The Impact of Job Characteristics on Burnout Among Chinese Correctional Workers

Job burnout has long been recognized as a common occupational hazard among correctional workers. Although past studies have investigated the effects of job-related characteristics on correctional staff burnout in Western societies, this line of research has largely been absent from the literature on community corrections in China. Using data collected from 225 community correction workers in a Chinese province, this study assessed the effects of positive and negative job characteristics on occupational burnout. Positive job characteristics included job autonomy, procedural justice, and role clarity. Negative characteristics included role conflict, job stress, and job dangerousness. As expected, role clarity tended to reduce burnout, whereas role conflict, job stress, and job dangerousness were likely to produce greater burnout among Chinese community correction workers. Male correctional officers were also subjected to a higher level of burnout than their female coworkers. Implications for future research and policy were discussed.