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THE EFFECTS OF JOB-RELATED STRESS AND JOB SATISFACTION ON PROBATION OFFICERS' INCLINATIONS TO QUIT* CALVIN SIMMONS Florida Department of Corrections

JOHN K. COCHRANt University of South Florida

WILLIAM R. BLOUNT University of South Florida ABSTRACT: Current research indicates that job-related stress and job dissatisfaction are serious employment concerns among probation officers. In other employment domains, job stress and job satisfaction are commonly associated with employee turnover. Moreover, job turnover among probation officers is a serious but understudied problem. Survey data from a random sample of Florida correctional probation officers indicate moderately elevated levels of job-related stress and job dissatisfaction. Job satisfaction was significantly and inversely related to probation officers" inclinations to quit, while job-related stress was indirectly related to such inclinations. The policy implications of these findings are discussed.

Probation work is very stressful (Whitehead & Lindquist, 1985). Probation officers (PO) are responsible for both rehabilitating the probationer and enforcing the order of probation (Whitehead, 1987). These responsibilities may, in themselves, result in significant role ambiguity and conflict, which in turn have been shown to precede increased job stress (Whitehead, 1985). In other employment domains, in both the public and private sectors, increased job stress contributes directly to burnout, especially emotional exhaustion (Maslach & Jackson, 1981). Burnout and emotional exhaustion subsequently result in increased employee turnover and decreased productivity (Barling & MacIntyre, 1993; Holgate & Clegg, 1991; Sheridan & Vredenburgh, t Direct all correspondence to: John K. Cochran, Department of Criminology, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Ave., SOC 107, Tampa, FL 33620. * This research was partially supported by the Florida Department of Corrections. The views and opinions expressed in this document do not necessarily represent those of the Florida Department of Corrections. We would like to acknowledge and express our gratitude to Mitchell Silverman for his helpful comments and suggestions to an earlier version of this manuscript. A M E R I C A N J O U R N A L OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE, Vol. 21 No. 2, 1997 9 1997 Southern Criminal Justice Association

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1978). However, job attachment and satisfaction can reduce burnout and emotional exhaustion (Barling & Maclntyre, 1993; Sigler, 1988; Sigler & McGraw, 1984). These latter observations have yet to be established among probation officers. The purpose of this study is to explore the effects of job-related stress and job satisfaction on probation officers' inclinations to quit. The relevance of this study is evident in the high level of voluntary staff turnover in the field of correctional probation and the various costs associated with these high turnover rates. In Florida, the site of this study, the Secretary of the Department of Corrections (FDOC) reports a turnover rate among probation officers of approximately 30% for FY 1995 (H. S. Singletary, personal communication, September 9, 1995). Clearly, one cost associated with such a high level of staff turnover is the added expenditures for recruiting and training replacement POs (Singletary, 1995). Other costs are those associated with increased caseloads. As turnover increases, caseloads are likely, at least temporarily, to increase as the remaining POs assume responsibility for those probationers left unsupervised by the resultant vacancies. As caseloads increase, the quality and/or quantity of supervision provided to probationers is likely to decrease. Decreased supervision may result in more probation violations going unnoticed and in more opportunities for recidivism. Finally, increased caseloads may be a significant component of a probation officer's level of job-related stress and dissatisfaction, which in turn may lead to absenteeism and voluntary job termination.

JOB-RELATED STRESS, JOB SATISFACTION, AND TURNOVER AMONG PROBATION OFFICERS Research efforts in other employment domains indicate that (1) job-related stress leads to feelings of burnout; (2) burnout, especially emotional exhaustion, is related to lowered productivity, increased absenteeism, inclinations to quit, and turnover; and (3) the effects of stress and burnout can be mediated by high levels of job satisfaction and job attachment (Barling & MacIntyre, 1993; Begley & Czajka, 1993; Carsten & Spector, 1987; Dansereau et al., 1974; Maslach & Jackson, 1981; Michaels & Spector, 1982; Mobley et al., 1978, 1979; Muchinsky & Morrow, 1980; Sheridan & Vredenburgh, 1978; Spencer, 1986; Waters et al., 1976). However, research on these issues with regard to probation ofricers is surprisingly limited. From what research is available, we know that many probation ofricers often report highly elevated levels of stress and burnout (Whitehead & Lindquist, 1985). Holgate and Clegg's (1991) research shows that probation officers, both young and old, report that their work is

