Employee job performance, which refers to positive employee behavior and the creation of expected outcomes of their work, has an important added value for organizations because it contributes to general organizational efficiency and effectiveness (Motowidlo et al., 1997; Jex and Britt, 2008; Kumari and Thapliyal, 2017). Proactive, involved, and high-performing employees are essential for achieving organizational objectives (Motowidlo and Kell, 2013); therefore, employee job performance management and evaluation should be part of any organization’s strategic management processes. Regular and consistent evaluation of job performance is important for several reasons: it gives the management insight into the quality of work, and, at the same time, it makes it possible to understand which organizational and work-related factors influence the employees’ work. Based on this, the methods of work can be adapted and potential improvements in employee job performance can be planned (Judge et al., 2001; Vandenabeele, 2009; Johari and Yahya, 2016; Thevanes and Dirojan, 2018).

Managing and evaluating job performance is also exceptionally important in prisons where, due to the nature of the work – involving employees with a high level of authority and powers – it is vital that work is carried out lawfully and professionally. In addition, such employees (e.g., police or prison officers) are often exposed to dangerous, stressful, and demanding situations that affect their job performance (Lambert et al., 2012; Frank et al., 2019). In line with the growing demands for higher efficiency of the law enforcement system and overpopulated prison institutions, prison officers are also often faced with an increased workload and are consequently overburdened. Hence, studies aimed at understanding what drives their performance are even more essential. Moreover, monitoring and promoting job performance and the high quality of work of prison officers are important since they are key actors in ensuring order, safety, and the legitimacy of the prison system as a whole (Meško et al., 2016; Meško and Hacin, 2019).

Exploring job performance is a challenge for researchers, because it is a complex concept composed of various dimensions (e.g., task performance, contextual performance, and organizational citizenship behavior; Borman and Motowidlo, 1997; Motowidlo et al., 1997; Organ, 1997). Even though research on employee job performance is fairly widespread within various organizational environments, it is generally less common and narrower in law enforcement and security organizations. For example, studies within the context of prisons and the police largely focus on specific aspects of job performance, such as organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) (e.g., Lambert, 2010; Lambert et al., 2012; Frank et al., 2019) or the counterproductive work behavior (CWB) of employees (e.g., Reisig and Mesko, 2009; Wolfe and Piquero, 2011; Boateng and Hsieh, 2019a), but they only rarely explore task performance, which is one of the most important dimensions of job performance (Lambert et al., 2012, 2014).

Another challenge is the understanding of factors associated with the prison officers’ job performance. Past research on job performance at prisons has focused on organizational and work-related factors, establishing the cause-effect relationships between them (Lambert et al., 2008, 2019; Paoline and Lambert, 2012; Qureshi et al., 2019) and only rarely exploring the association of job performance with other factors, such as job attitudes. Specifically, organizational research has already shown that job involvement and job satisfaction as important aspects of employee job attitudes are influential factors associated with employee job performance (Judge et al., 2001; Castle, 2008; Riketta, 2008; Thevanes and Dirojan, 2018), but they remain unexplored in studies of employees at law enforcement and security organizations.

In addition to the above, another challenge evident from the literature is the various methods of measuring job performance and the different organizational and cultural contexts of the studies. For example, job performance studies in prisons are usually conducted in different organizational settings (e.g., private prisons, high-security prisons, etc.) and countries with different concepts and methodologies. This leads to inconsistent findings, whose interpretation requires considering the research context (i.e., environment or situation).

In line with the challenges described above, researchers often draw attention to a general lack of consistency in studying the job performance of police officers (Shane, 2010; Frank et al., 2019) and prison officers (Lambert, 2010), highlighting the need for more detailed and systematic research into factors influencing the job performance of the latter (Lambert and Paoline, 2008; Lambert, 2010).

Similar challenges and deficiencies can also be observed in Slovenian research. Even though studies of the Slovenian prison system are relatively well-established and widespread, in the past, researchers have mainly focused on determining the employees’ and inmates’ views on the social climate and examining the legitimacy of the prison staff (Brinc, 2011; Meško et al., 2016; Meško and Hacin, 2019; Hacin and Meško, 2021). However, to date, no research has been conducted that focuses on job performance in the Slovenian prison system. Because past studies that have already explored job performance at prisons facilitated the development of more effective management approaches, such studies should also be promoted in the Slovenian prison environment.

