Abstract
Job burnout can negatively impact individual officers, the organization that employs the burned out officers, citizens with whom these officers directly interact, and the community more broadly. The vast majority of the empirical research on burnout has been based on Western police officers. The present study extends our understanding of the associations that job stress, job involvement, job satisfaction, affective commitment, and continuance commitment have with the three dimensions of burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a reduced sense of accomplishment) among Indian police officers. Ordinary least square (OLS) regression analysis was used to examine survey data from 827 police officers in the Sonipat and Rohtak districts of the Indian state of Haryana using a systematic random sample. The findings indicate that job involvement and job satisfaction were associated with lower levels of all three dimensions of burnout. Job stress was associated with emotional and reduced accomplishment burnout. High affective commitment was associated with lower levels of a reduced sense of personal accomplishment, while continuance commitment was associated with higher levels of emotional and depersonalization burnout. The results suggest that job stress, job involvement, job satisfaction, affective commitment, and continuance commitment have effects on burnout among Indian officers, as has been found among Western officers. As such, police scholars and administrators should focus on reducing job stress and continuance commitment and increasing job involvement, job satisfaction, and affective commitment among officers.
References
Allen N, Meyer J (1990) The measurement and antecedents of affective, continuance, and normative commitment. J Occup Psychol 63:1–18
Azeem S (2010) Personality hardiness, job involvement and burnout among teachers. International Journal of Vocational and Technical Education 2(3):36–40
Bakker A, Demerouti E (2007) The job demands-resources model: state of the art. J Manag Psychol 22:309–328
Bayley D (2006) Changing the guard: developing democratic police abroad. Oxford University Press, New York
Berg A, Hem E, Lau B, Loeb M, Ekeberg O (2003) Suicidal ideation and attempts in Norwegian police. Suicide and Life Threatening Behavior 33:302–312
Bhatnager J (2007) Predictors of organizational commitment in India strategic HR roles, organizational learning capability and psychological empowerment. Int J Hum Resour Manag 18:1782–1811
Brayfield AH, Rothe HF (1951) An index of job satisfaction. J Appl Psychol 35:307–311
Census2011.co.in. (2015). Haryana population census data 2011. Retrieved from http://www.census2011.co.in/census/state/haryana.html
Cherniss C (1980) Staff burnout: job stress in the human services. Sage Publications, Beverly Hills
Cohen J (1988) Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. Erlbaum, Hillsdale
Crank J, Regoli R, Hewitt J, Culbertson R (1995) Institutional and organizational antecedents of role stress, work alienation, and anomie among police executives. Crim Justice Behav 22:152–171
Das D, Verma A (1998) The armed police in the British colonial tradition: the Indian perspective. Policing 21:354–367
Das D, Verma A (2003) Police mission: challenges and response. Scarecrow, London
Davidl, R. (2016) Haryana’s Jat violence like 1984, says Sukhbir. The Times of India, May 16, 2016. Retrieved from http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/Haryanas-Jat-violence-like-1984-says-Sukhbir/articleshow/51273701.cms.
DeCarufel A, Schaan J-L (1990) The impact of compressed work weeks on police job involvement. Canadian Police College 14:81–97
Demerouti E, Bakker A (2011) The job demands-resources model: challenges for future research. SA J Ind Psychol 37(2):1–9
Dhillon K (2005) Police and politics in India - colonial concepts, democratic compulsions: India police 1947–2002. Manohar Publishers, New Delhi
Dhillon K (2011) The police and the criminal justice system in India. In: Mehra A, Levy R (eds) Perspectives from India and France. Pearson, Delhi, pp 27–59
Dowler K (2005) Job satisfaction, burnout, and perception of unfair treatment: the relationship between race and police work. Police Quarterly 8:476–489
Eisinga R, Grotenhuis M, Pelzer B (2013) The reliability of a two-item scale: Pearson, Cronbach, or spearman-Brown? International Journal of Public Health 58:637–642
Freudenberger H (1974) Staff burnout. J Soc Issues 30:159–165
Griffin M, Hogan N, Lambert E, Tucker-Gail K, Baker D (2010) Job involvement, job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment and the burnout of correctional staff. Crim Justice Behav 37:239–255
Haryana Police (2014) Haryana police. Retrieved from http://haryanapolice.nic.in/index.asp
Hofstede G (1984) National cultures revisited. Asia Pac J Manag 2(1):22–28
Kanungo R (1982) Work alienation: an integrative approach. Praeger, New York
Kaur R, Chodagiri V, Reddi N (2013) A psychological study of stress, personality, and coping in police personnel. Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine 35(2):141–147