SIMMONS, COCHRAN, BLOUNT

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depersonalizing. Moreover, younger POs also report elevated levels of job-related stress, while the older POs report feelings of emotional exhaustion. Whistler's (1994) sample of Florida POs indicates that the major sources of their job-related stress are the lack of promotional opportunities, inadequate salaries, lack of employee participation in policy making, excessive paperwork, inadequate administrative support, and job conflicts. He further notes that unlike law enforcement and correctional officers' job-related stressors, these sources of PO stress are generated primarily from organizational and administrative polices and procedures and are not inherent in their roles of supervising probationers. Whitehead (1987) supports this conclusion by showing that increased client contacts improve POs' feelings of personal accomplishment, which, in turn, enhances their job satisfaction. Such findings provide a source of optimism because they suggest areas in which the PO work environment and conditions can be improved so that stress, burnout, and exhaustion are reduced, job satisfaction is enhanced, and, perhaps, employee turnover rates and consequent problems are held in check. However, this is speculative because there is no research of which we are aware that specifically examines the effects of job-related stress and job satisfaction on probation officers' inclinations to quit. Such is the purpose of the present exploratory study.

DATA AND METHODS The data for this study come from a questionnaire administered to a simple random sample of Florida Correctional Probation Officers (CPO). Minimum qualifications to be a CPO in Florida include a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university, successful completion of the CPO Basic Recruit Training program, and a satisfactory score on the Florida CPO certification examination. All field CPOs are classified as either entry-level officers (CPOI), senior officers (CPOSR), or specialists (CPS). Entry-level officers are responsible for supervising a caseload of relatively non-dangerous offenders. The senior officer classification is a promotional position and includes drug offender officers, community control officers, and control release ofricers. Drug offender officers supervise a caseload of offenders with substance abuse problems, community control officers supervise offenders placed on house arrest/electronic monitoring, and control release officers supervise offenders released from prison to a period of community supervision similar to parole. Finally, the specialist position is also

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a promotional position that requires officers to supervise violent offenders, sex offenders, and/or offenders who are mentally ill.

Procedures and Sample Prior permission to conduct the survey was obtained from the FDOC's Director of Planning and Research as protocol requires. The F D O C stipulated some restrictions to our research design but also provided valuable assistance. For instance, the F D O C supported the costs of printing and distributing the questionnaires and also provided help in the sampling process. On the other hand, the F D O C also requested that probation officers with less than two years of experience be excluded from the sampling frame and that we restrict our sample to only one of its five regions of operation: a 14-county area of central and southwest coastal Florida. These restrictions resulted in a sampling frame of 558 eligible field probation officers. The F D O C also placed some limitations on the questionnaire, which resulted in the loss of some items, thus restricting our ability to more fully model the processes linking job stress to voluntary turnover. The limitations imposed disallowed any investigation of the effects of burnout, emotional exhaustion, role conflict, job commitment/loyalty, non-work related stressors, or productivity. The exclusion of measures of these important concepts from our models is likely to have introduced omitted variable biases. Because of these limitations, we present this study as exploratory and warn against the making of any premature generalizations based on its findings. A packet containing a letter of explanation, instructions, and the four-part questionnaire was delivered to a 60% random sample of 340 field probation officers. The letter and instructions contained general information concerning the purpose of the study and explained to the respondents that their participation was entirely voluntary, that their identity would remain anonymous, that we would guarantee the confidentiality of the information provided to us, and that a completed and returned questionnaire would indicate consent to participate. A return mailing label was provided to each respondent with instructions to use it to seal the return envelope; this provided an added measure of confidentiality. The completed questionnaires were returned via F D O C office mail to the lead author, a CPS employed within the selected region. Returned questionnaires were reviewed for completeness, with missing or unscoreable data identified and excluded from the final analyses. Out of the 340 questionnaires delivered, only 186 complete, usable questionnaires were returned, for a response rate of only about 55%. This low response rate may be due, in part, to the voluntary ha-


