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.     

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.     

Demographic and workplace characteristics which add to the prediction of stress and job satisfaction within the police workplace

Much research has been conducted into aspects of the police workplace that contribute to stress for individual officers. The current paper examines the influence of worksplace and job characteristics on both officers' stress and their job satisfaction. Police officers recruited from two divisions of an Australian state police service (n=749) were surveyed. Results show that there was a positive relationship between organizational support and job satisfaction and a negative relationship between organizational support and job stress. Difficulty in dealing with organizational change led to lower job satisfaction and higher levels of job stress. Working long hours led to increased job stress but it did not lead to lower job satisfaction. In contrast, shiftwork led to lowered job satisfaction but it did not lead to job stress. Of particular interest in this study was the finding that the job content factor of dealing with dangerous and unpredictable duties was not predictive of job stress but in fact led to higher job satisfaction. Authors' Note: Jeremy Davey, DipT, Bed, Med, is Deputy Director, Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety, School of Psychology and Counselling, Queensland University of Technology, Beams road, Carseldine, Qld 4034, Australia.     

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.     

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 work-family conflict on correctional staff job satisfaction: An exploratory study

Correctional staff job stress has grown dramatically as a result of the increase in inmate populations, legal interventions, and competing ideologies. A wealth of literature has been published on correctional staff job stress. This literature, however, has failed to address the impact of work-family conflict on correctional staff job satisfaction. A survey, administered to correctional staff at a midwestern prison, reveals that role ambiguity and work-on-family conflict have a significant negative effect on correctional staff job satisfaction, while family-on-work conflict does not. Implications are discussed.     

Work-Life Conflict and Organizational Support in a Military Law Enforcement Agency

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which work-life conflict and organizational support for work-life balance are related to job satisfaction and turnover intentions for military law enforcement personnel. More specifically, 1203 members of the United States Air Force Office of Special Investigations completed a survey that measured family-to-work conflict, work-to-family conflict, perceptions of work-life support from the organization, support from immediate supervisors, and support from peers. Work-to-family and family-to-work conflict were related to job satisfaction and turnover intentions. Perceived social support, especially at the organizational level, was negatively correlated with work-to-family and family-to-work conflict. Agents within the OSI were experiencing more work-to-family and family-to-work conflict than OSI support staff although the relationships among support, conflict and satisfaction were the same for the two groups.     

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.     

The Causes and Consequences of Job-Related Stress among Prosecutors

Despite a growing body of literature documenting work stress among employees in various fields, there is a dearth of research that explicitly assesses the impact of different aspects of prosecutors’ working conditions on individual prosecutors and their organizations. Drawing on a sample of prosecutors in a southern state in the U.S., we first used OLS regression to examine which work-related stressors are important in predicting their levels of work stress, job satisfaction, and turnover intention. Using path analysis, we then explored the links between these stressors and a set of proposed mediating and outcome variables. We also conducted unstructured in-depth interviews with a subset of the sample to supplement and further illustrate the observed patterns. While job demands and organizational support play the most important roles in explaining the work stress of prosecutors, they do not have direct impact on the prosecutor’s commitment to the job. The roles played by psychological and emotional stressors are found to be negligible. Job-related stressors do not lead to turnover intention directly but indirectly through work stress and job satisfaction with a notable exception of the public/media stressor. This study provides a scientifically-based perspective regarding which working conditions should be addressed to maintain healthy and productive working environments among prosecutors.     

Occupational stress,supervisor support,job satisfaction,and work-related burnout: perceptions of Turkish National Police (TNP) members

The present study examines whether, and to what degree, occupational stress in law enforcement is associated with job satisfaction, work-related burnout, and supervisor support. A total of 538 Turkish National Police (TNP) members form seven cities in Turkey completed the study survey. The results of the study indicate that the more TNP members experience their organization as stress inducing, the lower their job satisfaction levels, and the higher their burnout levels. Perceived operational stress was found to be significantly associated with their work-related burnout, but not with their job satisfaction. This study also suggests that there is an indirect causal effect of both organizational and operational stress on job satisfaction via supervisor support as mediator. Overall, the findings of this study illustrate a need for internal policy reform and managerial change in how the executives of TNP organize their agency and policies since organizational stressors are the most prevalent factors determining the work-related wellbeing of TNP members.     

