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

The Mediating Role of Competency Development Initiatives, and Moderating Role of Age Between Work-Life Balance and Sustainable Careers: A Comparative Study of The Netherlands and Pakistan

A career becomes sustainable when it enables one to remain happy, healthy, and productive. However, the lack of empirical research evaluating the effects of Work-Life Balance (WLB) on all three indicators of career sustainability in the same research setting is a significant knowledge gap in advancing research on sustainable careers. This research aimed to analyze the role of WLB in sustaining employees' careers, investigate the mediating role of competency development initiatives, and examine the moderating role of age in the Netherlands and Pakistan. The study analyzed data from 760 employees in the Netherlands and Pakistan using a quantitative survey-based research methodology. Convenience sampling techniques were used to collect data. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. The results demonstrated that WLB is associated more positively with indicators of sustainable careers for Dutch employees than for Pakistani employees. The study also uncovered differences between the two samples' mediating mechanisms for competency development initiatives. With improved WLB, Pakistani employees become more future-focused and participate in career management activities, while WLB increases Dutch employee participation in learning activities and competency development. Age was determined to be a weak moderator, as the positive effect of WLB on competency development initiatives was only diminished in the Pakistani sample of older employees. This study contributes to the literature on sustainable careers by demonstrating that, while WLB is important for the career sustainability of employees in both cultures, in the individualistic culture of the Netherlands, the career sustainability of employees is more sensitive to their WLB experience. As a result, organizations must invest in providing WLB to their employees, as it is essential for their careers' sustainability

Job-crafting interventions: do they work and why?

The majority of job redesign initiatives follow a ‘top-down’ approach, in which management optimizes job demands and resources to obtain successful organizational outcomes. However, these approaches are not always effective. Little is known about the effectiveness of interventions, where employees proactively optimize their work environment in order to improve their well-being, motivation, and performance. One such job redesign strategy is job crafting. Job crafting is proactive behaviour that enables individuals to fit the job characteristics to their needs and preferences by seeking resources, seeking challenges and reducing demands. The first aim of this chapter is to describe the design of the job crafting intervention, which integrates a two-day crafting workshop intervention, followed by 3 or 4 weekly self-set crafting assignments and a reflection session. The second aim of this chapter is to present theoretical explanations regarding how the job crafting intervention leads to desired changes for both employees and organisations. We base our argumentation on social cognitive theory, experiential learning theory and situated experiential learning narratives. The final aim is to present an overview of the existing evidence regarding the effectiveness of the intervention. It is concluded that the job crafting intervention is a promising tool to help organisations to support and maintain employee well-being and (to a somewhat lesser extent) performance, even during times of organizational change. The chapter ends with several suggestions for future research and practice

Career Sustainability among Dutch and Pakistani Women Managers: A Narrative Analysis

Although a growing body of research addresses the obstacles to women's sustainable careers, little is known about how women managers build sustainable careers. This research contributes to the sustainable career framework by conceptualizing the career sustainability of women managers as a narrative accomplishment. The study includes interviews with eighteen women managers, nine Pakistani and nine Dutch. Five narrative approaches to career sustainability are identified: reinventing, proactive, self-made, devoting, and realigning. Each narrative approach provides a unique perspective on careers based on meaning-making, work-life balance priorities, and the degree of context dependence, resulting in distinct challenges to career sustainability. We also discuss implications for future research and practice

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