Effect of Organisational Context Variables on Employer Attitudes Toward Employability of Ex-Offenders

• NCJ Number: 234958
• Journal: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 55 Issue: 3 Dated: May 2011 Pages: 460-475
• Author(s): John Lukies; Joseph Graffam; Alison J. Shinkfield
• Date Published: May 2011
• Length: 16 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: Australian Research Council
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study investigated whether organizational context variables affected employers' attitudes towards hiring ex-offenders.

Abstract

The authors tested the premise that organizational context variables (i.e., size of organization, industry type, location, and respondent's position in organization) had significant effects on employer (N=596) attitudes toward employability of ex-offenders. They also examined whether organizational context variables had an equivalent effect on employer attitudes to that of job-seeker criminal history and employer personal characteristics (e.g., respondent age and gender). Using linear regression (HLM 6.02a), organizational context variables were shown to have a significant effect on employer attitudes. In addition, organizational context variables had a significantly greater effect on employer attitudes than did employer personal characteristics. However, job-seeker criminal history contributed more to respondent ratings of ex-offender employability than did organizational context variables. The finding that judgments of employability are influenced by organizational context variables has implications for future research relevant to reintegration. Stakeholder attitudes toward the reintegration success of ex-offenders may be generally influenced by context variables. (Published Abstract)