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Police job satisfaction as a function of career orientation and position tenure
Journal of Criminal Justice, Vol. 26, No. 4, pp. 337–347, 1998 Copyright © 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in the USA. All rights reserved 0047-2352/98 $19.00 1 .00
PII S0047-2352(98)00010-5
POLICE JOB SATISFACTION AS A FUNCTION OF CAREER ORIENTATION AND POSITION TENURE: IMPLICATIONS FOR SELECTION AND COMMUNITY POLICING
David R. Hoath Hoath and Associates Newmarket, Ontario L3Y 7T9
Frank W. Schneider Department of Psychology University of Windsor Windsor, Ontario N9B 3P4
Meyer W. Starr Department of Psychology University of Windsor Windsor, Ontario N9B 3P4
ABSTRACT This research focused on how the job satisfaction of 239 members of a municipal police department varied as a function of officer career orientation (careerist, artisan, social activist, and self-investor), job assignment category (patrol, investigation, and administration), and two indices of tenure (organization and position). The results revealed that among career orientations, careerists were highest in job satisfaction, and among assignment categories, officers in investigation and administration were higher than those in patrol. Also, of four background variables (position tenure, organization tenure, rank, and age), only position tenure accounted for a significant proportion of unique variance in job satisfaction: job satisfaction was associated with low position tenure. The findings were interpreted as supporting the idea that there is a fundamental compatibility between the careerist career orientation and the normative climate of the traditional police organization. It was also observed, however, that there is an essential compatibility between the social activist and artisan career orientations and many of the core features of community policing, the emerging paradigm of policing. The need to consider individual officer characteristics, including their career orientations, in selection and placement was emphasized. © 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd
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INTRODUCTION In the field of organizational psychology, there is increasing recognition of the fundamental significance of the concept of job satisfaction (Cranny, Smith, and Stone, 1992). For instance, evidence is mounting that job satisfaction is the most “robust” antecedent of organizational citizenship behaviors (i.e., cooperative/altruistic employee acts aimed at accommodating each others’ needs) that contribute greatly to the effective functioning of an organization (Kemery, Bedeian, and Zacur, 1996). There are several important and interrelated reasons why those responsible for the operation of police organizations should be concerned with police officer job satisfaction (Greene, 1989: 168–69; O’Leary-Kelly and Griffin, 1995:377). One is that negative worker attitudes, including job dissatisfaction, may adversely affect job performance, that is, both the quantity and quality of the law enforcement service an organization provides. Second, negative police attitudes may adversely affect the attitudes and views the public develops about a law enforcement organization and its officers, thus undermining police-community relations. Third, a police organization has a moral obligation to demonstrate concern for its employees and promote positive work-related attitudes among them. Fourth, job satisfaction promotes lower stress levels and, accordingly, fewer symptoms of stress (e.g., absenteeism, burnout, and alcoholism). In a recent review of job satisfaction among police, O’Leary-Kelly and Griffin (1995:378– 83) distinguished between two categories of variables that have been related to job satisfaction: individual characteristics and workplace characteristics. They indicate that two of the most frequently investigated individual characteristics are the career orientations of officers and their tenure (length of time) in the organization. Also, they indicate that one workplace characteristic that has been emphasized is the officer’s assignment, the actual work that the officer does. The present research focused on the role of these three variables in police officer job satisfaction. Specifically, the objectives were to (1) replicate existing research on the relationship between career orientation and job
satisfaction (Burke and Deszca, 1988; Burke, Deszca, and Shearer, 1984) and extend that research by considering the importance of distinguishing between different job assignment categories; (2) distinguish between two indices of tenure—organization tenure and position tenure—and examine their relative contributions to the variance in job satisfaction; and (3) consider the implications of the results pertinent to objectives one and two to questions of job design and officer selection and placement, particularly in the context of community policing. With respect to the first objective, the concept of career orientation defines for individuals their most important job-related values, their long- and short-term vocational goals, and those aspects of their jobs that are most satisfying to them (Cherniss, 1980:189–205). Cherniss identifies four career orientations. Social activists are motivated to contribute to social and/or institutional change. They are idealists and visionaries who look upon their work more as a vehicle for achieving social justice than simply as a job. Careerists are motivated by the extrinsic rewards of a job, valuing prestige, recognition, advancement, and financial security. Careerists are highly competitive. Artisans seek the intrinsic rewards offered by challenging and interesting tasks. Artisans are motivated primarily by their own inner standards of competence, and they value mental challenge, professional skills development, independence, and autonomy. Self-investors are not especially motivated by work-related concerns. They value more highly their off-the-job activities and interests. Cherniss suggests that self-investors tend to feel trapped in their jobs and, as a consequence, experience considerable frustration and job dissatisfaction. Burke, Deszca, and Shearer (1984) drew upon Cherniss’s thinking in studying the relationship between career orientation and burnout, including job dissatisfaction, among police officers attending a police college. The officers were presented with four paragraphs, each describing a police officer who possessed the characteristics of one of the four career orientations. The participating officers were categorized by assigning them the career orientation they ranked as best representing themselves