Job Stress,Job Involvement,Job Satisfaction,and Organizational Commitment and Their Associations with Job Burnout Among Indian Police Officers: a Research Note

Job burnout can negatively impact individual officers, the organization that employs the burned out officers, citizens with whom these officers directly interact, and the community more broadly. The vast majority of the empirical research on burnout has been based on Western police officers. The present study extends our understanding of the associations that job stress, job involvement, job satisfaction, affective commitment, and continuance commitment have with the three dimensions of burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a reduced sense of accomplishment) among Indian police officers. Ordinary least square (OLS) regression analysis was used to examine survey data from 827 police officers in the Sonipat and Rohtak districts of the Indian state of Haryana using a systematic random sample. The findings indicate that job involvement and job satisfaction were associated with lower levels of all three dimensions of burnout. Job stress was associated with emotional and reduced accomplishment burnout. High affective commitment was associated with lower levels of a reduced sense of personal accomplishment, while continuance commitment was associated with higher levels of emotional and depersonalization burnout. The results suggest that job stress, job involvement, job satisfaction, affective commitment, and continuance commitment have effects on burnout among Indian officers, as has been found among Western officers. As such, police scholars and administrators should focus on reducing job stress and continuance commitment and increasing job involvement, job satisfaction, and affective commitment among officers.     

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.     

The Impact of Job Characteristics on Private Prison Staff: Why Management Should Care

The number of private prisons run by corporate security businesses has increased rapidly throughout the past two decades. There has been a parallel increase in literature, both pro and con, comparing the efficiency and effectiveness of private and public prisons; however, private prison staff has been largely ignored. OLS regression analysis of a survey of 160 employees at a Midwestern private prison facility showed that the job characteristics of job stress, supervision, and job variety were far more important than personal characteristics of race/ethnicity, gender, age, tenure, education and position in influencing staff job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Specifically, job stress had the largest impact on job satisfaction, while quality of supervision had the greatest impact on organizational commitment.     

Incarcerated Parents and Health: Investigating Role Inoccupancy Strains by Gender

This article elaborates research on parenthood, gender, and health by considering the context of incarceration using the stress process paradigm. The chronic strain of non-participation in a desired role, or “role inoccupancy,” in the form of non-resident parenthood on arrest is associated with psychological distress at time of lockup among women but not men, indicating a gendered strain. However, for both incarcerated men and women, anticipated resident parent role inoccupancy upon release (or expectations not to live with their minor children) is generically associated with current subjective mental health problems net of distress prior to lockup. Role inoccupancy strains are further associated with subjective physical health problems among women but not men, indicating more pervasive associations among the former.     

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.     

ROLE CONFLICT IN CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTIONS

The divergent and often incompatible goals of treatment and custody within correctional organizations frequently result in ambiguous role expectations and role conflict among prison personnel. Hypotheses that role conflict is significantly greater among staff in treatment institutions than among staff in custodv institutions. Is significantly greater among treatment staff than among custody staff, and is significantly related to both job satisfaction and punitive attitudes toward inmates are tested with questionnaire data obtained from 336 treatment and custody personnel within 6 adult correctional facilities. Although the bivariate analyses provide support for each of the hypotheses, subsequent analyses indicate that role conflict is more likely to be the product of the organizational goals of the institution than of the treatment or custody staff positions within those institutions. These findings are related to previous analyses of the treatment-custody dilemma within institutions, and the implications for future research are discussed.     

Organizational Justice and Job Satisfaction: A Test of Three Competing Models

Using nationally representative data, we test three theories about distributive and procedural justice and their relation to job satisfaction. Our results support the group-value model more than the personal outcomes model by showing that procedural justice is a more important predictor of job satisfaction than is distributive justice. Furthermore, although other research has supported the psychological contract model by showing that experiences with downsizing alter how procedural justice and distributive justice are related to organizational commitment, we find that downsizing does not alter their relationship with job satisfaction.     

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.     

Job demands, job resources, and burnout among police officers

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between job demands, job resources, and burnout, and to examine if burnout could predict both work and health-related outcomes among police officers. The participants were 223 Norwegian police officers, and data were collected using a questionnaire. The study was part of a national survey of both health care and non-health care professions. The overall level of burnout was low among police officers compared to other occupational groups tested in Norway. Both job demands and job resources were related to burnout, especially work-family pressure was an important predictor for all of the three burnout dimensions. Burnout predicted individual outcomes, such as psychosomatic complaints and satisfaction with life, as well as work outcomes, such as job satisfaction, intention to quit, and organizational commitment. Suggestions for potential interventions to reduce burnout and negative individual and organizational consequences are presented.     

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.