A Hierarchical Analysis of Correctional Officers’ Procedural Justice Judgments of Correctional Institutions: Examining the Influence of Transformational Leadership

Abstract

A substantial body of prior research has demonstrated the significant positive effect of organizational procedural justice on institutional policy compliance. However, research examining the antecedents of organizational procedural justice is only just beginning to emerge in the criminal justice literature. Due to the potential for institutional deviance and the importance of rule adherence among individuals in positions of authority, we believe it is important to investigate correctional officers’ procedural justice perceptions. As such, this study examines 929 correctional officers over 40 institutions to identify if criteria for fairness, leadership style, and officer and institutional characteristics influence officers’ perceptions of procedural justice. Results from hierarchical linear regression indicate that the ability to have a say in decisions, a sense that institutional rules are impartial, and perceptions that management leads through motivation and encouragement significantly increases correctional officers’ perceptions of procedural justice. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Keywords:

• correctional officers
• transformational leadership
• procedural justice
• corrections
• organizational justice

Notes

¹ Similar works on correctional officers’ perceptions have been focused on single institutions with much smaller sample sizes (see e.g. Lambert, 2003; Lambert et al., 2007, usable n = 259, 160 respectively).

² Prior studies of organizational procedural justice in non-correctional organizations have not identified a significant relationship between institutional demographic variations and perceptions of organizational procedural justice (Colquitt, Noe, & Jackson, 2002; Naumann & Bennett, 2000). Additionally, results from a large meta-analysis indicate that demographic factors such as race and gender have no effect on justice perceptions (Cohen-Charash & Spector, 2001). However, studies examining factors such as correctional officers’ job satisfaction have found a negative association between the proportion of white-male custody staff and perceptions of job satisfaction (Britton, 1997); although the research did not account for the nested structure of the data (correctional officers from the same institution). Unfortunately, upon request for such data we were informed by the state Department of Corrections that aggregate data on the demographic characteristics of officers working in the facilities are not kept due to frequent staff changes. Instead they track aggregate demographic characteristics by security level assignment. The breakdown of correctional officers in security level 1 facilities was 61.2% male and 62.0% non-white, security level 2 was 63.5% male and 60.7% non-white, security level 3 was 61.3% male and 56.1% non-white, security level 4 was 65.5% male and 61.9% non-white, security level 5 was 77.5% male and 43.7% non-white, and security level 6 was 88.9% male and 2.6% non-white.

³ A recent Google Scholar (2013) search shows that in the 15 years since it was published Sweeney and McFarlin (1997) has been cited 256 times by scholarly sources.

⁴ The structure matrix for this analysis is presented in Appendix A.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Thomas Baker

Thomas Baker is an assistant professor in the Criminal Justice Program in the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University. His research interests include perceptions of crime and the criminal justice system, criminal careers, and research methodology. His work has appeared in various outlets including the Journal of Criminal Justice, Crime & Delinquency, Journal of Quantitative Criminology, and Criminal Justice and Behavior.

Jill A. Gordon

Jill A. Gordon is an associate professor and Chair of the Criminal Justice Program in the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University. Her research interests include evaluative studies of correctional policy encompassing both adult and juvenile systems, correctional employees’ attitudes toward work, clients and overall organizational issues, and domestic violence issues related to the criminal justice response.

Faye S. Taxman

Faye S. Taxman, PhD is a university professor in the Criminology, Law and Society Department and Director of the Center for Advancing Correctional Excellence at George Mason University. She is recognized for her work in the development of the seamless systems of care models that link the criminal justice system with other service delivery systems as well as reengineering probation and parole supervision services, and organizational change models. Her work covers the breadth of the correctional system from jails and prisons to community corrections and adult and juvenile offenders, including all types of interventions and system improvement factors.