NCJ Number
219297
Journal
Corrections Compendium Volume: 32 Issue: 3 Dated: May/June 2007 Pages: 1-2,4-6,36,38
Date Published
May 2007
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This study examined the relationships among ethnic identity, social support, and organizational commitment among correctional officers.
Abstract
Three main results emerged: (1) social support was significantly related to organizational commitment; (2) relative ethnicity (minority or majority ethnicity within the institution) was significantly related to the frequency with which support was sought from coworkers of the same ethnicity; and (3) the importance of ethnicity to identity was significantly related with the frequency with which support was sought from coworkers of the same ethnicity. The findings support the notion that social support and social identity are important concepts that can be applied to the workplace to explain individual perceptions and behavior. In terms of implications for practice, the results suggest that correctional institutions should encourage social interaction among officers in order to facilitate the development of social support networks, which may be one of the keys to maintaining order in institutions and to increasing organizational commitment. Organizational commitment has previously been linked with decreased turnover, which is a critical issue for correctional institutions that have historically faced high turn-over rates. Future research should focus on the impact of racial diversity on organizational commitment among correctional officers. Questionnaire data were drawn from a stratified sample of correctional facilities based on security level and geographic location in Virginia. The questionnaire, which attempted to reach all non-supervisory correctional officers at each location, focused on three main areas: social identity, social support, and organizational commitment. To measure each of these three areas, validated assessment instruments were used, including the Work Environment Inventory, the Three-Component Model of Organizational Commitment, and the Race-Specific Collective Self-Esteem Scale. Questionnaires were completed by 338 of the 455 correctional officers present during data collection. Correlation analyses and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the results. Tables, references