Job stress and burnout among correctional officers: A literature review study

This literature review presents an overview of occupational stress and burnout in correctional institutions, based on 43 investigations from 9 countries. First, the prevalence of various stress reactions among correctional officers (COs) is discussed: turnover and absenteeism rates, psychosomatic diseases, and levels of job dissatisfaction and burnout. Next, empirical evidence is summarized for the existence of 10 specific stressors in the CO's job. It appears that the most notable stressors for COs are role problems, work overload, demanding social contacts (with prisoners, colleagues, and supervisors), and poor social status. Finally, based on 21 articles, individual-oriented and organization-oriented approaches to reduce job stress and burnout among COs are discussed. It is concluded that particularly the latter (i.e., improving human resources management, professionalization of the CO's job, and improvement of the social work environment) seems to be a promising avenue for reducing job stress and burnout in correctional institutions

Роберт Конквест про голокост та голодомор

Purpose – Previous research has demonstrated strong relations between work characteristics (e.g. job demands and job resources) and work outcomes such as work performance and work engagement. So far, little attention has been given to the role of authenticity (i.e. employees’ ability to experience their true selves) in these relations. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship of state authenticity at work with job demands and resources on the one hand and work engagement, job satisfaction, and subjective performance on the other hand. Design/methodology/approach – In total, 680 Dutch bank employees participated to the study. Structural equation modelling was used to test the goodness-of-fit of the hypothesized model. Bootstrapping (Preacher and Hayes, 2008) was used to examine the meditative effect of state authenticity. Findings – Results showed that job resources were positively associated with authenticity and, in turn, that authenticity was positively related to work engagement, job satisfaction, and performance. Moreover, state authenticity partially mediated the relationship between job resources and three occupational outcomes. Research limitations/implications – Main limitations to this study were the application of selfreport questionnaires, utilization of cross-sectional design, and participation of a homogeneous sample. However, significant relationship between workplace characteristics, occupational outcomes, and state authenticity enhances our current understanding of the JD-R Model. Practical implications – Managers might consider enhancing state authenticity of employees by investing in job resources, since high levels of authenticity was found to be strongly linked to positive occupational outcomes. Originality/value – This study is among the first to examine the role of authenticity at workplace and highlights the importance of state authenticity for work-related outcomes

Creative Performance Pressure as a Double-Edged Sword for Creativity: The Role of Appraisals And Resources

Creativity, or the generation of novel and useful ideas or products, is widely viewed as the cornerstone of organizational innovation and success. However, high pressure to be creative may have mixed implications for employee creativity. In this article, we first systematically conceptualize the nature of the concept of creative performance pressure. Next, building on transactional stress theory, we investigate (a) how creative performance pressure influences employee creativity through different appraisals (i.e., challenge and hindrance) and (b) the moderating role of a job and personal resource (i.e., servant leadership and promotion focus) in the stressor appraisal process. In Study 1, we developed a creative performance pressure scale and assessed its psychometric properties across two samples (N = 181 for Sample 1; N = 253 for Sample 2). In addition, using multi-wave, multi-source data (Study 2), we tested our hypotheses in a Chinese sample (N = 206). The results demonstrated that creative performance pressure can have both positive and negative effects on employee creativity through challenge and hindrance appraisals, respectively. Servant leadership moderated the effect of creative performance pressure on challenge and hindrance appraisals, by transmitting the beneficial and detrimental effects of creative performance pressure to creativity, respectively. Similarly, promotion focus moderated the relationship between creative performance pressure and hindrance appraisal. We discuss future research directions and offer several practical implications for both organizational leaders and human resource (HR) practitioners

Social Interactions and Feelings of Inferiority among Correctional Officers - a Daily Event-Recording Approach

