To be committed or not: examining effects of personal and workplace variables on the organizational commitment of Southern prison staff

This study examined how personal and workplace variables were related to organizational commitment among staff working at a large Southern prison. The personal variables were gender, age, position, tenure, educational level, and supervisory status. The workplace variables were assessment of training...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Lambert, Eric G. (Author)
Contributors: Buckner, Zachary ; Haynes, Stacy H. ; Keena, Linda Denise ; May, David
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2017
In: Criminal justice studies
Year: 2017, Volume: 30, Issue: 3, Pages: 223-239
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
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Summary:This study examined how personal and workplace variables were related to organizational commitment among staff working at a large Southern prison. The personal variables were gender, age, position, tenure, educational level, and supervisory status. The workplace variables were assessment of training, job variety, role clarity, input into decision-making, and instrumental communication. The results indicate workplace variables play a greater role in shaping affective commitment of surveyed Southern prison staff than do personal variables. The personal variables explained only 10% of the variance in the commitment index, while workplace factors accounted for approximately 59% of the variance and were significant determinants of organizational commitment among the respondents. In the multivariate regression analysis, age, assessment of training, job variety, role clarity, input into decision-making, and instrumental communication all had positive associations with commitment. Educational level had a negative relationship with commitment. Implications of these findings for policy and future research are also discussed.
ISSN:1478-6028
DOI:10.1080/1478601X.2017.1293536