Kerala Police History and Archives (2011) History of police. Retrieved from http://www.keralapolicehistory.com/history.html
Kethineni S, Srinivasan M (2009) Policing handling of domestic violence cases in Tamil Nadu, India. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 25:202–213
Khan M, Unnithan N (2009) Criminological and criminal justice education in India: a comparative note. Journal of Criminal Justice Education 19:97–109
Kim J, Mueller C (1978) Factor analysis statistical methods and practical issues. Sage, Newbury Park
Kop N, Euwema M (2001) Occupational stress and the use of force by Dutch police officers. Crim Justice Behav 28:631–652
Kop N, Euwema M, Schaufeli W (1999) Burnout, job stress, and violent behavior among Dutch police officers. Work Stress 38:267–275
Kumar, T. (2017) Factors impacting job satisfaction among police personnel in India: A multidimensional analysis. International Criminal Justice Review. Online First
Kwantes C (2009) Culture, job satisfaction and organizational commitment in India and the United States. Journal of Indian Business Research 1:196–212
Lambert E, Wu Y, Jiang S, Jaishankar K, Pasupuleti S, Bhimarasetty J, Smith B (2014) Support for community policing in India and the U.S.: an exploratory study among college students. Policing 37:3–29
Lambert E, Qureshi H, Hogan N, Klahm C, Smith B, Frank J (2015) The association of job variables with job involvement, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment among Indian police officers. International Criminal Justice Review 25:194–213
Manzoni P, Eisner M (2006) Violence between the police and the public: influences of work-related stress, job satisfaction, burnout, and situational factors. Crim Justice Behav 33:613–645
Martinussen, Richardsen A, Burke R (2007) Job demands, job resources, and burnout among police officers. J Crim Just 35:239–249
Maslach C (1982) Burnout: the cost of caring. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs
Maslach C (2003) Job burnout: new directions in research and intervention. Curr Dir Psychol Sci 12:189–192
Maslach C, Jackson S (1981) The measurement of experienced burnout. J Occup Behav 2:99–113
Maslach C, Schaufeli W, Leiter M (2001) Job burnout. Annu Rev Psychol 52:397–422
McCarty W, Skogan W (2012) Job-related burnout among civilian and sworn police personnel. Police Quarterly 15:1–19
McCarty W, Zhao J, Garland B (2007) Occupational stress and burnout between male and female police officers: are there any gender differences? Policing 30:672–691
Meyer J, Allen N, Smith C (1993) Commitment to organizations and occupations: extension and test of a three-component conceptualization. J Appl Psychol 78:538–551
Mostert K, Rothmann S (2006) Work-related well-being in the south African police service. J Crim Just 34:479–491
Mowday RT, Porter L, Steers RM (1982) Employee-organization linkages: the psychology of commitment, absenteeism and turnover. Academic Press, New York
Nalla M, Madan M (2012) Determinants of citizens’ perceptions of police-community cooperation in India: implications for community policing. Asian Journal of Criminology 7:277–294
Nalla M, Madan M (2013) Citizens’ perceptions of police integrity in India: an empirical exploration. In: Unnithan NP (ed) Crime and justice in India. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, pp 129–154
Nickels E, Verma A (2008) Dimensions of police culture: a study in Canada, India, and Japan. Policing 31:186–209
Pines A, Keinan G (2005) Stress and burnout: the significant difference. Personal Individ Differ 39:625–635
Raghavan R (1999) Policing a democracy: a comparative study of India and the US. Manohar Publishers and Distributors, New Delhi
Raghavan R (2003) The Indian police. Problems and prospects. Publius 33(4):119–133
Raghavan R, Shiva Sankar A (2003) A community policing approach to crime prevention: the case of India. In: Lab S, Das D (eds) International perspectives on community policing and crime prevention. Pearson, Upper Saddle River, NJ, pp 113–126
Ranta R, Sud A (2008) Management of stress and burnout of police personnel. Journal of the Indian Academy of Applied Psychology 34:29–39
Schaible L, Gecas V (2010) The impact of emotional labor and value dissonance on burnout among police officers. Police Quarterly 13:316–341
Schaufeli W, Peeters M (2000) Job stress and burnout among correctional officers: a literature review. Int J Stress Manag 7:19–48
Schaufeli W, Taris T (2014) A critical review of the job demands-resources model: implications for improving work and health. In: Bauer G, Hammig O (eds) Bridging occupational, organizational and public health. Springer, London, pp 43–68
Scott J, Evans D, Verma A (2009) Does higher education affect perceptions among police personnel? A response from India. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 25:214–236
Selokar D, Nimbarte S, Ahana S, Gaidhane A, Wagh V (2011) Occupational stress among police personnel of Wardha City, India. Australasian Medical Journal 4(3):114–117
Sen S (2000) Police in democratic societies. Gyan Publishing House, New Delhi
Shah G (1999) History of organization of Indian police. Anmol Publications, New Delhi
