Correlates of Organizational Commitment Among Community Correctional Officers in China

• Published date: 01 January 2018
• Author: Eric G. Lambert,Mengfei Shi,Dawei Zhang,Xiaohong Jin,Deping Xiang,Shanhe Jiang
• DOI: 10.1177/0032885517743706
• Date: 01 January 2018
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0032885517743706

The Prison Journal

2018, Vol. 98(1) 60 –82

© 2017 SAGE Publications

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DOI: 10.1177/0032885517743706

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Article

Correlates of

Organizational

Commitment Among

Community Correctional

Officers in China

Shanhe Jiang1, Eric G. Lambert2, Xiaohong Jin3,

Deping Xiang4, Mengfei Shi4, and Dawei Zhang5

Abstract

There has been limited research on the correlates of organizational

commitment among community correctional staff, regardless of the nation.

Using data from 225 community correction officers from Hubei, China,

this study examined community correctional staff commitment to their

agencies and its predictors. The study found the majority of the respondents

had commitment to their organizations. Organizational structure variables

were more powerful than job characteristics in explaining the variance of

the organizational commitment. All relationships between organizational

structure variables, job characteristics, and organizational commitment

were mediated by job satisfaction.

Keywords

China, community corrections, community correctional officers, organizational

commitment

1Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA

2Department of Criminal Justice, University of Nevada, Reno

3Central China Normal University, Wuhan, Hubei, China

4Wuhan University, Hubei, China

5Institute of Political Science Advanced Study, Central China Normal University, Wuhan,

Hubei, China

Corresponding Author:

Dawei Zhang, School of Sociology, Central China Normal University, No. 152 Luoyu Road,

Wuhan 430079, Hubei, China.

Email: zhangsir0619@sina.com

743706TPJXXX10.1177/0032885517743706The Prison JournalJiang et al.

research-article2017

Jiang et al. 61

Introduction

Staff are the most important resource for any organization, including com-

munity corrections organizations, and staff attitudes and behaviors are criti-

cal to meet organizational goals. Organizations function more effectively

when staff have organizational commitment (Lincoln & Kalleberg, 1990).

High levels of commitment are linked to a wide range of positive outcomes

such as increased prosocial organizational behaviors and higher levels of job

performance. In contrast, low levels of commitment are associated with

increased turnover intent/turnover and absenteeism (Camp, 1994; Culliver,

Sigler, & McNeely, 1991; Hogan, Lambert, & Griffin, 2013; Lambert &

Hogan, 2009; Lambert, Edwards, Camp, & Saylor, 2005; Lambert, Hogan, &

Griffin, 2008; Lincoln & Kalleberg, 1990; Stohr, Self, & Lovrich, 1992).

The existing organizational commitment literature has limited research

on the correlates of organizational commitment among community correc-

tional staff, regardless of the nation. Despite the enormous differences in

their respective work environments, community correctional staff are often

combined with institutional correctional staff in research. Furthermore,

there is no study published in a Western journal on the correlates of commit-

ment among community correctional staff in China. This research was con-

ducted to fill that void.

The current study has two primary purposes. The first was to reveal the

extent to which Chinese community correctional officers are committed to

their agencies. The second was to examine the predictors of their commit-

ment. The first part of the “Literature Review” section introduces Chinese

community corrections. This is followed by a review of the research on orga-

nizational commitment and its correlates based on Western correctional staff

studies. Sections on data, measures of variables used in the analysis, and

findings follow. Finally, there is a discussion and conclusion of the results.

Literature Review

Chinese Community Corrections

Although China has a long history of utilizing the community to help educate

and reform offenders, community corrections was not officially adopted as a

correctional strategy until 2003. On July 10, 2003, a Notice on Experimental

Programs of Community Corrections in Beijing, Jiangsu, Shandong,

Shanghai, Tianjin, and Zhejiang was jointly issued by the Supreme Peoples’

Court, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security,

and the Ministry of Justice. Since then, China has gradually expanded the

program to the entire nation.