THE DETERMINANTS OF JOB SATISFACTION AMONG CANADIAN AND AMERICAN CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS

ABSTRACT

In an effort to determine which factors lead to job satisfaction among correctional officers cross-culturally, questionnaires were sent to 1550 correctional officers working in four American and five Canadian correctional facilities. Usable questionnaires were received from 229 American and 339 Canadian officers. Utilizing three stepwise multiple regression models it was determined that the prison system in which an officer was employed was not a predictor of job satisfaction, while the determinants of job satisfaction were similar for each of the nationality groups. Five variables were found to predict job satisfaction scores for the American officers and five variables were found to predict job satisfaction scores for the Canadian officers. Three variables appeared as significant predictors of job satisfaction for both nationality groups. These were work stress, quality of working relationships with other officers, and length of service.