The main objective of this article is thus to explore: (a) the degree of task performance of prison officers in Slovenia; (b) how their task performance is associated with their job attitudes, and (c) how these attitudes are associated with organizational and work-related factors.

Job performance can be described as expected achievements and results of employees in an organization, which result from the long-term repetition of desired behavior and affect the achievement of organizational objectives (Motowidlo and Kell, 2013). Researchers describe job performance as a complex and multidimensional construct (Borman and Motowidlo, 1997; Griffin et al., 2000; Motowidlo and Kell, 2013). The two job performance dimensions most frequently mentioned in the literature are task performance and contextual performance (Motowidlo and Van Scotter, 1994; Motowidlo et al., 1997; Griffin et al., 2000). However, some authors divide job performance into three dimensions: task performance, contextual performance, and CWB (Rotundo and Sackett, 2002; Dalal, 2005).

Task performance refers to patterns of behavior that help achieve the expected results (Van Scotter et al., 2000); this behavior involves the fulfillment of the basic job requirements (Motowidlo et al., 1997; Rotundo and Sackett, 2002; Pradhan and Jena, 2017). It can also be defined as the performance of activities that usually appear on formal job descriptions and behavior that contributes to reaching the organization’s objectives through the performance of certain tasks (Motowidlo and Van Scotter, 1994; Borman and Motowidlo, 1997; Jex and Britt, 2008; Motowidlo and Kell, 2013). In previous research, task performance has been highlighted as one of the most important dimensions of employee job performance, because it refers explicitly to the fulfillment of the basic and formally defined job requirements (Rotundo and Sackett, 2002; Jex and Britt, 2008). Despite the recommended application of several dimensions in studying employee job performance, task performance is a sufficient and in practice, the most illustrative indicator for understanding employee performance and efficiency at work.

Moreover, contextual performance can be understood as a discretionary, voluntary employee behavior that does not depend on the reward systems in the organization, but contributes to its effective functioning and productivity and helps create a good organizational climate and culture (Organ, 1997; Pradhan and Jena, 2017). It includes aspects such as prosocial organizational behavior, organizational spontaneity, and OCB (Griffin et al., 2000). Contextual performance is thus associated with proactive behavior that is not required in the job description and is instead a matter of the employees’ personal choices. This type of performance also includes OCB (Motowidlo and Van Scotter, 1994; Borman and Motowidlo, 1997), which has an important impact on organizational effectiveness and employee productivity (Podsakoff et al., 2000). In the literature, the OCB concept is often divided into several aspects, for example: (1) altruism, conscientiousness, sportsmanship, courtesy, and civic virtue (Organ, 1997), (2) organizational citizenship behavior toward the organization (OCB-O) and organizational citizenship behavior toward individuals (OCB-I) (Williams and Anderson, 1991; Dalal, 2005), or (3) altruism and compliance (Lambert, 2010; Frank et al., 2019). Williams and Anderson (1991) suggested that the first five OCB dimensions could be combined into their two constructs: OCB-O and OCB-I. The OCB-I construct would include altruism and courtesy, and the OCB-O construct would comprise conscientiousness, civic virtue, and sportsmanship.

However, another important job performance dimension is CWB, which harms the organization and has a negative impact on organizational performance. This refers to voluntary behavior at work that harms the well-being of the organization or its members (Rotundo and Sackett, 2002). Motowidlo and Kell (2013) also refer to this concept or dimension as dysfunctional organizational behavior, and other researchers refer to it as employee misconduct (Boateng and Hsieh, 2019a).

From a literature review, it is evident that employee job performance studies are carried out at various organizations, such as manufacturing companies, financial, health, and educational institutions, as well as government and public organizations (Hermawati and Mas, 2017; Kumari and Thapliyal, 2017; Thevanes and Dirojan, 2018). Moreover, past research shows that job performance is the result of various organizational, personal, and work-related factors. Because of this, it must be assessed within the context of interrelated factors.

