M. L. Griffin

Job involvement, job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment and the burnout of correctional staff

In an era in which rising costs, shrinking budgets, and personnel shortages are common, it is increasingly important to provide a positive work situation to ensure worker stability. Research indicates that job burnout is a negative response that is harmful to the employee and to the organization. Depersonalization, emotional exhaustion, and feeling a lack of accomplishment at work are all dimensions of job burnout. This study examined the association of job involvement, job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment with burnout among correctional staff. The findings highlight the significance of these variables in relation to burnout. Specifically, job satisfaction had an inverse relationship with emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a sense of reduced accomplishment at work, whereas job stress had a significant positive relationship with depersonalization and emotional exhaustion. Job involvement also had a positive association with emotional exhaustion, whereas commitment to the organization had no relationship with any of the three dimensions of burnout.

The Effect of Gang Affiliation on Violent Misconduct Among Inmates During the Early Years of Confinement

The pattern of inmate involvement in violent misconduct is established in the early years of imprisonment, yet few studies have looked at the predictors of violent misconduct during the first months or years of imprisonment, and none have studied the effects of gang affiliation during this time period. This study of 2, 158 male inmates who were confined for at least 3 years in a southwestern state prison system finds that gang affiliation has an effect on violent misconduct among inmates beyond the individual risk factors generally attributed to youth and prior criminal history. These findings suggest the need for additional research to clarify the linkage between gang affiliation and inmate violence, with implications for current efforts to supervise gang-affiliated inmates.

Job satisfaction among detention officers: Assessing the relative contribution of organizational climate variables

Abstract Based on a survey of all detention officers in Maricopa County, AZ, this study tests the hypothesis that measurements of climate have a direct effect on a detention officers level of general job satisfaction, and that these observed effects remain statistically significant when individual characteristics of the officer are controlled. Additional analyses test the hypothesis that male and female officers are influenced in a similar manner by organizational climate variables, although the magnitude of that influence varies by gender. Results suggest that climate variables have a greater impact on job satisfaction than individual level variables. The data, however, indicate a more complicated relationship between job satisfaction and gender. These results indicate a need to consider the conditioning effect of gender on the relationship between organizational climate and job satisfaction in such a highly sex-typed occupational setting as a jail facility.

Gender and stress: A comparative assessment of sources of stress among correctional officers

Studies have described the stressful and hazardous nature of working within the correctional environment as well as the way in which female officers encounter additional workplace pressures associated with their entry into a nontraditional occupation. This study advances the literature on gender and stress by examining the gendered influence of multiple environmental variables on the job stress of correctional officers. Contrary to expectations, there were few differences between male and female officers in the effects of workplace stressors on their level of job stress. Work-family conflict proved to have the greatest impact on stress for both male and female officers, whereas concerns regarding organizational support for equal treatment policies affected stress only among male officers.

Being the Good Soldier: Organizational Citizenship Behavior and Commitment Among Correctional Staff

Correctional institutions rely on staff to accomplish a variety of tasks and objectives to ensure the safety and security of society. A significant body of research has focused on characteristics and attitudes of correctional staff to uncover positive work outcomes. One area that rarely appears in the correctional literature is organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), which refers to those prosocial work behaviors in which employees engage that reflect extra effort and benefit the organization. This study examined the influence of work environment variables (i.e., organizational commitment, job stress, and job involvement) and individual-level characteristics on OCB. The results indicate that organizational citizenship behavior is affected by both organizational commitment and job stress. Findings are discussed in terms of possible policy implications for correctional organizations as well as the need to examine further the reciprocal nature of the employee/employer relationship.

Correctional officers’ perceptions of equitable treatment in the ‘masculinized’ prison environment

Research suggests that employee perceptions of an organization’s support for policies that promote an equitable work environment may differ significantly by race and gender groups. This study examines such perceptual differences and their attitudinal effects on employee experiences within the unique context of a prison setting. Significant differences in correctional officer perceptions of policies are found to exist by race and gender groups. Contrary to expectations, all race and gender groups perceive strong organizational support for equal treatment policies. Moreover, the work experiences of White males are not negatively affected by perceptions of organizational support for equal treatment as had been hypothesized.

The Influence of Organizational Climate on Detention Officers' Readiness to Use Force in a County Jail:

Jails are coercive organizations in which the use of force, or threatened use of force, in the control of inmates is a regular occurrence. Yet, with few exceptions, little attention has been paid to detention officers and their use of force against inmates. The present study explores use of force in the correctional setting, incorporating organizational climate variables as primary predictors of a detention officers expressed readiness to use force against inmates. This analysis is based on a survey of all detention officers in Maricopa County, Arizona. Eight scales measuring a detention officers perception of three dimensions of the organizational climate test the hypotheses that perceptions of climate have a direct effect on a detention officers readiness to use force and that these observed effects remain statistically significant when individual characteristics of the officer are controlled. Results of the analysis confirm these hypotheses, indicating that expressed readiness to use force is influenced differentially by the three dimensions of climate and that individual characteristics of officers do not affect the expressed readiness to use force.

Doing “People Work” in the Prison Setting An Examination of the Job Characteristics Model and Correctional Staff Burnout

Although correctional staff job burnout is costly to all involved, it has not received the empirical attention it deserves. The job characteristics model holds that job characteristics are important in shaping employee outcomes. This study focused on the effects of the job characteristics of supervision consideration, supervision structure, job autonomy, and job variety on the three dimensions of job burnout (i.e., emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and perceived ineffectiveness at work) among correctional staff. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis of data from 160 staff members at a private prison indicated that job autonomy and job variety had significant negative relationships with emotional exhaustion. Supervision consideration, job autonomy, and job variety all had negative effects on the depersonalization dimension of burnout. Job autonomy and job variety had significant negative effects on perceived ineffectiveness.

Career Stage Theory and Turnover Intent Among Correctional Officers

Prior research on correctional staff turnover intent and turnover generally assumes that staff are impacted by the workplace in a similar manner regardless of career stage. This study examined whether correctional officers (N = 2,621) with a Southwestern correctional agency differed in their level of turnover intent across different career stages, and whether the impact of work environment variables on turnover intent varied across career stages. Results indicated that turnover intent was lowest among staff with less than 1 year into their careers, and that the effects of work environment variables on turnover intent varied greatly across the 4 career stages. Commitment to the organization was the only work environment variable to be a significant predictor of intent to leave among four career stages, with a negative association in each of the four career groups.

Inmate Misconduct and the Institutional Capacity for Control

The social order of a prison arises from the combined effects of the prison’s institutional capacity for control and the effectiveness of prison management. Prior research suggests that the criminogenic characteristics of the inmate population, the security level of the prison, and the prison environment are three structural characteristics of prisons that define each prison’s institutional capacity for control, as reflected in the aggregate-level measures of inmate misconduct, and prison environment is expected to moderate the effects of inmate population characteristics on inmate misconduct. This study of 50 state prisons for men provides support for the hypothesized direct effects of institutional capacity for control on the level of violent and nonviolent inmate misconduct and for the contextual effect of prison environment. The findings are discussed in terms of the management environment created among prisons by variations in the institutional capacity for control.