217

ture of subject participation, the narrow time frame imposed on our data collection efforts, the lack of any follow-up or other form of subsequent request for participation beyond our initial contact, and the visible involvement of the respondent's employer (the FDOC) in this study. Given these limitations, this is probably not an unusually low response rate; moreover, Babbie (1995, p. 262) indicates that response rates above 50% are "adequate." These limitations provide, on the one hand, a more conservative test of the research hypotheses while, on the other hand, they caution against making overly broad generalizations based on these data. The low response rate may be indicative of a bias that could jeopardize the study. It is possible that among the POs sampled, those who responded might disproportionately be people who had already decided to quit and thus had nothing to lose should their responses be discovered by the FDOC. POs who were less inclined to quit may have opted out of participating in the study to assure that their status with the F D O C remained secure. However, it might also be the case that the response rate is the product of the opposite form of bias. That is, perhaps those POs who are most secure in their job or who are most loyal to the F D O C were most likely to respond, while POs who felt insecure, threatened, or alienated chose not to participate. Either form of bias could dramatically affect the findings of this study. Unfortunately, we have no way of determining if either of these or other biases are present. However, many of the demographic and work experience characteristics of the study respondents are statistically similar to those of the non-respondents. The characteristics of our respondents also closely resemble those for the population of POs within our sampling frame (i.e., F D O C Region 5 POs with at least two years of experience) and, to a lesser degree, to POs across the state with at least two years of experience. The subjects in this study were predominantly married (60%) and white (71%); they had completed a minimum of 16 years of formal education; and many reported having prior law enforcement experience (53%). The subjects were evenly divided by gender (51% female) and had a mean age of 36.6 years. They had served an average of 7.35 years with the FDOC and 7.24 years as a probation officer. Approximately 22% of the subjects were entry-level officers, 67% were senior officers, and 11% were specialists.

Measures and Scales The questionnaire was organized into four parts and took approximately 15 minutes to complete. The first section contained nine items

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requesting work experience and demographic information that were used in our analyses as statistical control variables. The dependent variables were the two inclination-to-quit items employed by Begley and Czajka (1993). These items were phrased as statements to which the respondents indicated their level of agreement along a four-point, fixed-response ordinal scale (l=strongly disagree, 4=strongly agree). The two statements were: "As soon as I can find a better job, I will quit" and "I often think about quitting my job." The survey also included 24 job-related stress items. Twenty-one of these statements were selected from Whisler's (1994) stress scale; the remaining items were created for the present study. These items asked respondents to indicate how stressful they have found a variety of employment experiences to be. Again, responses varied along a fourpoint, fixed-choice, ordinal scale (l=not stressful at all, 4=very stressful). A principal components factor analysis of these items produced four factors with eigenvalues greater than 1.00; however, the scree discontinuity test suggested that a single factor solution was best. The loadings on this factor ranged from .41 to .69 with the exception of a single item that loaded at .30. While item-to-item correlations were quite varied, all of the item-to-scale correlations were of at least modest strength. Moreover, the Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient for the additive scale produced from these 24 items was .90, well above the minimal level of acceptability. Hence, for the purposes of this study, job-related stress was operationalized by this single 24-item additive scale. Due to FDOC conditions placed on the questionnaire design and composition, we were not able to include measures of burnout and emotional exhaustion that the research literature has identified as salient consequences of job stress. Nor could we include measures of nonwork related stressors, role conflict, or role ambiguity. Again, given these constraints, we stress the exploratory nature of this study. The final component of the questionnaire included all 36 items contained within Spector's (1985) job satisfaction scale. Job satisfaction has been defined as the level of congruence between the job expectations of the employee and the actual situational attributes present (Eichar et al., 1991; Scarpello & Vandenberg, 1992). Again, these items were presented as statements to which the respondents were asked to indicate their level of agreement along a four-point, fixed-response ordinal scale (l=strongly disagree, 4=strongly agree). A principal components factor analysis of these 36 items produced eleven factors with eigenvalues greater than 1.00; however, the scree discontinuity test again suggested that a single factor solution was best. While factor loadings, item-to-item, and item-to-scale varied widely, the Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient for the additive scale produce from these 36


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items was .88 - - again, well above acceptable limits. Thus, job satisfaction was measured for the purpose of this study by a single 36-item additive scale. Table 1 presents a description of the variables used in this study, including their codings and descriptive statistics.