Job performance evaluations are especially important in law enforcement and security organizations, which are key to ensuring and maintaining social stability and safeguarding fundamental social values, functions, and rights. Due to their role in society and the nature of work, employees in these organizations must perform their duties lawfully and professionally. Employee job performance in law enforcement and security organizations is also important because the perceived legitimacy of the organization and its employees depends on the quality of employees’ work. All this also applies to prison staff, especially prison officers, who are the bearers of power and authority, and whose task performance has a strong impact on prison security and the fulfillment of the prisons’ fundamental mission (Meško et al., 2014). Failure to perform tasks, poor work performance, deviations from the formal job requirements, and CWB can have exceptionally wide implications for effective prison management. They can lead to the emergence of risks in prisons and negatively affect the purpose of a prison sentence and, ultimately, general organizational efficiency and effectiveness.

Another important feature of working in a prison environment, which can affect employees and thus must be taken into account when studying their job performance, is the fact that the employees carry out dangerous work and are often exposed to stressful situations (Meško et al., 2004; Reisig and Mesko, 2009). This can lead to various psychological states and consequently affect the prison officers’ quality of work, work engagement, and job involvement. Therefore, a high job performance, a strong sense of safety among employees, and their positive psychological states are key to fulfilling the prison systems’ vision, objectives, and mission.

Based on all the aforementioned specific circumstances of working in prisons, which are not typical of other organizational environments, it is vital to not only monitor employee job performance, but also understand the factors associated with it.

Various studies of prison performance can be found in the literature; however, the focus is often on establishing prison performance in general. This involves analyses of various performance indicators, including official prison statistics and inmate surveys, as well as comparisons between public and private prisons, and the evaluations of inmate recidivism as a measure of prison performance (Camp et al., 2002; Spivak and Sharp, 2008). Meanwhile, studies of employee job performance in law enforcement and the associated factors started to receive increased researchers’ attention only in the new millennium.

Literature on employee job performance in prisons most often focuses on exploring the various dimensions of OCB (Lambert et al., 2012, 2014) and CWB or employee misconduct (Boateng and Hsieh, 2019a). Overall, research shows that job performance at prisons is associated with various personal, organizational, and work-related factors, such as the approach to employee management (clarity of tasks, feedback, and organizational justice) (Lambert et al., 2012; Lambert and Hogan, 2013). Personal and demographic factors (e.g., race, gender, age, work experience, rank, and education) are also shown to play an important role (Shane, 2010; Lambert et al., 2014; Frank et al., 2019). However, in this regard, Hogan et al. (2009) highlight that organizational factors are more important performance indicators than personal characteristics (race, age, gender, etc.).

Some studies have also focused on establishing the contribution of job attitudes to job performance in prisons. The elements of job attitudes include well-being at work, organizational commitment, life satisfaction, job satisfaction, and job involvement (Lambert, 2010; Frank et al., 2019). Moreover, some studies show that job attitudes are further associated with factors such as organizational justice, job stress, and stressors (Lambert et al., 2012; Boateng and Hsieh, 2019b).

A few limitations emerge in line with the review of the existing body of literature. As already noted, studies exploring the influence and significance of factors associated with prison employees’ job performance vary significantly. This may be a consequence of several circumstances; different cultural, systemical, and organizational environments of the studies performed; different dimensions of job performance being the focus of the research; and different approaches to measuring the performance (employees’ self-reporting or supervisors’ evaluations).

