Testing the Job Demands-Resources Model with Organizational Trust among Prison Staff

ORCID

Keena: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2001-3207; May: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8275-6773; Haynes: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1408-9291

MSU Affiliation

College of Arts and Sciences; Department of Sociology

Creation Date

2026-06-01

Abstract

Trust is an essential component of effective organizations and may be especially important in corrections because of the unique challenges this work environment presents. In corrections, trust in both supervisors and the administration is critical to ensuring the safety and security of staff, inmates, and the community. Previous research has revealed important implications of organizational trust, but less is known about the workplace factors that shape organizational trust. Scholars have divided these workplace factors into job demands and job resources. Using data from 322 correctional staff (both custodial and non-custodial staff) working at a large prison in the Southern United States, this study tested the job demands-resources model on two types of organizational trust – supervisor trust and administration trust. Specifically, we examined three job demands – role ambiguity, fear of being victimized at work, and role overload – and three job resources – job variety, quality training, and autonomy. Ordinary Least Squares regression results showed that workplace variables predicted both types of organizational trust and were generally stronger predictors than were personal attributes. Moreover, job resources played a greater role than job demands in shaping both supervisor and administration trust.

Publication Date

2-1-2022

Publication Title

Criminal Justice Review

Publisher

SAGE Publications

First Page

148

Last Page

166

Rights

© 2022 Georgia State University

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Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1177/07340168221076789