Regarding personal factors, the majority of correctional-staff research encompasses measures for race, gender, education, age, and tenure. The research suggests that there is a negative association between educational level and correctional officer job satisfaction. Some research indicates there is no significant relationship between either race or gender and job satisfaction for correctional workers. Both age and tenure apparently have significant relationships with correctional staff job satisfaction; however, the direction of the relationships is neither clear nor conclusive. Still, these and other personal characteristics probably only account for a small variance in job satisfaction of correctional employees. Regarding the effects of the work environment, the majority of studies have found that role stressors and job stress both have a negative impact on job satisfaction. In addition, job autonomy, participation in decision-making, promotional opportunity, and quality supervision all have been found to have a positive influence on job satisfaction of correctional workers. Pay, dangerousness, inmate population issues, and security level have generally been found to have little or no impact on correctional staff job satisfaction. Generally, the factors associated with work environment have a far greater effect on job satisfaction than do personal factors. This literature review also focused on the possible consequences of job satisfaction for correctional staff. Although very little correctional research has examined the relationship between job satisfaction and positive work outcomes, a few correctional studies support the premise that job satisfaction is probably linked to positive work outcomes; for example, a number of studies indicate that correctional employee job satisfaction leads to a more positive view of inmates and greater attention to inmate personal safety and rehabilitation. In contrast, research on the consequences of low levels of job satisfaction among correctional employees indicates that it leads to low levels of job performance. Based on the findings of this literature review, correctional administrators could improve employee job satisfaction by correcting those areas of the work environment that contribute to employee stress and reduce employee autonomy and participation in decision-making. 101 references