Even though several studies have been conducted in the Slovenian prison environment, there is a lack of literature exploring job performance in this context. Specifically, no research has yet been conducted on the perceived or self-reported job performance of prison officers in the Slovenian prison environment. Indirectly, this topic is at present best covered in the literature by studies examining the social climate at Slovenian prisons. This topic began to be explored in 1980, after which studies were conducted every five years (Brinc, 2011). A detailed overview of penological research in Slovenia was provided by Hacin (2015), who established that not only has the field of research and importance of studying prison-related issues expanded over time, but the purposes of a prison sentence have also changed, shifting from a sentencing ideology to rehabilitation. Accordingly, awareness of the importance of adequate staff qualifications and good relations with inmates has also strengthened. In addition, research on the (perceived and self-perceived) legitimacy of prison officers and other staff at Slovenian prisons has also become well established (e.g., Reisig and Mesko, 2009; Meško et al., 2016; Meško and Hacin, 2019). In relation to the topic addressed in this article, a study of the importance of prison officers’ professional skills in performing their work (Meško et al., 2004) provided some interesting insights. This study showed that, according to the prison officers themselves, at least one year of work experience is required for them to be able to perform their job with competence. The prison officers included in this study also expressed a need for more training and improving their communication skills.

Based on the literature review on prison officers’ job performance, we can highlight two evident research gaps, i.e., the lack of studies exploring the prison officers’ task performance and the lack of research on job performance in the Slovenian prison environment. Because job performance can be affected by various personal, organizational and work-related factors, this article aims to address the following research questions (RQ):

In line with these research questions, a theoretical research model was designed based on the assumption that task performance is associated with job attitudes and job attitudes are associated with organizational and workplace factors. These correlations were defined based on the literature review and the findings of previous studies conducted at police organizations and within the prison environment. The basic concepts relevant for our study, hypotheses and their premises are presented in more detail in the following paragraphs.

The concept of employee job performance has been the subject of organizational studies for years, as its understanding and management contribute significantly to organizational effectiveness. Despite such research is common in other professions the results cannot be generalized for the prison system. To some extent, there are comparable studies in other security professions, namely police; however, prisons are a closed system, so research like this is needed. It is also impossible to generalize the results of related research from other countries in the US or Western Europe because the cultural context also plays an important role. Considering the fact that such research is lacking in the post-socialist countries of Central and Southeastern Europe, our study presents a valuable contribution to the literature.

This article focused on examining the task performance of prison officers within the Slovenian prison system and establishing how job attitudes impact task performance. It also examined which organizational and work-related factors can be indirectly associated with task performance via their impacts on job attitudes.

The study’s findings indicate extremely high self-reported task performance of prison officers. Even though the reasons for the high-rated task performance could be ascribed to reporting errors [e.g., the overconfidence effect or social desirability; (Holzbach, 1978)], the results may also reflect respondents’ sincere beliefs about fulfilling all their official job tasks and requirements well and with high quality. This may also stem from the fact that prison officers working with inmates in highly dangerous conditions must always be well prepared and regularly participate in various education and training activities. For example, based on Slovenian regulation, prison officers must carry out at least 2 h of training per month to sustain and upgrade their work skills. In addition to the expertise obtained through their formal education, they must also have the necessary informal skills (i.e., social and communication) to carry out all their duties.

In discussing the reality of the established high task performance of prison officers, the context of the conducted research must also be taken into account. In Slovenia, the penal policy and thus the system of enforcing criminal sanctions became much stricter in the period after gaining independence. Although Slovenia has a relatively low incarceration rate and is comparable to Scandinavian countries, it has faced an increase in the prison population in the past decades. The Slovenian prison system strengthened its security component and slightly reduced its rehabilitation role, which became of secondary importance to the goal of maintaining order and security in prisons. In line with the trends in the prison population, the number of judicial police officers has increased slightly, and the penal profession has become more professionalized and directed toward employee training. Despite opening new organizational units and a slight increase in personnel capacity, the system still faces overcrowding, high workload, and understaffing. Due to the lack of professional staff, judicial officers began to take over some treatment tasks (Hacin and Meško, 2020). Taking into account the increased workload and the complexity, variety, and danger of the tasks performed by prison officers, we can understand why they see and value their contribution to the success of prison operations and evaluate their work results with such optimism and confidence.

