Jail staff are the heart and soul of any jail. Jails rely on staff to complete a myriad of tasks and duties in order to maintain a safe, secure, and humane jail facility. One area of importance is job involvement (i.e., the psychosocial bond between the staff member with his or her job). The current study examined the job characteristics model to explain job involvement among staff at a large county correctional system in Orlando, Florida. The job characteristic variables were formalization, instrumental communication, relations with coworkers, input into decision making, job variety, perceived dangerousness of the job, role strain, and administrative support. It was found that formalization, input into decision making, and administrative support all had positive associations with job involvement. The implications of these findings for correctional researchers and practitioners are discussed.
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