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when they began police work. Burke and his associates found that social activists and selfinvestors were lowest in job satisfaction. Both groups were significantly lower than careerists, and self-investors also were lower than artisans. The authors concluded that careerists tend to be most satisfied with their jobs and self-investors least satisfied. In a similar study, Burke and Deszca (1988) related officers’ current career orientations to work satisfaction and several indices of well-being. Only self-investors distinguished themselves from the other career orientations; self-investors reported lower work satisfaction (job satisfaction and intention to remain on job) and more psychosomatic and burnout symptoms. In the two studies by Burke and his colleagues, the vast majority of officers were assigned to patrol duties; the researchers did not distinguish among job assignment categories. In the present research, the respondents were divided according to their job assignment categories—patrol, investigation, and administration— in order to investigate the possibility that officers of a given career orientation may have higher job satisfaction than officers of other career orientations in one assignment category, while they may have a similar or lower level of job satisfaction in another assignment category. For instance, artisans may be most satisfied when working in investigation because the characteristics of detective work (e.g., freedom, autonomy, challenge, specialized training, and the opportunity to see oneself as a craftsperson; Pogrebin, 1976) appear to parallel those job features valued by artisans. Thus, the present study extended the research of Burke and his colleagues by looking at the career orientation–job satisfaction connection across different job assignment categories. Also, the study employed a more rigorously developed and widely used measure of job satisfaction, the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire—Short Form (Weiss et al., 1967). Burke and his colleagues used a shorter, ad hoc index. The second objective of this study focused on the relative contributions of organization tenure and position tenure to the variation in job satisfaction. In reviewing the relationship be-
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tween job satisfaction and organization tenure, O’Leary-Kelly and Griffin (1995:380–81) indicate that research consistently shows that job satisfaction declines after officers finish their training and propose that the decline results from having to cope with the difficult realities of police work (see also Cooper, 1982:109–10). O’Leary-Kelly and Griffin suggest that the evidence concerning what happens in the years beyond training is less conclusive, with some studies (Dhillon, 1990; Lester and Butler, 1980) showing no tenure-satisfaction relationship and one (Burke, 1989) showing a curvilinear relationship (lowest satisfaction at mid-career). The present study considered the possible role of another tenure variable, position tenure, which refers to the amount of time an officer has worked in his or her specific position or job assignment. In another study, one of the authors (Hoath, 1993:152) found that position tenure accounted for a significant amount of variance in job satisfaction (satisfaction declined with position tenure), while organization tenure did not. Thus, in this study, it was anticipated that position tenure would be more strongly associated with job satisfaction than would organization tenure. The third objective was to examine the implications of the results for personnel selection and placement. Many writers have pointed to the importance of the fit or match between police officer characteristics and the requirements and demands of the police role and/or organization (Greene, 1989; Kurke, 1995; McGinnis, 1987; Scrivner and Kurke, 1995; White and Marino, 1983). For instance, Greene (1989:172) interprets the research evidence as indicating that police officer job satisfaction is directly related to the degree of fit between the police role and officer disposition characteristics. Particularly relevant to the present study, McGinnis (1987) emphasizes the importance of career orientations (also called career typologies) in the job assignment of police officers, suggesting that both the individual and organization benefit if members are provided career opportunities that allow for the fulfillment of their needs. McGinnis affirms that a personwork mismatch can lead to serious performance decrements and work maladjustment. Moreover, in accounting for self-investors’ and so-
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cial activists’ lower levels of job satisfaction (and other negative affective indicators, e.g., work alienation and stress from lack of fulfillment), Burke, Deszca, and Shearer (1984:192– 94) suggest the possibility of a poor fit between these career orientations and police work. Burke and Deszca (1987:526) also suggest that police organizations may increase the satisfaction of members, specifically self-investors and social activists, by improving the orientation-work fit through changes in policies and procedures. Given the significant and fundamental changes in the police officer role that are inherent in the widespread emergence of community policing as the preeminent policing paradigm of this decade (Chacko and Nancoo, 1993; Rosenbaum, 1994), questions arise regarding which officer characteristics, including career orientations, may be especially compatible with the values and demands of traditional, professional policing, on the one hand, and the values and demands of community policing, on the other hand. The present career orientation–job satisfaction findings are examined in the context of this question and associated questions concerning officer selection and placement. Likewise, the implications of the tenure–job satisfaction findings for selection and placement are explored.