In testing the hypotheses, we established that job satisfaction, as an aspect of job attitudes, is positively associated with task performance. This means that increased job satisfaction also increases the prison officers’ task performance, which is consistent with the findings of other researchers (e.g., Vandenabeele, 2009; Frank et al., 2019). In turn, we did not find job involvement, as another aspect of job attitudes, to be associated with the self-evaluated task performance of the prison officers. Even though this correlation has been established by some former studies (e.g., Johari and Yahya, 2016; Hermawati and Mas, 2017; Thevanes and Dirojan, 2018), the findings of research to date have not been entirely consistent. For example, in a survey conducted among the correctional staff at an American prison, Lambert et al. (2008) did not confirm these correlations, highlighting the possibility of indirect influences and moderator variables linking job involvement with job performance (e.g., organizational commitment).

Our study showed that perceived organizational justice is positively associated with prison officers’ job satisfaction. This means that if they believe they are treated fairly by their organization, this positively affects their satisfaction with work. This finding can be substantiated by the results of previous studies, in which Lambert et al. (2018) and Frank et al. (2019) also established the same correlation. In addition, we determined that the perceived dangerousness of the job affects job satisfaction. Authors, such as Castle (2008), Jiang et al. (2018), and Qureshi et al. (2019), have already directed attention to this issue in their research, but the results vary; in some studies, the dangerousness of the job was found to affect job satisfaction, whereas in others this correlation was not confirmed (e.g., Castle, 2008; Lambert and Hogan, 2009). The results of our regression analysis also show a negative correlation between job stress and job satisfaction, which means that increased stress reduces job satisfaction. This has also been confirmed by other studies conducted in the prison context (e.g., Lambert and Paoline, 2012; Frank et al., 2019).

Moreover, job involvement is also associated with organizational justice, which has been relatively consistently confirmed by previous research (e.g., Lambert et al., 2019; Qureshi et al., 2019), and with the dangerousness of the job. However, the findings of previous studies have been more inconsistent on the latter. For instance, Cullen et al. (1985) and Lambert and Paoline (2012) established no correlation between the dangerousness of the job and job involvement, whereas Lambert et al. (2013, 2018) reported a negative correlation. Furthermore, our study demonstrated that job stress does not affect job involvement, whereas this correlation has previously been confirmed by some other studies conducted among prison staff (Griffin et al., 2010; Paoline and Lambert, 2012; Lambert et al., 2017).

In essence, our research showed that job involvement and job satisfaction, which were reported as high and neutral respectively, are affected by both perceived organizational justice and the danger of the job. Perceived dangerousness of the job was rated high, which indicates that the prison officers are aware of the risks and dangers associated with their profession. They rated organizational justice very positively, reporting that they can count on the organization they work for to be fair, but they were more critical with regard to how their colleagues would evaluate the same fairness. Even though prison officers do not perceive their job as stressful, stress nonetheless affects their job satisfaction, but it does not impact their job involvement.

These results have an important added value, especially in understanding the implications of job stress and dangerousness. Although stress at work affects prison officers’ job attitudes to some extent, it does not reduce their job involvement. Such a conclusion could be ascribed to the fact that the respondents are exposed to stressful situations and job stress daily. We can assume that stress is something that prison officers have gotten used to throughout their careers (on average, the respondents have worked in this profession for nearly 13 years and had already been employed at a single institution for an average of 12 years), and thus have already internalized it. The fact that they had been working at the same place and among the same or similar staff for so long, and thus in a familiar environment, could be the reason why they do not perceive their work to be so stressful that it would negatively affect their job involvement. However, job stress does have a negative effect on their job satisfaction. In conclusion, job stress does not make the prison officers any more or less involved with their work, but it does affect their satisfaction with it. This makes sense, as if employees experience great stress at work, this can also have negative psychological, physical, and behavioral effects, which may also impact overall satisfaction with the work they perform (Frank et al., 2019).