Singh J (2002) Inside Indian police. Gyan Publishing House, New Delhi
Singh R, Nayak J (2015) Mediating role of stress between work-family conflict and job satisfaction among the police officials. Policing 38:738–753
Spector P (1996) Industrial and organizational psychology: research and practice. John Wiley, New York
Subramanian K (2007) Political violence and the police in India. Sage, Thousand Oaks
Suresh S, Anantharaman R, Subramanian R, Ajitha A (2014) Certain correlates of burnout among police personnel in a metropolitan city of a developing country. Archives of Business Research 2(6):1–8
Tabachnick B, Fidell L (1996) Using multivariate statistics, 3rd edn. Harper Collins, New York
Terkel S (1974) Working. Pantheon Books, New York
Unnithan N (2009) Crime and justice in India: editorial comment. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 25:128–130
Verma A (1999) Cultural roots of police corruption in India. Policing 22:264–283
Verma A (2005) The new universe of human rights. Universal Law Publishing Company, New Delhi
Verma A (2011) The new khaki: the evolving nature of policing in India. CRC Press, Baco Raton
Verma A (2013) Governance and coercion in India. In: Unnithan NP (ed) Crime and justice in India. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, pp 5–27
Verma A, Gavirneni S (2006) Measuring police efficiency in India: an application of data envelopment analysis. Policing 29:125–145
Verma A, Subramanian K (2013) Understanding the police in India. LexisNexis, Haryana
World Factbook. (2017). India. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in.html
Wright K, Saylor W (1991) Male and female employees’ perceptions of prison work: is there a difference? Justice Q 8:505–524
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Appendix
Appendix
The below items were answered using a five-point Likert Scale of strongly disagree (coded 1) to strongly agree (coded 5). The factor loading score from factor analysis is reported in the brackets for each item.
Emotional burnout: (1) Working with others is an emotional strain for me [.69]; (2) I feel that I am burned out from my job [.82]; (3) I am emotionally drained at the end the day from my job [.74]; (4) work makes me feel hopeless [.67]. Depersonalization burnout: (1) I feel that I treat some citizens as if they were impersonal objects [.54,]; (2) I feel that I have become more callous toward my coworkers [.59]; (3) I am becoming less sympathetic to others at work [.65]; (4) I find myself mistreating others because I do not care anymore [.71]; (5) I do not really care what happens to others [.72]; (6) the vast majority of time at work, I treat all coworkers with respect (reverse coded) [.56]; (7) the vast majority of time at work, I treat all citizens with respect (reverse coded) [.66]. Reduced sense of accomplishment burnout: (1) I feel that my coworkers value my assistance (reverse coded) [.50]; (2) I feel that I am effective in solving problems at work (reverse coded) [.67]; (3) I feel that I am a positive influence within HP (reverse coded) [.58]; (4) I have the ability to deal effectively with the problems of citizens (reverse coded) [.73]; (5) I feel that I am positively influencing citizens with my work here (reverse coded) [.70]; (6) I feel that I can create a relaxed atmosphere for citizens (reverse coded) [.49]. Job stress: (1) most of the time when I am at work I do not feel that I have much to worry about (reverse coded) [.59]; (2) I am usually under a lot of pressure when I am at work [.80]; (3) when I am at work I often feel tense or uptight [.70]; (4) a lot of time my job makes me very frustrated or angry [.67]. Job involvement: (1) I live, eat, and breathe my job [.71]; (2) the most important things that happen to me in my life usually occur at my job[.74]; (3) the major satisfaction in my life comes from my job [.72]; (4) most of my interests are centered around my job [.57]. Job satisfaction: (1) I like my job better than the average worker does [.81]; (2) most days I am enthusiastic about my job [.83]; and (3) I find real enjoyment in my job [.62]. Affective commitment: (1) I am proud to tell people that I work for the Haryana Police [.74]; (2) I tell my friends that this is a great organization to work for [.74]; (3) I find that my values and the Haryana Police values are very similar [.66]; (4) The Haryana Police really inspires the best in me in the way of job performance [.72]. Continuance commitment: (1) right now, staying with the organization is more a matter of necessity than it is of desire [.82]; (2) I want to quit police service, but I am continuing to complete the number of years just to get full retirement benefits [.80].
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lambert, E.G., Qureshi, H., Frank, J. et al. Job Stress, Job Involvement, Job Satisfaction, and Organizational Commitment and Their Associations with Job Burnout Among Indian Police Officers: a Research Note. J Police Crim Psych 33, 85–99 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-017-9236-y
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-017-9236-y