Method of Analysis The method of analysis employed was ordinary least squares (OLS) multiple regression. Though the dependent variables were ordinal level measures, it has been demonstrated that OLS regression can be confidently employed without introducing excessive bias (Labovitz, 1970; 1971; Kim, 1975). Logistic regression models for polytomous dependent variables were also analyzed. These models produced essentially identical findings to those reported here. Separate models are employed to examine the effects of job-related stress, job satisfaction, and the work experience and demographic variables on each dependent variable. Because of multicollinearity problems, three separate models were examined for each dependent variable. In these models, different measures of work experience are included. We also examined models in which the job-related stress and job satisfaction scales each served as dependent variables regressed on one another and the control variables.

RESULTS Approximately half of the probation officers indicated that they either agree or strongly agree that as soon as they can find a better job, they will quit their current job (see Table 1). Similarly, about 45% of the probation officers in our sample reported that they "often think about quitting" their job. These probation officers also indicated that they were somewhat dissatisfied with their work; that is, the mean level of job satisfaction was less than the midpoint of the scale (83.76 < 90). They also reported a modest level of job-related stress (mean = 54.84 < midpoint = 60). The major sources of dissatisfaction with probation work identified by our respondents involved perceived incongruence relative to the frequency of pay raises, the level of salary awarded commensurate to the work required, the probability of winning a promotion, and the level of paperwork required in the job. The primary sources of job-related stress identified by our subjects were the excessive paperwork, inadequate salary, inadequate administrative support, and lack of promotional opportunities. These stressors are nearly identical to those identified by Whisler (1994) in his study of job stress among probation officers. The results of both studies indicate that the sources of stress

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TABLE 1 Variables, Codings, and Descriptive Statistics DEPENDENT VARIABLES: Begley and Czajka (1993) Inclination to Quit Items. 1. "As soon as I can find a better job, I will quit." (QUIT1)

4=Strongly agree 3=Agree 2=Disagree l=Strongly disagree

2. "I often think about quitting my job." (QUIq2)

4=Strongly agree 3=Agree 2=Disagree l=Strongly disagree INDEPENDENT VARIABLES: 1. Spector (1985) Job (36-item additive scale) Satisfaction (JOBSAT) Cronbach's alpha = .88 2. Whisler (1994) Job(24-item additive scale) Related Stress (STRESS) Cronbach's alpha=.90 CONTROL VARIABLES: 1. Respondent's Age (AGE) (in years) 2. Respondent's Gender (FEMALE) 3. Respondent's Race (WHITE) 4. Marital Status (MARRIED) 5. Level of Education (EDUC) 6. Law Enforcement Experience (LEEXP) 7. Current Job Classification (CPO1,CPOSR) 8. Probation Officer Experience (POYEARS) 9. Department of Corrections Experience (DOCYEARS)

(dummy variable) 0=male 1=female (dummy variable) 0=non-white 1=white (dummy variable) 0=non-married 1=married (in years) (dummy variable) 0=none l=some (dummy variables) CPO1 CPOSR CPS (reference) (in years)

(in years)

20.8% mean=2.61 28.4% std. dev,=0.92 41.5 % 9.3% 14.5% mean=2.42 30.1% std. dev.=0.94 38.2% 17.2% mean=83.76 std. dev.=13.44 mean=54.84 std. dev.=12.65 mean=36.62 std. dev.--9.47 48.9% 51.1% 29.0% 71.0% 40.3% 59.7%

mean=0.51 std. dev.=0.50 mean=0.71 std. dev.=0.46 mean=0.60 std. dev.=0.49 mean=16.44 std. dev.=l.01

mean=0.41 58.7% std. dev.=0.49 41.3% 21.6% 67.0% 11.4% mean=7.24 std. dev.=4.23 mean=7.35 std. dev.=4.52


