Gender Differences: Correctional Officers’ Perceptions of Justice and Fairness in Workplace

• In Event: Understanding Criminal Justice Workplaces

Abstract

The percentage of female employees has been found continue to increase in corrections. Female officers doing corrections in a unique prison environment traditionally dominated by male officers has been argued may possess different work attitudes and perceptions of institutions. The current study aims to understand whether gender differences would affect correctional officer’s perceptions toward procedural and distributive fairness. The authors surveyed 169 correctional officers across institutions in Ghana. The results indicate that women and men did differ in how they perceive procedural fairness rather than distributive fairness. Gender has a moderate effect in shaping work attitudes within organizations when the statistic model controlled by demographic backgrounds, job satisfaction and job commitment. Practical policy implications of the findings are discussed.

Authors

• Ming-Li Hsieh, University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire

• Francis D. Boateng, University of Mississippi