Factors associated with job satisfaction among Canadian correctional officers

Abstract

Background: Job satisfaction refers to the degree of contentedness employees experience towards their job. Research suggests that many factors are associated with correctional officers’ job satisfaction. While the impact of personal, job and organizational factors on correctional officers’ job satisfaction have been studied extensively, few studies have examined the quality of job training in relation to job satisfaction, and no study has examined workplace harassment or discrimination as possible correlates of job satisfaction. There is also a dearth of recent Canadian studies on the job satisfaction of correctional officers. Objectives: The study’s objectives were to compare the job satisfaction of correctional officers to other Correctional Service of Canada employees and to examine the factors associated with job satisfaction among correctional officers. Methods: The data source for this thesis was the 2014 Canadian Public Service Employee Survey (PSES). A total of 18,146 Correctional Service of Canada employees participated in this cross-sectional self-report survey, including 7,368 correctional officers. The dependent variable used in this study was job satisfaction. The independent variables were chosen from the PSES survey based on the key components of the predictors of job satisfaction conceptual framework: personal factors, job factors, organizational factors and harassment/discrimination factors. Univariate, bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to address the research questions. All analyses and results were presented using the sampling weights provided by Statistics Canada. Results: Compared to correctional officers, other Correctional Service of Canada staff were 3.37 times more likely to be satisfied with their jobs (95% CI: 3.16-3.60). Regarding predictors of job satisfaction among correctional officers, those of visible minority status (compared to non-visible minority) and employed in eastern Canada (compared to western) reported greater job satisfaction. Compared to officers employed for more than 20 years, those employed 11-20 years and those employed less than 3 years, reported lower and higher job satisfaction, respectively. In addition, officers who perceived their work-life balance, career development opportunities and decision making abilities favorably were more likely to report higher job satisfaction compared to those with less favorable views. Five statistically significant interactions also emerged: 1) a positive perception of the physical environment was more strongly associated with job satisfaction among older than younger officers; 2) a positive perception of the physical environment was more strongly associated with job satisfaction among male than female officers; 3) the positive impact of perceived high quality of supervision on job satisfaction was enhanced when officers also viewed their job training positively; 4) the positive impact of perceived high quality supervision on job satisfaction was reduced when officers also experienced harassment in the workplace; and 5) among those experiencing discrimination, officers’ who identified as Aboriginal reported higher job satisfaction than those who did not identify as such. Conclusion: Findings from the 2014 survey of the Correctional Service of Canada suggest that job satisfaction is greater for staff compared to correctional officers and further investigation is needed to identify the factors that explain this difference. Among correctional officers, additional research is needed to examine associations between job satisfaction and novel factors such as harassment, discrimination and job training.