The impact of work–family conflict on correctional staff

Abstract

Work–family conflict (WFC) occurs when the work domain and family domain are incompatible with one another in some manner. A survey of staff at a private Midwestern prison measured four dimensions of WFC: time-based work on family conflict, strain-based work on family conflict, behavior-based WFC and family on work conflict. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression results indicate that strain-based conflict was the only form of WFC to have a significant effect on job stress. Both strain-based conflict and behavior-based conflict had a significant impact on job satisfaction. Finally, time-based conflict, behavior-based and family on work conflict all had significant effects on organizational commitment.

The Relationship Between Work–Family Conflict, Correctional Officer Job Stress, and Job Satisfaction

“…Given the regimented, almost militaristic, tendency of work inside the prison walls, incongruence and conflicts between work and family domains may be more frequent or magnified for correctional employees. Indeed, prior studies have found a number of work-family conflict dimensions to be linked to job stress and job satisfaction (Lambert et al, 2006) as well as eventual job burnout .…”

“…Lambert et al (2006) defined time-based conflict as work demands that result in home conflict because the officer is spending insufficient time tending to family needs. For example, due to organizational turnover and a lack of qualified job applicants, it is not unusual for correctional officers to work overtime or pick up extra shifts.…”

“…Building on Netemeyer, Boles, and McMurrian's (1996) work, Lambert et al (2006) divided work-family conflict into three specific domains to better assess the mechanism associated with this conflict resulting in negative workplace outcomes. Lambert et al (2006) defined time-based conflict as work demands that result in home conflict because the officer is spending insufficient time tending to family needs.…”

“…Attentive to the negative effects of prison working conditions on correctional officers, less focus has been placed on the contribution of an imbalance between workplace demands and family life as it relates to job stress and job satisfaction (see Armstrong & Griffin, 2004;Lambert et al, 2009;Mitchell et al, 2000). This imbalance, termed work-family conflict, has a strong foundation in the broader organizational literature (Michel, kotrba, Mitchelson, Clark, & Baltes, 2011;Nohe, Meier, Sonntag, & Michel 2015), with limited study in the correctional context Lambert, Hogan, Camp, & Ventura, 2006). It is particularly important to focus on work-family conflict within correctional officer populations due to the unique context and public safety mission of these officers, as well as the difficulty expressed by correctional organizations in hiring and retaining quality staff.…”

Effect of work-family conflict management model in life satisfaction of male employees

“…The most studied construct in work-family literature, arises when an individual is faced conflicts and simultaneous demands that stem from either his work or family role [9,14]. Many prominent researchers have linked work-family conflict with numerous problems: domestic violence [15], poor physical activity [16], poor eating habits [17], poor emotional health [18], excessive drinking [16], substance abuse [19], decreased marital satisfaction [20], decreased emotional wellbeing [21], and neuroticism [22]. As mentioned earlier, workfamily conflict, as an inter-role conflict in which work and family demands are mutually incompatible [13], can create stress, which is basically a form of unpleasant emotion [23].…”