objectives: (1) surveying Taiwanese correctional officers who experienced the “get-tough-on-crime” policy during the early 2000s, (2) testing for differences in turnover intent between jail and prison officers, and (3) examining personal and workplace environmental factors in order to determine whether distinct turnover intent exists among prison and jail officers. A self-report survey administered to 799 Taiwanese correctional officers (with an adjusted response rate of 89%) demonstrated that jail and prison officers had moderately high levels of turnover intent with no significant difference. When turnover intent correlates were further examined, job dangerousness, organizational harmony, and commitment were significant predictors for both prison and jail officers, thus suggesting that environmental factors have the most robust impact. In terms of personal characteristics, tenure and position were significantly related to prison officers’ turnover intent. Conversely, age represented the significant factor among jail respondents.     

The impact of distributive and procedural justice on correctional staff job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment

Correctional staff are the heart and soul of any correctional facility. While there was a significant body of research on the impact of the work environment on correctional staff, this study sought to expand that knowledge by examining the effects of distributive and procedural justice on correctional staff job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Multivariate models were estimated. Both forms of organizational justice had negative effects on job stress and organizational commitment; however, only procedural justice, but not distributive justice, had a significant impact on job satisfaction.     

The Impact of the Work Environment on Prison Staff: The Issue of Consideration, Structure, Job Variety, and Training

Correctional staff are instrumental in ensuring the success of any correctional institution; therefore, investigating how the work environment impacts correctional workers is essential. To determine the effects of supervisory consideration, supervisory structure, job variety, and perceptions of training on correctional staff job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment, data from a survey of staff at a Midwestern private correctional facility were examined. The Ordinary Least Squares regression results indicate that each of the work environment factors had a significant impact on one or more of the three outcomes. Specifically, supervisory consideration and perceptions of training decreased job stress. Supervisory consideration, job variety, and perceptions of training had positive effects on job satisfaction. Finally, supervisory consideration, supervisory structure, job variety, and perceptions of training had positive relationships with organizational commitment.     

The impact of individual,organizational, and environmental attributes on voluntary turnover among juvenile correctional staff members

In this study we assessed the impact of individual employee characteristics, organizational attributes, and quality of the correctional environment on the turnover intentions of juvenile correctional staff members. Both individual characteristics and organizational attributes were significant predictors of turnover intentions. The individual characteristics were age, race, and education; the organizational variables were job satisfaction, stress, and staff support and communication. In general, the organizational attributes were stronger predictors of turnover. Only one variable pertaining to the quality of correctional environment, facility's amount of care toward juveniles, was significantly related to turnover. In contrast to findings of previous research, dangerousness, gender, and tenure were not related to staff turnover. We discuss the implications of these results for correctional staffing.     

The missing link between job satisfaction and correctional staff behavior: The issue of organizational commitment

Over the past twenty years, several empirical studies have examined the consequences of job satisfaction among correctional staff. When looking at worker behavior in other disciplines, though, it is commonplace to include both job satisfaction and organizational commitment. However, very few studies about correctional staff behavior include both concepts. This paper discusses job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and addresses the link between these concepts as it relates to correctional staff attitudes and behaviors. Further, a discussion of measurement issues and recommendations for future research is presented. This is a revision of papers presented at the 1998 American Society of Criminology annual meeting in Washington, D.C. The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions.     

Predicting work-related stress in correctional officers: A meta-analysis

The present review examined the predictors of job stress in correctional officers and marked the first meta-analysis of this topic area. Twenty studies were selected for inclusion, producing 191 individual effect size estimates. Overall, the findings revealed that work attitudes (i.e., participation in decision-making, job satisfaction, commitment, and turnover intention) and specific correctional officer problems (i.e., perceived dangerousness and role difficulties) generated the strongest predictive relationships with job stress. Furthermore, both favorable (i.e., human service/rehabilitation orientation and counseling) and unfavorable (i.e., punitiveness, custody orientation, social distance, and corruption) correctional officer attitudes yielded moderate relationships with job stress, with the country of study emerging as a critical moderating variable. The weakest correlates of job stress were demographic variables and job characteristics (e.g., security level). The implications of these findings are discussed and directions for future research are provided.     

The impact of organizational justice on correctional staff

Fairness and justice are fundamental concepts in society, including in the workplace where they are referred to as organizational justice. Distributive and procedural justice are two dimensions of organizational justice. It is theorized that organizational justice impacts the job satisfaction and organizational commitment of correctional staff. Pearson's correlation coefficients were calculated, factor analysis was performed, and ordinary least squares (OLS) regression equations were computed from the results of a survey of staff at a midwestern correctional facility. It was found that distributive and procedural justice are distinct concepts among correctional staff, and both have significant positive effects on job satisfaction. Additionally, procedural justice, but not distributive justice, has a significant positive impact on organizational commitment.     