METHOD
males were included with those of the males for the data analyses. Measures The questionnaire used in this study included the following measures: Career orientation. Career orientation was assessed using the descriptive paragraphs developed by Burke, Deszca, and Shearer (1984:182); however, instead of having the respondents rank the four orientations, as in the earlier study, they were asked to rate the degree of similarity between themselves and each career orientation on a scale ranging from very little like me (1) to very much like me (5). As an example, the paragraph for the artisan career orientation was as follows: Bob: Bob values independence and freedom. He prefers jobs that provide challenge, new experiences, and the development of professional skills. Performing well according to his own internal standards is important to Bob. Career and financial success are less important to him (p. 182).
After completing the four scales, the respondents were instructed to review the ratings they had assigned to the four orientations and, if they had rated two or more of the paragraphs as the highest, to break the tie by indicating the orientation that most resembled them.
Subjects The respondents were 232 policemen and 7 policewomen who were employed by an urban Ontario police organization of approximately 340 sworn personnel. This study was conducted just prior to the implementation of the department’s first community policing initiative. The number of respondents by rank in each job assignment category were as follows: patrol: 137 constables; investigation: 19 constables and 27 sergeants; administration: 10 constables, 14 sergeants, 20 staff sergeants, and 12 inspectors. The respondents had a mean age of 37.39 years, a mean of 15.61 years in the organization, and a mean of 6.74 years in their particular job assignment categories. The data of the seven fe-
Job satisfaction. Job satisfaction was measured by the twenty-item Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire—Short Form (Weiss, et al., 1967). Using a five-point scale, ranging from very dissatisfied (1) to very satisfied (5), respondents rated their degrees of satisfaction with each of twenty aspects of their jobs (e.g., “the feeling of accomplishment I get from the job”). The sum of the ratings constituted an individual’s job satisfaction score. Minor changes were made to some of the wording to increase its suitability for a police population (e.g., “boss” was changed to “supervisor”). Background factors. Respondents were asked to provide information regarding four back-
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Police Job Satisfaction
ground variables: (1) age; (2) organization tenure: number of years employed by this particular police agency; (3) position tenure: number of years spent in their current assignment (e.g., traffic control); and (4) rank, ranging from constable (1) to inspector (4).
sistent with the general findings of Burke and his associates (Burke and Deszca, 1988:644; Burke, Deszca, and Shearer, 1984:187) artisan was the most frequently endorsed career orientation, followed in order by careerist, self-investor, and social activist.
Procedure
Preliminary Analyses
The questionnaires were administered while the respondents were on duty. Officers in patrol were approached by the first author during lineup at the beginning of a shift. The questionnaires, which took ten to fifteen minutes to answer, were distributed, completed, and collected at that time. A questionnaire was left with each officer in the investigation and administration assignment categories and picked up when completed a few days later. Participation in the study was voluntary. Two hundred and eighty questionnaires were distributed (60 persons were unavailable due to time off or special assignments), and 239 (85 percent) usable questionnaires were returned.