Furthermore, we found that the dangerousness of the job does not cause a reduction in job satisfaction or job involvement. Thus, the awareness that their work is dangerous does not constitute a disturbing factor for prison officers, just the opposite. Therefore, it is not an indicator of any decrease in prison officers’ job attitudes but in fact, contributes to greater job satisfaction and involvement. A possible reason for this could be the fact that the desired characteristics of prison officers include high physical fitness and other skills required to deal with dangerous situations (Meško et al., 2004), which is why these dangers do not decrease their well-being at work, but allow them to apply the skills they have. However, this finding disagrees with the results of previous research, for which there may be various reasons. In explaining the diverse findings of previous studies, the potential effects of different types of organizations must not be ignored. Specifically, while the impact of the dangerousness of the job has often been examined in a prison setting, the related studies were conducted in various environments, such as jails, high-security prisons, and open-type prisons, which house different groups of inmates and require different levels of security (Castle, 2008; Lambert and Paoline, 2012; Jiang et al., 2018), and this could affect the staff’s perception of job dangerousness. These studies also took place in different countries with different prison systems, which makes it more difficult to compare the results. Ultimately, the reason for the inconsistent findings in the literature may thus be the differences in the organizational and social climate of the prisons studied.

To sum up, higher job performance was found among those prison officers who reported being satisfied with their work, which is why maintaining high job satisfaction among prison officers is vital for effective and successful performance of their basic tasks. However, because their job satisfaction is affected by perceived (1) organizational justice, (2) dangerousness of the job, and (3) job stress, it can be concluded that to ensure high employee task performance, it is also necessary to manage these factors through suitable strategic, managerial and organizational measures. In addition, this study showed that as an organizational factor, organizational justice is more significantly associated with job satisfaction and job involvement than the other two work-related factors, which provides more detailed insight into which aspects should be given priority in managing employee job performance.

Although our research did not yield evidence supporting a statistically significant association between job involvement and task performance, the potential importance of this aspect of job-related attitudes should not be disregarded. By taking into account the extant literature and preliminary studies, it becomes evident that job involvement among employees signifies elevated levels of employee motivation, leading to endeavors to attain superior performance and enhanced productivity. Heightened job involvement can foster increased employee engagement in work processes, proactive problem-solving, willingness to assist others, and ultimately higher-quality outcomes. The relationship of job involvement with task performance may also be indirect, with job satisfaction mediating the relationship, highlighting the imperative role of job involvement as a driver of employee performance.

The present study is an important addition to the existing body of literature because previous studies in a prison environment only rarely focused on task performance as a specific dimension of job performance and associated job attitudes with job performance. Moreover, this is the first study in the Slovenian prison environment examining the job performance of prison officers. Therefore, it constitutes an original work that can serve as a starting point for further research in this area. Last but not least, the results of this study and its theoretical research model form the basis for other researchers’ investigations of prison officers’ workplace behavior.

The findings of this study also have practical implications. First, they are relevant for prison officers. The fact is that feedback is key for the development and progress of employees and the improvement of their work. Second, the results also give senior officers, prison management, and the Prison Administration insight into the current situation. They can use these findings to better understand the prison officers’ behavior, identify possible improvements, and address the weaknesses. Third, the findings can also prove useful for other stakeholders in law enforcement and security organizations, where staff work under similarly dangerous conditions.

The prison officers’ quality of work has many important implications for enforcing order and safety in prisons. By understanding the deficiencies in the staff’s current productivity and addressing factors that affect their job performance, it is possible to contribute to the more successful fulfillment of organizational objectives. This study showed that the prison officers’ task performance is heavily influenced by their job satisfaction, which in turn depends on perceived organizational justice, dangerousness of the job, and job stress. Therefore, the prison and prison system management must constantly and actively strive to maintain a high level of employee well-being by promoting open communication, good relations, mutual respect, and fair treatment of employees. At the same time, prison officers’ job performance should not be taken for granted. Instead, it is necessary to continuously evaluate and monitor it, and study its causes and effects. Only by consistently studying the prison environment and the prison officers’ well-being can we establish proper understanding and evidence-based improvements at an individual prison and thus support the entire prison system in achieving its vision and mission.

The datasets presented in this study can be found in online repositories. The names of the repository/repositories and accession number(s) can be found at: Mendeley Data: https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/ps2d37n45h.

The studies involving humans were approved by the Ethics Commission of the Faculty of Criminal Justice and Security University of Maribor. The studies were conducted in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements. The participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study.

KP, KPM, and AM contributed to conception and design of the study. KP, KPM, and BL collected data and organized the database. KP and KPM performed the statistical analysis and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. All authors contributed to manuscript revision, read, and approved the submitted version.

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.