Work Engagement among Prison Officers. The Role of Individual and Organizational Factors in the Polish and Indonesian Penitentiary Systems.

Andrzej Piotrowski,Ewa Sygit-Kowalkowska,Imaduddin Hamzah

doi:10.3390/ijerph17218206

Abstract

The literature on work engagement among prison officers (POs) remains rather scarce, and there are no analyses on the factors determining this phenomenon. The current study aimed to examine the relationships between work engagement, subjective well-being, coping strategies, and organizational factors utilizing the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-9), the Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced (COPE), and Cantril’s Ladder of Health Scale (CLHS), and involving 312 POs from Poland and 467 POs from Indonesia. Results showed a statistically significant relationship between active coping and work engagement in both groups. Subjective well-being was moderately related to work engagement among Polish POs. Mean work engagement and subjective well-being scores were higher among Indonesian POs. The analyses showed a significant indirect effect of subjective well-being for the relationship between penitentiary unit type, active coping, as well as avoidant behaviors and work engagement in the Polish group. Closed prison officers more often declared higher subjective well-being. Work engagement is a complex psychological phenomenon. There exists a justified need for the analyses to consider personal determinants (e.g., coping strategies) as well as organizational factors related to the POs’ work environment. The literature presents a broad picture of the benefits of studying this phenomenon.

Highlights

The specific qualities of professional work places specific demands on employees and can put them at risk of various physiological and mental strains, namely, stress
prison officers (POs) are characterized by poorer health and higher suicide rates compared to police officers and the general working population [9,10,11]
The current study revealed that mean work engagement scores of Polish POs were lower than those of Polish physiotherapists, police offiecrs, or teachers assessed by the same measure [63]

Summary

Introduction

The specific qualities of professional work places specific demands on employees and can put them at risk of various physiological and mental strains, namely, stress. POs are characterized by poorer health and higher suicide rates compared to police officers and the general working population [9,10,11]. Workplace stressors identified far in the prison context are, among others, authoritarian relationships with one’s superiors, a low level of participation in organizational decision-making, contact with aggressive inmates, and physical and verbal assaults from the inmates [12,13,14,15]. Researchers of health in the context of prison work point to the fact that POs’ work absences and low productivity are related to workplace stress and the general characteristics of prison work [17,18]

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Discussion

Conclusion