Job Satisfaction Among Psychologists Working in State Prisons

Abstract

There is growing demand for psychologists to work in correctional settings, and high vacancy rates indicate that efforts are needed to attract and retain employees. Job satisfaction has been associated with a variety of work-related outcomes such as productivity and turnover. In this study, 73 master’s- and doctoral-level psychologists working in one state prison system responded to a job satisfaction survey based on one developed by Boothby and Clements (2002). Respondents rated their overall job satisfaction along with satisfaction of 18 individual job facets. Three general facets, (a) economics, (b) perceived organizational support, and (c) interpersonal relationships, all significantly predicted overall job satisfaction scores. Ratings of facet importance did not moderate the relationship between facet satisfaction and overall satisfaction with employment as a prison psychologist. Suggestions for the future use of the scale in other correctional systems are outlined, including supplementing ratings with open-ended questions to better target setting-specific sources of discontent.

A survey of clinical psychology training in Canadian federal corrections: Implications for psychologist recruitment and retention.

“…prisons, MacKain, Myers, Ostapiej, and Newman (2010), found that three broad domains generated from a principle components analysis of Boothby and Clements' survey (economics, perceived organisational support, and interpersonal relationships) all significantly predicted overall job satisfaction. Similar to the findings of Boothby and Clements (2002), MacKain et al (2010) found that job security, relationships with clients, relationships with coworkers, and safety were rated as the most positive and satisfying whereas opportunities for advancement, salary, recognition, and ability to influence decision making were rated as the least satisfying and most negative.…”

“…For instance, according to the 2009 Report of the Market Supplement Review Committee (Health Sciences Association of Saskatchewan, 2009), psychologist positions in the Alberta health regions start at $40.12 per hour (i.e., approximately $82,000 per year based on a 37.5 hr work week) and peak at $53.28 per hour (i.e., approximately $104,000), and the rates are generally comparable among the health authorities in BC and Saskatchewan. In the MacKain et al (2010) survey, salary received the second lowest satisfaction rating out of 18 items, although in the Boothby and Clements (2002) survey, it had a considerably higher satisfaction rating as the 10th highest item rated out of the 18.…”

No time for compromises: Age as a moderator of the relation between needs–supply fit and job satisfaction

“…Participants were prompted to indicate their agreement or disagreement with this statement on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from ''completely disagree'' to ''completely agree''. Although singleitem measures are discussed controversially, there is ample evidence that single-item measures of job satisfaction are sufficiently reliable (e.g., Dolbier, Webster, McCalister, Mallon, & Steinhardt, 2005;MacKain, Myers, Ostapiej, & Newman, 2010;Nagy, 2002;Scarpello & Campbell, 1983) including metaanalytical evidence (Wanous, Reichers, & Hudy, 1997), which additionally showed consistent reliability estimates across different single-item measures of job satisfaction. Thus, it can be assumed that reliability evidence of these studies generalizes to the present sample.…”

The Role of the Job Title and Material and Moral Incentives in Achieving Job Satisfaction, The Case of Libya's Firefighting and Rescue Teams

“…(1) Organizational factors e.g., workrelated factors tasks and their importance, job title, independence, etc., and the promotion and reward system, leadership, training, relationships, working conditions, management, organizational commitment, organizational support, organizational learning. ( 2) Environmental factors such as public image and frustration with regulations and laws (Abdulla et al, 2011;Mackain et al, 2010). "Salary and incentive" was considered the strongest determinant of staff satisfaction compared with demographic factors and could be a source of satisfaction for staff.…”

“…"Salary and incentive" was considered the strongest determinant of staff satisfaction compared with demographic factors and could be a source of satisfaction for staff. (Mackain et al, 2010;Nina Tomazevic et al, 2014). It has been suggested that, for many policemen, aspects of the organization and the context of the work contribute more to the sense of stress because policemen should deal with these pressures regularly if not daily.…”