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and dissatisfaction among probation officers are internal to the policies and procedures of a highly bureaucratic, people-processing public agency (i.e., inadequate administrative support, inadequate salaries, the lack of opportunities for promotions and pay raises, and excessive paperwork). Hence, these results suggest that a significant number of probation officers find their work to be stressful, are dissatisfied with their work, and are inclined to quit. Table 2 presents Pearson's zero-order correlation coeff• for the bivariate associations among these variables. These correlations confirm both the observations reported above and our research hypotheses. As is evident among these correlation coefficients, job satisfaction was inversely related to job-related stress (r = -.549): Probation officers who report that they are experiencing stress on the job are the most dissatisfied with their work. Job satisfaction and job-related stress were also associated with probation officers' inclinations to quit (r = -.423 and -.507 for job satisfaction; r = .200 and .271 for job-related stress). Thus, as expected, increased levels of job-related stress were correlated with stronger inclinations to quit, while job satisfaction was related to weaker inclinations to quit. Probation officer's age was also inversely associated with inclinations to quit (r = -.197 and -.174). Increased experience in correctional/ probation work was correlated with decreased inclinations to quit for a better job (r = -.191 for years of experience as a probation officer; r = -.203 for years of experience in corrections). Similarly, compared to other more advanced probation officer classification levels, entry-level probation officers indicated a strong inclination to quit for a better job (r -- .165). Respondent's age and marital status were both associated with job satisfaction and job-related stress. Older probation officers and married probation officers were more likely to report both satisfaction with their job (r = .130 and .129, respectively) and lower levels of job-related stress (r = -.156 and -.131, respectively). Probation officers with previous experience in law enforcement were less likely to find probation work satisfying (r -- -.187), while those with greater levels of correctional experience were more likely to find probation work satisfying (r = .223). Finally, female probation officers reported higher levels of job-related stress than their male counterparts (r = -.255). All other correlations with the inclination-to-quit items and the job-related stress and job satisfaction scales failed to attain statistical significance. While these descriptive and bivariate findings support our hypotheses, they are merely suggestive. Multivariate analyses, which permit us to control for the influence of the work experience and demographic measures, provide greater confidence regarding the influence of job-

222


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r e l a t e d stress and j o b satisfaction o n p r o b a t i o n officers' inclinations to quit. It is to such an analysis to which we n o w turn.

Regression Analyses Table 3 presents the findings of ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analyses o n p r o b a t i o n officers' inclinations to quit. T h e s e m o d e l s e x a m i n e the relative effects to j o b - r e l a t e d stress, j o b satisfaction, a n d the w o r k experience and d e m o g r a p h i c m e a s u r e s o n b o t h o f the inclination-to-quit items. H o w e v e r , due to high multicollinearity a m o n g several o f the w o r k experience items, it was n e c e s s a r y to analyze t h r e e s e p a r a t e m o d e l s for e a c h o f the two inclination-to-quit items. I n the first m o d e l , d u m m y variables f o r p r o b a t i o n officer classification levels w e r e included (with the specialist classification as the r e f e r e n c e category). In the s e c o n d m o d e l , these j o b classification d u m m y variables w e r e r e p l a c e d b y a n item m e a s u r i n g the n u m b e r o f y e a r s o f experience as a p r o b a t i o n officer. I n the third a n d final m o d e l , a m e a s u r e o f the n u m b e r o f years o f experience within the Florida D e p a r t m e n t o f C o r r e c t i o n s was substituted.

TABLE 3 OLS Regression Analyses of Probation Officers' Inclination to Quit As soon as I can find a better job, I will quit. I II III Job Satisfaction

Job-Related Stress Age Female White Married Education Law Enfor. Exp. CPO I CPO SR Years Exp. PO Years Exp. DOC Intercept Adj. R-square

-.034* -.004 -.015" .093 -.188 -.054 .158" .169 .808* .384* --3.360 ,256

*p < .05 (one-tailed t-tests).

-.035* -.005 -.013" .068 -.294* -.069 .112 .133 ---.027 -4.852 .216

-.037* -.010 -.022* .051 -.340* -.069 .094 .128 ----.001 5.738 .223

I often think about quitting my job. I II Ill -.039* -.002 -.014" .056 -.075 .063 .175" .097 .294 -.057 --3.403 .251

