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

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.

To Be Involved or Not to Be Involved: Testing Prison Staff Job Involvement Using the Job Demands–Job Resources Model

“…Role overload occurs when a person is required to do too many work tasks or is not given sufficient time to perform the tasks (Lambert, Keena et al, 2020;Schaufeli & Peeters, 2000;Triplett et al, 1996). Role overload is seen as a job demand because being overwhelmed often results in feeling psychologically strained and frustrated (Lambert et al, 2005(Lambert et al, , 2022, adding to other work-related stressors (Schaufeli & Peeters, 2000). Being strained at work is not a pleasant feeling, and the job is likely to be blamed (Lambert et al, 2022;Triplett et al, 1999).…”

“…Role overload is seen as a job demand because being overwhelmed often results in feeling psychologically strained and frustrated (Lambert et al, 2005(Lambert et al, , 2022, adding to other work-related stressors (Schaufeli & Peeters, 2000). Being strained at work is not a pleasant feeling, and the job is likely to be blamed (Lambert et al, 2022;Triplett et al, 1999). In turn, staff may become less connected and involved in the job because of this job demand (Lambert et al, 2013).…”

“…As an outcome, studies found that employee trust in the organization, in the form of administrator trust (Lambert, Hogan, et al, 2020), management trust (Lambert, Keena, et al, 2021), and administrative support (Lambert & Paoline, 2012), positively influenced job involvement. In addition, quality of supervision and job variety tend to improve job involvement (Lambert et al, 2022). Conversely, role conflict (Lambert et al, 2013) and dangerousness of the job (Lambert et al, 2013; Lambert et al, 2022) tend to lower job involvement.…”

“…In addition, quality of supervision and job variety tend to improve job involvement (Lambert et al, 2022). Conversely, role conflict (Lambert et al, 2013) and dangerousness of the job (Lambert et al, 2013; Lambert et al, 2022) tend to lower job involvement. Furthermore, Liu et al (2020) found that both behavior-based and family-based work–family conflict had a negative influence on job involvement.…”

“…Previous studies of job involvement in corrections have employed various theoretical frameworks, such as the job strain model (Lambert et al, 2013), the person–environment fit theory (Lambert et al, 2013; Lambert & Paoline, 2012), or no theory at all (Griffin et al, 2010; Lambert, Hogan, et al, 2020; Lambert, Keena, et al, 2021). Only one published study has explored job involvement in association with job demands and resources in correctional settings (Lambert et al, 2022), with findings from that study suggesting that job resources tend to be more relevant than job demands in understanding job involvement.…”