The four background variables—age, organization tenure, position tenure, and rank—were expected to covary with job assignment category. A one-way analysis of variance of the role of job assignment category was conducted for each background variable. For all variables a significant effect of assignment category was found: age, F(2, 221) 5 34.25, p , .0001; organization tenure, F(2, 221) 5 55.14, p , .0001; position tenure, F(2, 221) 5 17.18, p , .0001; and rank, F(2, 221) 5 174.06, p , .0001. Tukey’s HSD tests (p , .05) showed that patrol officers were younger (M 5 33.38), had less organization tenure (M 5 11.83), had greater position tenure (M 5 9.12), and had lower rank (M 5 1.00) than officers in both investigation (M 5 41.31, 19.14, 4.86, and 1.62, respectively) and administration (M 5 44.61, 22.55, 3.16, and 2.63, respectively). The officers in investigation were significantly lower than those in administration in organization tenure and rank, but did not differ in age and position tenure. In addition, Pearson product-moment correlations revealed that all four background variables were significantly associated with job sat-
RESULTS Because only fifteen (6 percent) of the officers saw themselves as social activists, their responses were not included in the data analyses. The number of officers representing each of the remaining three career orientations for each assignment category is presented in Table 1. Con-
TABLE 1 MEAN JOB SATISFACTION SCORES BY CAREER ORIENTATION AND JOB ASSIGNMENT CATEGORY
Job Assignment Category Career Orientation Self-investor Careerist Artisan Overall
Patrol 62.43 (n 5 35) 67.47 (n 5 36) 63.94 (n 5 62) 64.50—a,b (n 5 133)
Investigation 71.86 (n 5 7) 77.64 (n 5 14) 69.76 (n 5 21) 72.74—a (n 5 42)
Administration
Overall
70.33 (n 5 9) 77.88 (n 5 16) 76.50 (n 5 24) 75.82—b (n 5 49)
65.12—a (n 5 51) 72.15—a,b (n 5 66) 67.90—b (n 5 107)
Note: Job satisfaction scores could range from 20 to 100, with high scores signifying high satisfaction. Overall career orientation means with the same letters and overall assignment category means with the same letters differ significantly at the .05 level.
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isfaction scores. Position tenure was negatively correlated with job satisfaction (r[222] 5 2.37, p , .0001), while age (r[222] 5 .20, p , .01), organization tenure (r[222] 5 .13, p , .05), and rank (r[222] 5 .33, p 5 , .0001) were positively correlated. Thus, the results showed that all background factors were correlated with officer job satisfaction. Covariance analysis was used because of the job assignment differences in background variables and the relationships between the background variables and job satisfaction. With the four background variables serving as covariates, a 3 3 3 (Career Orientation 3 Assignment Category) ANCOVA was conducted on the job satisfaction scores.
Career Orientation and Job Assignment Category The possibility of an interaction between career orientation and job assignment category was anticipated; that is, the patterns of job satisfaction scores for officers with the three different career orientations would vary for the three job assignment categories. Contrary to this expectation, the results revealed no evidence of an interaction (p . .40). On the other hand, there were significant main effects of both career orientation (F [2, 215] 5 4.52, p , .02) and job assignment category (F [2, 215] 5 3.08, p , .05). The mean job satisfaction scores are presented in Table 1. Tukey’s HSD tests (p , .05) indicated that careerists (M 5 72.15) reported significantly higher levels of job satisfaction than both artisans (M 5 67.90) and self-investors (M 5 65.12); there was not a significant difference between artisans and self-investors. Regarding assignment category, officers in patrol (M 5 64.50) reported significantly lower levels of satisfaction than officers in both investigation (M 5 72.74) and administration (M 5 75.82); the latter two groups did not differ significantly. As noted, the data for the social activists were omitted from the statistical analyses due to the small sample size. Nonetheless, because the discussion section includes speculation about the social activists, their job satisfaction scores
are provided as follows: patrol (M 5 61.50, n 5 4), investigation (M 5 75.50, n 5 4), and administration (M 5 70.71, n 5 7). To gain a clearer appreciation of the level of job satisfaction in the present sample of police officers, it is helpful to compare the present results with those of other groups. The Manual for the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (Weiss et al., 1967:24) reports, for the short form, a mean of 74.85 (SD 5 11.92) for a heterogeneous group of 1,723 employed individuals, and a survey (Fry and Greenfeld, 1980) of 529 male patrol officers from a U.S. urban department indicates a mean of 68.50 (SD 5 12.00). Thus, with the social activist data included, the job satisfaction scores for the officers in investigation (M 5 72.98, SD 5 9.43) and administration (M 5 75.18, SD 5 11.48) are consistent with a general (heterogeneous) group mean. On the other hand, the mean for the patrol officers (M 5 64.41, SD 5 9.85) is below both a general group mean and a comparable occupational group mean, although from an absolute perspective still above the theoretical midpoint of 60 on the 20–100 point scale. Position Tenure It was expected that position tenure would be more strongly related to officer job satisfaction than organization tenure. This expectation was confirmed. The covariance analysis revealed that with the other background variables controlled, only position tenure accounted for a significant proportion of variance in job satisfaction scores (p , .0001). Age approached significance (p , .07), while organization tenure and rank fell far short of significance (p . .40).
