Citation

Lambert EG, Holbrook MA, Hogan NL, Wells JB, Minor KI. J. Appl. Secur. Res. 2021; 16(2): 147-167.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/19361610.2021.1879613

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Private security staff play an important role in protecting society, including those who work in private prisons. Working in a private prison is a demanding job. Staff are responsible to ensure that the correctional facility is safe, secure, and humane. Past research has found that organizational trust, in terms of supervisor and management trust, influences private prison staff in many outcome areas, such as job involvement, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job stress, feeling at risk at work, and job burnout; however, there is a dearth of research on how workplace variables may contribute to organizational trust. The current study examined how the major forms of social support (family, coworkers, supervisor, and management) were related to supervisor trust and management trust among 160 staff at a private U.S. prison. Based on ordinary least squares (OLS) multivariate regression, the results indicated coworker, supervisor, and management support each had significant positive effects on supervisor trust, with supervisor support having the largest effect. In another OLS multivariate regression analysis, family, supervisor, and management support had significant positive effects on management trust, with management support having the largest effect. The findings suggest that private prison administrators should consider increasing all four forms of social support in order to raise both supervisor and management trust. It would be a valuable investment in staff.

Language: en

Keywords

prison staff; Private correctional staff; social support; workplace trust