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Hardiness as a Moderator and Motivation for Operational Duties as Mediator: the Relation Between Operational Self-Efficacy, Performance Satisfaction, and Perceived Strain in a Simulated Police Training Scenario

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Abstract

Training of police officers is important in order to maintain an effective law enforcement community. The present study investigates the mediating effect of motivation for operational duties on the relation between operational self-efficacy and performance satisfaction as well as perceived strain during a simulated operational scenario. Moderating effects of personality hardiness on the same relations were also investigated. Personality hardiness as a moderator was found only for the relation between operational self-efficacy and performance satisfaction. A positive effect was found for high hardy subjects, and a negative effect was found for low hardy subjects. The results also showed a mediating effect of motivation for operational duties on both performance satisfaction and perceived strain. This could have implication for selection and training in the police force.

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Notes

  1. As of yet, the Preacher and Kelley κ2 is only available for simple mediation models, that is, a model containing X, M, and Y, but no covariates or additional mediating and/or moderating variables. The reported effect sizes are thus based on simple mediation models.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychosocial Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

    Bjørn Helge Johnsen, Roar Espevik, Evelyn-Rose Saus, Olav Kjellevold Olsen & Sigurd W. Hystad

  2. Royal Norwegian Navy, Medical Branch, Bergen, Norway

    Bjørn Helge Johnsen & Sverre Sanden

  3. Royal Norwegian Naval Academy, Bergen, Norway

    Roar Espevik

  4. Norwegian Armed Forces Joint Medical Services, Institute of Military Psychiatry, Oslo, Norway

    Evelyn-Rose Saus

Authors
  1. Bjørn Helge Johnsen
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  2. Roar Espevik
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  3. Evelyn-Rose Saus
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  4. Sverre Sanden
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  5. Olav Kjellevold Olsen
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  6. Sigurd W. Hystad
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Correspondence to Bjørn Helge Johnsen.

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Johnsen, B.H., Espevik, R., Saus, ER. et al. Hardiness as a Moderator and Motivation for Operational Duties as Mediator: the Relation Between Operational Self-Efficacy, Performance Satisfaction, and Perceived Strain in a Simulated Police Training Scenario. J Police Crim Psych 32, 331–339 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-017-9225-1

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