DISCUSSION Emphasized throughout the following consideration of the results is the importance of the fit between the characteristics of the individual police officer and the characteristics of the police job/organization as a determinant of job satisfaction. While this view assumes a causal sequence—degree of fit influences degree of job satisfaction—and the sequence is supported by
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existing theory and research (see introduction), it is important to keep in mind that causal inferences about the present findings are limited by their correlational nature. The notion of person-environment fit provided the basis for the expectation that given the different work demands and requirements associated with different job assignment categories—administration, investigation, and patrol—the pattern of job satisfaction–career orientation scores might vary from one job assignment category to another. The results, however, revealed no interaction between career orientation and assignment category. Instead, they showed main effects of both variables. Career Orientation and Traditional Policing Across the three job assignment categories, careerists were the most satisfied of the three career orientations. Moreover, across the three career orientations, officers in patrol were less satisfied than those in investigation and administration. These findings are consistent with the observation of MacDonald and Martin (1986) that North American police agencies use promotion as the predominant method of motivating and satisfying their personnel (see also McGinnis, 1991:62–68). MacDonald and Martin suggest that, regardless of the intrinsic worth of the job, because promotion is considered by police personnel to be the most important and frequently offered form of recognition and reward, its impact dominates their motivation and morale. Thus, it is suggested that under traditional organizational conditions, no matter what job officers are assigned, the overriding atmosphere surrounding their jobs reflects most closely the careerist orientation, with its emphasis on extrinsic organizational rewards. This may explain why careerists were the most satisfied group (see also Burke, Deszca, and Shearer, 1984:189). It may also help to explain why officers working in investigation and administration were more satisfied than officers in patrol. The majority of those individuals had experienced the preeminent reward of promotion, while none in patrol had received a promotion. If careerists tend to be more satisfied than the other career orientations because of a funda-
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mental compatibility between careerist values and the organizational reward structure, why is it that careerists were the most satisfied group in patrol even though they had not achieved their promotional goals? In considering this question, it was reasoned that among patrol officers the careerist group may have been comprised largely of younger officers who had the least tenure in the organization. There is a greater likelihood that such officers would have been more optimistic about their chances for promotion and, therefore, relatively more satisfied with their jobs (Cooper, 1982:103). On the other hand, the self-investors, the group with the lowest mean job satisfaction, may have consisted largely of older, longer-tenured officers who felt frustrated and disillusioned by their failures to be promoted and by being increasingly trapped in dead-end jobs. In accordance with this thinking, additional analyses showed that among patrol officers, self-investors were significantly older (M 5 37.38, p , .01) than the other two orientations, and careerists (M 5 30.67) were younger than artisans (M 5 32.55), but not significantly so. In addition, self-investors had significantly more position tenure (M 5 9.84) than careerists (M 5 5.72, p , .01) and artisans (M 5 5.33, p , .01). That is, self-investors had remained in the same job assignments without transfer or promotion longer than had either careerists or artisans. Not only this study, but other research indicates that self-investors express the highest levels of job dissatisfaction (Burke and Deszca, 1988:645; Burke, Deszca, and Shearer, 1984:189). Selfinvestors also score consistently high on other negative outcome variables, such as job stress, burnout, propensity to quit, and psychosomatic symptoms (Burke and Deszca, 1988:644–45; Burke, Deszca, and Shearer, 1984:188–90). It is not surprising that self-investors score relatively high on various negative outcome variables. Of the four career orientations, the self-investor orientation, which places extrawork needs and activities ahead of work obligations, most clearly does not fit the police environment, with its valuation of contribution to work and the organization as a means to promotion and status (Bailyn, 1977). Further, when police officers were asked to identify their current career orientations, in both
