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

Abstract

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.

Depictions of correctional officers in newspaper media: an ethnographic content analysis

“…An extensive body of existing research on stress in the corrections work environment has documented a host of negative outcomes associated with stress among officers. These include poor health (Cheek & Miller, 1983;Kauffman, 1988;Matteson & Ivancevich, 1987;Woodruff, 1993), decreased levels of organizational commitment and job satisfaction (Cullen et al, 1990;Dowden & Tellier, 2004;Garner et al, 2007;Griffin et al, 2010;Hogan, et al, 2009;Lambert, 2004;Lambert & Paoline, 2008;Van Voorhis, Cullen, Link, & Wolfe, 1991), and increased absenteeism and turnover intent (Cheek & Miller, 1983;Dowden & Tellier, 2004;Schaufeli & Peeters, 2000;Slate & Vogel, 1997).…”

The Impact of Individual Factors, Job Characteristics, and Organizational Variables on Job Stress and Job Satisfaction Among Community Corrections Staff

“…Several later studies are consistent with Whitehead and Lindquist (1985;e.g., Armstrong et al, 2015;Griffin, 2006;Lambert & Hogan, 2009a;Paoline et al, 2015). Additionally, greater supervisor support or quality has been found to increase job satisfaction for correctional officers (Armstrong et al, 2015;Castle, 2008;Cheeseman et al, 2011;Griffin, 2001;Hogan et al, 2009;Lambert & Hogan, 2009a;Paoline et al, 2015). Similarly, research on correctional officers has found that staff who report greater levels of coworker support also report lower job stress (Armstrong & Griffin, 2004;Paoline et al, 2015) and greater job satisfaction (Lambert et al, 2010;Paoline et al, 2015).…”

The job in the joint: The impact of generation and gender on work stress in prison

“…For example, employment within a correctional institution involves working with hostile "clients," inherent job danger, shift work, as well as mandatory or optional overtime (Glenn, 2001). These work conditions have been noted by many authors as cause of stress (Griffin, 2006;Hogan et al, 2009;Lambert et al, 2009). Most correlates of correctional officer work stress are divided primarily into two basic categories: work environment and personal characteristics.…”

“…It could also include job danger, job pay, as well as supervisory and peer support. These job characteristics are inherently different than structural or organizational attributes because each employee experiences these at different levels and intensity (Griffin, 2006;Hogan et al, 2009;Lambert et al, 2002Lambert et al, , 2009. Organizational attributes, particularly in correctional environments, are generally managed and operated in a highly regimented paramilitary structure (Stojkovic & Farkas, 2003).…”

“…Job stress can be quite costly to an organization in terms of decreased productivity, employee turnover, disability payments, health care, sick leave, and absenteeism. Much of the focus on stress in the correctional environment has focused upon role problems/role ambiguity, job dangerousness, and the nature of the work itself (Hogan, Lambert, Jenkins, & Hall, 2009;Lambert, Hogan, & Barton, 2002;Lambert, Hogan, & Griffin, 2007;Lambert et al, 2009). Research has also pointed to the role that personal attributes or demographics play in stress amongst line personnel, such as race, age, and gender.…”