-.039* -.003 -.019" .054 -.138 .059 .131 .066 --.021 -4.312 .245

-.039* -.003 -.015" -.007 -.193 .063 .102 -.020 ---.024 4.748 .220

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Across all models, the effects of the job satisfaction scale on probation officers' inclinations to quit was inverse and significant (-.034 < b < -.039). Moreover, within each model, the job-satisfaction scale produced the strongest relative effect. The job-related stress scale, however, failed to attain a statistically significant effect in any of the models examined. Similarly, gender, marital status, and law enforcement experience were not significantly associated with either of the inclination-toquit items. Of the various work experience items examined, only the dummy variables for the job classification levels attained a statistically significant effect on probation officers' inclinations to quit for a better job; senior and entry-level probation officers each reported a greater inclination to quit for a better job than the specialists (b = .808 and .384, respectively). Moreover, in the models that included the dummy variables for job classification levels, the effect of respondent's education on both inclination-to-quit items attains statistical significance (b = .158 and .175), indicating stronger inclinations to quit among the better educated probation officers in our sample. Once years of experience in corrections or probation work were included in the models, nonwhite probation officers showed a significantly greater inclination to quit for a better job compared to their white counterparts (b = -.294 and -.340). Finally, in five of the six models examined, the effect of respondent's age on inclination to quit was inverse and significant (-.013 < b < -.019); hence, older probation officers were less inclined to quit their jobs than were younger officers. These models account for approximately 20%25% of the variance in probation officers' inclinations to quit. In Table 4, we present models that regress the job-related stress and job satisfaction scales onto one another and onto the work experience and demographic measures. These models reveal that job-related stress was significantly and inversely related to job satisfaction (-.551 < b < -.573) and gender (-4.766 < b < -5.254). Job satisfaction was significantly and inversely related to job stress (-.535 < b < -.552) and prior law enforcement experience (-3.781 < b < -4.127) and was positively associated with marital status (2.954 < b < 3.467). These models account for approximately 30%-35% of the variance in probation officers' job-related stress and job satisfaction. In sum, the regression models presented in Tables 3 and 4 show that when the effects of the work experience and demographic variables were controlled, job-related stress was not associated with probation officers' inclinations to quit their jobs, but was inversely associated with their level of job satisfaction. Job satisfaction, in turn, was significantly associated with their inclinations to quit. Apparently, the effect of jobrelated stress on probation officers' inclinations to quit, as observed in our bivariate analyses, was mediated through job satisfaction, an obser-


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TABLE 4 OLS Regression Analyses of Probation Officers' JobRelated Stress and Job Satisfaction Job-Related Stress I

Job Satisfaction Job-Related Stress Age Female White Married Education Law Enfor. Exp. CPO I CPO SR Years Exp. PO Years Exp. DOC Intercept Adj. R-square

II

-.565* -.551" . . . -.069 -.134 -5.254* --4.998* -2.425 -1.745 -.304 -.274 -.845 -.605 -1.012 -.663 -3.963 --1.553 --.360 --125.5 117.8 .344 .344

Job Satisfaction III

-.573* . -.151 --4.766* -2.246 .257 -.359 -.737 ---.227 116.8 .351

I

-.539* .059 -1.555 -2.612 2.808 -1.455 --4.045* -2.009 -2.475 --139.7 .335

II

--.535* .063 -1.492 -2.543 2.954* -1.484 -4.127" --.071 -137.0 .329

III

--.552* -.037 -1.472 -2.979 3.467* -1.225 -3.781" ---.147 134.7 .355

*p < .05 (one-tailed t-tests). r a t i o n consistent with similar research efforts in o t h e r e m p l o y m e n t domains (see Barling & McIntyre, 1993; Sigler, 1988; Sigler & M c G r a w , 1984). Hence, elevated levels of job satisfaction can serve to reduce s o m e of the adverse consequences of job-related stress.

CONCLUSION Prior research in other e m p l o y m e n t domains, within b o t h public and private sectors and across blue-, pink-, and white-collar jobs, reveals associations b e t w e e n elevated levels of job-related stress, burnout, and emotional exhaustion. These, in turn, are k n o w n to lead to decreased levels of e m p l o y e e productivity and to increased levels of absenteeism and turnover (Barling & Maclntyre, 1993; Maslach & Jackson, 1981; Sheridan & V r e d e n b e r g h , 1978). E m p l o y e e job satisfaction and job attachment, however, have b e e n shown to mediate these effects (Barling & Maclntyre, 1993; Sigler, 1988; Sigler & M c G r a w , 1984). A m o n g p r o b a t i o n officers, prior research indicates high levels o f job stress and b u r n o u t (Whisler, 1994; Whitehead, 1985, 1987; W h i t e h e a d & Lindquist, 1985). In addition, high rates of voluntary e m p l o y e e turnover h a v e long b e e n recognized as a serious personnel concern for cor-

