Life satisfaction among private juvenile correctional staff: examining the role of supervisor and management trust

Employees are a critical asset in private security-focused organizations, and their well-being is essential to organizational success. Life satisfaction—a key dimension of well-being—has important implications for both individual and organizational outcomes. The current preliminary study examined how two primary forms of organizational trust—supervisor trust and management trust—are directly associated with employee life satisfaction among staff at a private juvenile correctional facility. Survey data were collected from 157 staff members and analyzed with Ordinary Least Squares regression analysis. Results indicated that employees trust in their supervisor and their trust in management were significantly associated with higher levels of life satisfaction. Notably, the effect of management trust was more than twice as strong as that of supervisor trust. These findings suggest that enhancing organizational trust, particularly employee trust in management, may be an effective strategy for improving life satisfaction among staff in private correctional settings.