Contains fulltext : 27946.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)A daily event-recording method, referred to as the Daily Interaction Record in Organizations (DIRO) was employed for assessing the influence of three types of social interaction on negative affect at work. For this purpose, 38 correctional officers (COs) completed forms, for a l-week period, that described their social interactions and stressful events at work. Moreover, the forms measured the negative feelings of COs both at the beginning and at the end of the workday. The results showed that each type of social interaction had a different effect on negative affect at the end of the day. Instrumental support showed an adverse effect on negative affect because this type of support appeared to induce feelings of inferiority, which in turn led to negative affect. Rewarding companionship appeared to have a positive effect, whereas intimate support showed no effect at all on negative affect. It is concluded that a micro-analytic approach offers interesting possibilities for fine-grained analyses of daily occurring social interactions and psychological mechanisms involved in social support as related to negative affect

The multicultural workplace: interactive acculturation and intergroup relations

Purpose : – The paper's aim is to introduce the interactive acculturation model (IAM) of Bourhis et al. to predict how disconcordance in acculturation orientations between host community and immigrant workers relates to the quality of intergroup work-relations. Design/methodology/approach : – The sample consisted of 141 host community (Dutch) and 41 non-western immigrant workers of a postal service company who filled out a questionnaire. Methods of analyses include analysis of variance and multiple regression. Findings : – In line with the IAM, results showed that a higher disconcordance in preferred acculturation orientations between host community and immigrant workers related to a poorer quality of intergroup work-relations. However, intergroup contact moderated this relationship differently for host community and immigrant workers. Research limitations/implications : – Data are cross-sectional and collected in one organization. Future studies should replicate the findings to other organizational contexts, cultural groups, and collect longitudinal data to determine causal effects. Practical implications : – Organizations should monitor disconcordance in acculturation orientations amongst host community and immigrant workers. A multicultural culture in organizations may reduce disconcordance in acculturation orientations between host community and immigrant workers. Originality/value : – The paper helps to explain the mixed findings in cultural diversity research so far, by demonstrating that disconcordance in acculturation orientations relates negatively to intergroup work-relations in a multicultural workplace

Transmission of Reduction-oriented Crafting among Colleagues: A Diary Study on the Moderating Role of Working Conditions

Zooming into reduction‐oriented job crafting among employees, next to minimizing demands (i.e., making a job less strenuous), we introduced optimizing demands (i.e., simplifying the job and making work processes more efficient) and suggested that optimizing demands should be positively related to work engagement, whereas minimizing demands negatively related to work engagement. Moreover, we suggested that both forms of reduction‐oriented crafting can be transferred among colleagues, and this will particularly occur in jobs that are high on demands (workload and emotional demands), low on resources (autonomy), and when the colleagues have a high‐quality relationship. We examined these hypotheses among 65 dyads of employees who filled in a general questionnaire and a diary for three working days. Multilevel analyses supported the transmission of both job crafting dimensions among colleagues. Moreover, there is more transmission of minimizing demands among colleagues when workload and emotional demands are high and autonomy is low. Additionally, optimizing demands was transmitted among colleagues when autonomy was low and quality of relationship with colleague was high. Optimizing demands was positively related to work engagement, whereas minimizing demands was unrelated to work engagement. These findings imply that optimizing demands is a favourable behaviour and can be transmitted among colleagues under specific conditions

Transmission of Reduction-oriented Crafting among Colleagues: A Diary Study on the Moderating Role of Working Conditions

Zooming into reduction‐oriented job crafting among employees, next to minimizing demands (i.e., making a job less strenuous), we introduced optimizing demands (i.e., simplifying the job and making work processes more efficient) and suggested that optimizing demands should be positively related to work engagement, whereas minimizing demands negatively related to work engagement. Moreover, we suggested that both forms of reduction‐oriented crafting can be transferred among colleagues, and this will particularly occur in jobs that are high on demands (workload and emotional demands), low on resources (autonomy), and when the colleagues have a high‐quality relationship. We examined these hypotheses among 65 dyads of employees who filled in a general questionnaire and a diary for three working days. Multilevel analyses supported the transmission of both job crafting dimensions among colleagues. Moreover, there is more transmission of minimizing demands among colleagues when workload and emotional demands are high and autonomy is low. Additionally, optimizing demands was transmitted among colleagues when autonomy was low and quality of relationship with colleague was high. Optimizing demands was positively related to work engagement, whereas minimizing demands was unrelated to work engagement. These findings imply that optimizing demands is a favourable behaviour and can be transmitted among colleagues under specific conditions