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PROBATIONOFFICERS' INCLINATIONSTO QUIT

rectional administrators (H. S. Singletary, personal communication, September 9, 1995). Yet, a review of the available research literature fails to uncover any examinations of the relationships across these variables among probation officers. This study explored these issues with survey data from a random sample of Florida Correctional Probation Officers. We observe that large proportions of the officers sampled are inclined to quit and report elevated levels of job-related stress and job dissatisfaction. After controlling for the influence of a number of important work experience and demographic factors, our analyses reveal that probation officers' inclinations to quit are related to their level of job satisfaction. The effect of job-related stress on these inclinations is indirect and mediated through job satisfaction. Beyond providing an initial exploratory examination of a neglected area of research, it was our hope that this study might also reveal various paths that could serve to reduce job stress, improve job satisfaction, and decrease turnover among probation officers. A review of probation officers' responses to the individual items comprising our job-related stress and job-satisfaction scales suggests a number of areas of concern that correctional administrators may wish to examine more closely. For instance, 79% of our respondents indicate moderate to greater levels of stress due to "inadequate salary," and 94% agree or strongly agree that "raises are too few and far between" and are a major contributor to job dissatisfaction. The perceived "lack of promotional opportunities" is also a primary source of job-related stress among these respondents. Approximately 74% indicate moderate or greater levels of stress from the "excessive paperwork," and 81% agree or strongly agree that "too much paperwork" is a primary source of their dissatisfaction with their job. Similarly, 79% agree that "many [of the] rules and procedures make doing a good job difficult." These probation officers (57%) also report moderate or greater levels of stress from the deadlines associated with this paperwork; 72% perceive "inadequate support" from their supervisors and administrators. Management is not just a source of job-related stress among our respondents. Management also plays a major role in the production of job dissatisfaction: 87% of the probation officers sampled dislike their supervisors, and 81% report that they do not feel their supervisor is competent in the job. Thus, these probation officers indicate major stressors and sources of dissatisfaction in their work that derive primarily from the organization and only marginally from the tasks they are asked to perform. This observation is consistent with that of Brown (1987), who observed that situational factors within the work organization were the leading pre-


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cursors of job stress and job dissatisfaction. He proposed that probation officers should be more directly involved in decision-making processes that affect the work environment. This would improve their perception that they are both valued and trusted and would increase their sense of autonomy. Brown also suggested that opportunities for professional development beyond merely opportunities for promotion should also be made more readily available. In sum, Brown proposed a variety of organizational solutions to organizational problems. We suggest some additional organizational responses that departments of correction and offices of probation and parole might consider in an effort to lessen job-related stress and to improve probation ofricers' job satisfaction without added costs. For example, these organizations can provide mechanisms through which employees can inform management of issues that lead to stress, burnout, dissatisfaction, and turnover (Ferrell, 1983). Spencer (1986) established that the provision of such mechanisms results in better opportunities for the organization to make needed adjustments in the work environment. In fact, a general review of organizational policies and procedures, both formal and informal and with input from field officers, should reveal a number of areas and recommendations for change. Finally, given the level of dissatisfaction expressed by our respondents toward their supervisors, these organizations might also wish to review their criteria for the training and selection of supervisors. Many of our respondents indicate strong inclinations to quit their jobs, but most remain. Apparently, there are factors at play that cause them to remain despite these strong inclinations. These may include elements of loyalty, commitment, and attachment to the job - - factors shown in other employment domains to be relevant to the issues examined here (Barling & Maclntyre, 1993; Sigler, 1988; Sigler & McGraw, 1984). It is also likely that a variety of nonwork related factors, such as family structure/process variables and the availability of alternative employment opportunities within the community, are relevant to these issues. For instance, this research was conducted during a period of downsizing that led to the loss of 76 positions within the region studied. Additional research efforts should examine these issues. Moreover, additional research should expand upon our efforts by addressing various limitations in our study, such as the FDOC's restriction that our study be limited to probation officers with two or more years of experience. This restriction eliminated younger and less experienced probation officers who have been shown to experience heightened levels of stress and are most inclined to quit (Whitehead, 1987; Whitehead & Lindquist, 1985). We encourage others to examine these important but

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neglected areas of research and to build upon the exploratory nature of our work.

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