Creating a Positive Workplace Experience: The Issue of Support from Supervisors and Management in Shaping the Job Stress, Job Satisfaction, and Organizational Commitment of Private Correctional Staff

Abstract

The number of private correctional facilities operated by corporate security businesses has increased rapidly over the past 30 years. There has been a parallel increase in literature, both pro and con, comparing the efficiency and effectiveness of private and public prisons; however, employees of private correctional facilities have been largely ignored. This is a serious oversight in light of the fact that employees are the backbone of these facilities. Organizational support is an aspect of the work environment that may have significant effects on employees. Supervisory support and management support are the two dimensions of organizational support. Multi-variate analysis found that both forms of organizational support are important. Specifically, supervisory support and management support were found to have negative effects on job stress and positive effects on job satisfaction and organizational commitment among employees at a private correctional facility.

KEYWORDS:

• Private correctional facilities
• private vs. public prisons
• employees
• work environment
• job stress
• job satisfaction

The authors thank Janet Lambert for editing and proofreading the article. The authors also thank the editor and anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions. Their comments and suggestions improved the article.

Notes

∗p ≤ .05;

∗∗ p ≤ .001.

1. The survey measured a wide array of areas concerning the perceptions, views, attitudes, intentions, and behaviors of employees. Because of the wealth of information from the survey, other studies have been conducted using different parts of the survey. The full citations of these studies are available on request. None of these previous studies examined the impact of supervisory support and management support in the same analysis as forms of organizational support.