Job Stress and Job Satisfaction Among Jail Staff: Exploring Gendered Effects

Despite increased representation in correctional work settings, women still encounter obstacles in this male-dominated occupation—obstacles that have the potential to affect their levels of job stress and job satisfaction. Although gender-based differences in job stress and job satisfaction have been analyzed in several prison settings, much less work has been conducted in the often neglected correctional arena of jails. The current study fills this empirical void by examining jail staff at a large county correctional system in Orlando, Florida. Ordinary least squares regression analysis indicated that different facets of the work environment differentially affected the job stress and job satisfaction of 419 women and 493 men working in a large urban jail system. Specifically, role ambiguity, perceived dangerousness, coworker relations, input into decision making, and administrative support had larger effects on job stress for women compared to men. For job satisfaction, the only workplace variable to have a gendered effect was administrative support, which also had a greater effect for women than men. The findings reveal gender-related differences, especially in terms of job stress.     

An Exploratory Examination of a Gendered Model of the Effects of Role Stressors

A gendered model of the effects of role stressors on job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment was tested. Ordinary least squares regression analysis of survey data from correctional staff provided partial support for the proposition that men and women perceive and respond to the work environment differently. Work–family conflict was found to influence levels of job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment among women but not among men. Conversely, role ambiguity, role overload, and perceived dangerousness influenced levels of job stress for men but not women. Furthermore, levels of role conflict and role ambiguity influenced levels of job satisfaction for men but not for women. These findings lend support to further development of gendered theoretical models.     

Exploring the effects of work environment variables on the job satisfaction of Nigerian correctional staff

Correctional staff job satisfaction is critical for the staff’s well-being and low turnover. This study’s focus was identifying variables that predicted job satisfaction for Nigerian correctional staff and comparing the findings to past studies of US correctional staff job satisfaction. One hundred and twenty correctional staff from Nigeria were surveyed. The personal characteristics of age, gender, and tenure were not significant predictors of satisfaction in the multivariate analysis. Similar to finding for US correctional staff, job autonomy, quality of supervision, and instrumental communication all had significant positive effects on Nigerian correctional staff job satisfaction. Contrary to previous findings on US prison staff, neither job variety or role overload were significant predictors of Nigerian staff job satisfaction. Other factors may account for this discrepancy, including working conditions, the socio-economic environment and availability of job opportunities.     

A meta-analysis of the correlates of turnover intent in criminal justice organizations: Does agency type matter?

Purpose

The study synthesizes the literature on turnover intentions to assess what domains (e.g., personal characteristics, work environment, and job attitudes) account for the strongest association with turnover intent, what are the characteristics of these relationships, and how do these relationships differ by criminal justice practitioner type.

Methods

The current study utilizes a systematic review to obtain studies for conducting a meta-analysis. The researchers utilized the r family/correlation coefficient. Studies were weighted by sample size, correlations converted to Fisher’s z, analyses performed, and results converted back to r for interpretation.

Results

In terms of the individual predictors for law enforcement, the five strongest variables included alternative job search behavior, job satisfaction, psychological distress, emotional exhaustion, procedural and distributive justice. The five strongest predictors of turnover intent for institutional corrections were normative commitment, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, affective commitment, and job satisfaction. The five strongest predictors for community corrections included experience, alternative job search behavior, perceptions of coworkers, growth need strength, and job satisfaction.

Conclusions

The results of the meta-analysis confirmed the domain of personal characteristics, overall, has the weakest association with turnover intent whereas work environment and job attitude domains consistently display moderate-to-large effects for both law enforcement and corrections.     

Occupational hazard: Predictors of stress among jail correctional officers

The plethora of literature on correctional officers and the work environment, more specifically occupational stress, has focused almost exclusively on officers working in prison facilities. The primary purpose of the current study was to examine the predictors of occupational stress and general stress among 373 jail correctional officers in one state in the Northeast, using the Stressors identified in the previous literature on prison correctional officers and occupational stress. The results indicated that organizational strengths, perceived danger, role problems, and job satisfaction were significant predictors of both occupational and general stress. In addition, gender and salary predicted occupational stress while correctional experience and training predicted general stress. Suggestions are made for administrators, as well as future research on the workplace experiences of correctional officers.     

