Examining the Effects of Key Workplace Variables on Job Burnout of Southern Prison Staff

• Published date: 01 March 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00328855231222441
• Author: Matthew C. Leone,Eric G. Lambert,Linda D. Keena,Stacy H. Hayes,David May
• Date: 01 March 2024

Examining the Effects of

Key Workplace

Variables on Job Burnout

of Southern Prison Staff

Matthew C. Leone

1

,

Eric G. Lambert

2

, Linda D. Keena

3

,

Stacy H. Hayes

4

,andDavidMay

4

Abstract

Burnout is a phenomenon commonly found in the workplace. When burn-

out is job-related, it is considered job burnout. Historically, job burnout

has been most common among those who work in human services f‌ields

and who deal with stressful situations on a regular basis. Job burnout consists

of three components: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and feelings

of work ineffectiveness. While job burnout may be common, not all workers

in stressful f‌ields experience it, which indicates that there must be organiza-

tional or individual factors that limit the likelihood of job burnout for some

workers. This study examined the impact of four job-related factors (job

stress, job involvement, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment)

on the three components of job burnout for correctional workers in a

large, maximum-security prison in the Southern United States. The f‌indings

indicated that the four job-related factors were related strongly and in the

predicted direction to two or three of the measures of job burnout.

1

The University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA

2

Indiana University Northwest, Gary, IN, USA

3

The University of Mississippi, University, MS, USA

4

Mississippi State University, Mississippi, MS, USA

Corresponding Author:

Eric G. Lambert, Indiana University Northwest School of Public and Environmental Affairs,

Dunes Medical/Professional Building 2106, 3400 Broadway, Gary, IN, USA.

Email: erilambe@iu.edu

Article

The Prison Journal

2024, Vol. 104(2) 173–193

© 2023 SAGE Publications

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/00328855231222441

journals.sagepub.com/home/tpj

Keywords

prison staff, job burnout, job stress, job involvement, job satisfaction,

organizational commitment

Introduction

Working in a correctional facility can be demanding. Armstrong and Griff‌in

(2004) pointed out that “few other organizations are charged with the central

task of supervising and securing an unwilling and potentially violent popula-

tion”(p. 577). Burnout is a real possibility in corrections (Griff‌in et al., 2010).

Keinan and Malach-Pines (2007) reported that correctional workers reported

much higher levels of burnout than that experienced in the general population

and that these levels of burnout were even higher than that reported by police

off‌icers. Burnout is detrimental to both staff and the correctional institution.

Burnout can result in depression, withdrawal from the job, decreased work

performance, lower support for rehabilitation of offenders, higher support

of punishment of inmates, higher levels of substance abuse, greater absentee-

ism, and higher turnover/turnover intent (Carlson & Thomas, 2006; Jaegers

et al., 2021; Neveu, 2007). There has been a small but growing number of

studies that have examined how workplace variables are linked to correctional

staff burnout.

While some studies have explored how different aspects of the workplace,

such as how job stressors or job characteristics are linked to job burnout, one

study (Griff‌in et al., 2010) examined how the salient workplace variables of

job stress, job involvement, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment

were associated with job burnout among staff at a private Midwestern prison.

While this one study provided important information, it was a single study.

Replication of past f‌indings is critical because there is always the chance

that single f‌indings are due to random chance or may vary by different types

of facilities The current study explored the effects of job stress, job involvement,

job satisfaction, and organizational commitment among staff at a large Southern

public prison. The current study aims to determine if the f‌indings from the single

previous study are replicated at the large Southern prison. Replication studies

such as the current one at different types of correctional facilities will provide

information to help answer the question of whether the effects of the four

salient workplace variables are universal in their effects or are situational,

varying across different types of prisons. In the end, this information will aid

both correctional scholars and administrators by determining how these variables

are linked to staff burnout so efforts can be undertaken to reduce job burnout

since nothing positive occurs from burnout.

174 The Prison Journal 104(2)