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The Effects of Work Demand and Resource Variables on Indian Prison Staff Job Involvement

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Abstract

Prison officers not only affect prison operations, but correctional workplace variables also have effects on officers. Most of the past empirical research on this topic has focused on officers working in Western prisons. This study used the job demands–resources model to examine the effects of workplace variables in terms of job demands (e.g., perceived dangerousness of the job and role overload) and job resources (e.g., job autonomy, job variety, instrumental communication, and quality supervision) on job involvement among Indian prison officers using a sample of 163 prison officers from a prison in the state of Haryana in India. OLS regression indicated role overload, job autonomy, and instrumental communication all had nonsignificant effects, while job variety and quality supervision had positive effects on job involvement, as did the job demand of perceived dangerousness of the job. Similar to past research, the positive effects of job variety and quality supervision appear to be universal across prisons, as are the lack of direct effects for role overload and instrumental communication. Conversely, the effects of perceived dangerousness of the job and job autonomy appear to be contextual, varying across prisons in different nations.

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Notes

  1. It was noted during the review process that as only 7% of the participants were women and that, therefore, gender could be dropped from the regression analysis. The OLS regression equation was re-estimated without the gender variable. The results were similar in terms of the amount of variance explained, the significant predictors, and the ranking of the significant variables in terms of the size of their standardized regression coefficients. The R2 for this new regression model was .47 (p ≤ .01), and the significant predictors were educational level (β =  − .20, p ≤ .01), perceived dangerousness of the job (β = .17, p ≤ .01), quality supervision (β = .19, p ≤ .01), and job variety (β = .49, p ≤ .01). Job variety continued to have the largest-sized effect, more than twice that of any other significant independent variable.

  2. This point was raised by a reviewer. We thank both reviewers for reviewing the manuscript. Their insightful comments and suggestions improved the manuscript.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the editor, editorial staff, and reviewers for their comments and suggestions. These comments and suggestions improved the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public & Environmental Affairs, Indiana University Northwest, Dunes Medical/Professional Building, Room 2101, 3400 Broadway, Gary, IN, 46408, USA

    Eric G. Lambert

  2. Recruits Training College, Bhondsi, Gurgaon, 122011, India

    Hanif Qureshi

  3. School of Criminal Justice, University of Cincinnati, 665C Dyer Hall, Cincinnati, OH, 45221, USA

    James Frank

  4. Department of Criminal Justice, AB601, University of Nevada, Reno, 1664 North Virginia Street, Mail Stop 0214, Reno, 89557, USA

    Mia Abboud Holbrook & Chelsea Hines

  5. Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Criminal Justice, Maes 102, Lamar University, 4400 MLK Blvd, P.O. Box 10009, Beaumont, TX, 77710, USA

    Vidisha Barua Worley

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  1. Eric G. Lambert
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Correspondence to Eric G. Lambert.

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The authors had no conflict of interest with this study.

Ethical Approval

The study had human subjects approval and followed ethical guidelines.

Appendix

Appendix

Below are the items used to measure the latent variables in this study. Except for instrumental communication, the items were answered using a six-point Likert scale of 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = somewhat disagree, 4 = somewhat agree, 5 = agree, and 6 = strongly agree. The response options for the instrumental communication items were 1 = not informed, 2 = informed very little, 3 = informed somewhat, 4 = informed, and 5 = very well informed.

Job Involvement (1) I live, eat, and breathe my job (i.e., my job is very important to me; (2) The major satisfaction in my life comes from work; and (3) The most important things that happen to me in my life usually occur at work.

Perceived Dangerousness of the Job (1) I work at a dangerous job; (2) My job is a lot more dangerous than most jobs in the community; and (3) At my job, there is a real risk of being hurt or injured.

Role Overload (1) I often receive an assignment without adequate resources and materials to get it done; (2) I am responsible for almost an unmanageable number of assignments and job duties; and (3) I consider myself overworked on my job.

Instrumental Communication How informed are you by the correctional organization about the following aspects of your job: (1) What is to be done; (2) What is most important about the job; (3) How the equipment is used; (4) Rules and regulations; and (5) What you need to know to do the job correctly.

Job Autonomy (1) I have flexibility in how and when to do my job duties; and (2) I have a great deal of say in how my job is done.

Job Variety (1) My job requires that I must constantly learn new things; (2) My job requires that I be very creative; and (3) My job has a lot of variety in it.

Quality of Supervision (1) My supervisor gives me advance notice of changes; (2) My supervisor looks out for my personal welfare; (3) When decisions are made by my supervisor, persons affected are asked for their ideas; and (4) My supervisor is friendly and approachable.

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Lambert, E.G., Qureshi, H., Frank, J. et al. The Effects of Work Demand and Resource Variables on Indian Prison Staff Job Involvement. Int Criminol 2, 424–436 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43576-022-00063-0

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