Absent correctional staff: A discussion of the issue and recommendations for future research

Employee absenteeism is a costly and disruptive event. While researchers in the organizational sciences have studied worker absenteeism extensively, this topic has received little attention in the correctional field. This paper presents a framework for the study of correctional staff absenteeism which includes a discussion of issues pertaining to the definition, nature, extent, and measurement of absenteeism. Furthermore, future research should examine occupational stress, gender, age, health, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and the existence of an absenteeism climate or culture as potential causes of correctional staff absenteeism. Finally, there is a need to examine the effectiveness of absenteeism reduction programs.     

The Association of Occupational Stressors with Different Forms of Organizational Commitment Among Correctional Staff

Committed staff are arguably an absolute necessity for the success of correctional facilities. A growing body of literature has examined how different aspects of the work environment relate to organizational commitment; however, organizational commitment can be operationalized as continuance, moral, or affective. Work environment variables may impact the various forms of commitment differently. Using survey data from 272 staff who worked at a Midwestern maximum-security state prison, this study examined the association between the occupational stressors of perceived dangerousness of the job, role conflict, role ambiguity, repetitiveness, and work-on-family conflict with the three forms of organizational commitment. The effects of the occupational stressors varied for each form of organizational commitment. Specifically, work-on-family conflict had a significant positive association with continuance commitment. Role conflict and repetitiveness had negative associations with moral commitment. Finally, all five stressors had significant negative associations with affective commitment.     

Correlates of correctional officer job stress: The impact of organizational structure

Corrections can be a very stressful occupation, producing many negative outcomes for employees. These outcomes, both mental and physical, not only affect the employee, but the entire organization. A large body of literature has focused on identifying correlates of correctional staff job stress; yet, not all of the possible correlates have been studied. One area that has received little, if any, attention is the impact of the organizational structure on correctional job stress. Organizational structure includes issues of centralization, instrumental communication, integration, and organizational justice. The results of multivariate analysis indicate that instrumental communication and procedural justice have a direct effect on correctional staff job stress.     

Leave it at the gate: job stress and satisfaction in correctional staff

Though academic literature firmly establishes an inverse relationship between job stress and job satisfaction, global correctional studies fail to examine the extent of that affiliation on overall correctional job satisfaction. As such, this study uses a faceted approach to explore underlying relationships between organizational, job, and personal characteristics of correctional staff and causes of job stress and satisfaction. Using the Job Satisfaction Survey, nine aspects of job satisfaction are considered. The Work Stress Scale for Correctional Officers’ analyses of five areas of stress directly related to correctional environments. This study examines both uniform and nonuniform staff assigned to a minimum security prison. On average, staff scored well below the average American worker on the Job Satisfaction Survey. Job satisfaction was predicted exclusively by job characteristics or stressors, including the job itself, role conflict, and ambiguity, and the physical condition of the prison, while employee demographic variables and variables that measure healthy lifestyles (such as sleep and exercise) were not significant predictors. While job stress does predict a substantively significant portion of job satisfaction (21%), there is still room to improve prediction.     

Prison staff and work stress: The role of organizational and emotional influences

Previous research has well established the influence of demographics and work environment variables on the experience of job stress for correctional officers. However, the literature examining this phenomenon for other correctional staff is just beginning to emerge. Scant attention has also been previously devoted to the potential role of emotional issues, such as emotional dissonance, work environment variables of perceived organizational fairness, and feedback regarding job performance. The present research adds to this emerging literature through use of survey data from a sample of correctional staff employed in two prisons in Kentucky. Bivariate and multivariate analyses reveal that influences on perceived work stress are primarily organizational issues, including role conflict, emotional dissonance, and task control. Contrary to popular belief, the percent of one’s work time spent in contact with inmates reduces the experience of work stress.     

Side-bets and reciprocity as determinants of organizational commitment among correctional officers

Organizational commitment is a particularly salient characteristic of the prison work climate due to the stressful working conditions and high rate of turnover among correctional officers nationwide, yet little is known about the factors that predict the level of organizational commitment among officers. Becker's (1960) side-bets hypothesis predicts greater commitment among those who develop additional investments in the job that would be lost with a change of jobs, and the reciprocity hypothesis predicts greater commitment among those who feel they are well treated, supported, and respected by the organization. This study used a sample of 546 correctional officers to examine the relative effects of side bets and reciprocity on two components of organizational commitment—affective commitment and continuance commitment. The results of a multivariate OLS regression analysis indicated that reciprocity had a greater effect than side bets on affective commitment but that side bets had a greater effect than reciprocity on continuance commitment. These findings, which provide partial support for the side-bet hypothesis and strong support for the reciprocity hypothesis, are discussed in terms of the link between organizational commitment and other work-related behaviors.