Differences in the Predictors of Job Stress and Job Satisfaction for Black and White Jail Staff

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe importation model holds that certain personal characteristics, such as race, may shape employees’ views and may also influence how workplace factors affect them. Most correctional staff job stress and job satisfaction studies treat race/ethnicity as a dichotomous variable (i.e., White/Non-White) to be controlled for in multivariate analysis but have not explored if the effects of variables differ by racial groups. Thus, the effects of workplace variables may differ between Black and White correctional staff. Using survey data from staff at a large southern jail system, this study examined how personal characteristics (i.e., age, gender, educational level, and position) and workplace factors (i.e., role strain, perceived dangerousness of the job, instrument communication, input into decision making, and administrative support) predicted job stress and job satisfaction between Black and White staff. Results indicate that there were no significant differences in the effects between the two groups for job stress. For job satisfaction, however, there was a difference, with gender, position, and perceived dangerousness of the job having larger effects on White staff, and role strain, input into decision making, and administrative support having larger effects on Black staff.