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this study and Burke’s research (Burke and Deszca, 1987:519, 1988:644; Burke, Deszca, and Shearer, 1984:187), social activists constituted the smallest group of respondents (8 percent or less in four samples). The small number of social activists leads one to question the compatibility between this career orientation and the traditional police work environment and to expect that social activists may be low in job satisfaction. Although the data for the social activists were not analyzed in the primary analyses (due to their small number), consideration of the job satisfaction scores of the 15 social activists revealed a mean of 69.53. This mean is similar in magnitude to those of the other career orientations (see Table 1). The social activists who were in patrol, however, had a mean satisfaction score of 61.50 (N 5 4), which is the lowest of all groups. The lower satisfaction of the social activists in the patrol category, all of whom were constables, accords with the result of Burke, Deszca, and Shearer (1984:189), whose subjects were similar in rank. Burke and his colleagues found that social activists, along with self-investors, reported the lowest job satisfaction and also the highest number of burnout symptoms. Moreover, in a study of police officers who changed their career orientations, Burke and Deszca (1987:519) found that social activities comprised the least stable career orientation, with the highest proportion having changed their career orientations since the beginning of their policing careers. Such changes suggest a likely person-environment fit problem in which the realities of police work thwart the social activist’s opportunities to effect social change. In accordance with this idea, Cherniss (1980:204) suggests that social activists may be at the greatest risk of burnout because their career orientation is least consistent with the demands and rewards of public human service organizations.
Career Orientation and Community Policing This investigation certainly raises questions about how compatible the normative structure of a police organization is with the work-related needs and values of its membership. The
present results and those of Burke and his associates suggest the greatest harmony exists between the police environment and those officers with a careerist orientation. Questions also arise about possible policing contexts that may be more compatible with the other career orientations. One possibility is community policing. The community policing paradigm evolved rapidly in the last decade or so and has received widespread acceptance in North American policing as the most viable means of policing society (Chacko and Nancoo, 1993: Rosenbaum, 1994). The philosophy of community policing calls for increased police involvement with the community, with particular emphasis on a police-community partnership in the identification, prevention, and solution of community problems. Perhaps the most profound changes mandated by community policing pertain to the frontline officer’s role (Clairmont, 1991:476; Meese, 1993:2; Trojanowicz and Bucqueroux, 1990). Under community policing, there are major, broad-based changes in the skills and responsibilities required of the officer (a “new breed of line officer”, Trojanowicz and Bucqueroux, 1990:xiii) that are dictated by the increased emphasis on community involvement, the police-community partnership, proactive policing, empowerment to the officer, and so on. It is proposed that there are features of the community-policing-officer role that are fundamentally congruent with two career orientations in particular—the social activist and the artisan—and it is suggested further that the successful implementation of community policing may serve to enhance the vocational adjustment, including job satisfaction, of individuals with these orientations. Conversely, it is suggested that extant problems with the implementation of community policing (Lord, 1996; Scrivner, 1995:419–30) would be ameliorated if greater attention were given to individual officer characteristics, including their career orientations, in the selection of personnel. With respect to the social activist career orientation, community policing greatly expands upon an officer’s ability and opportunity to effect positive change in the community. Communitypolicing officers work closely with community residents, leaders, groups, and organizations to
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identify, prioritize, prevent, and eliminate community problems. The responsibilities of community-policing officers include not only those associated with traditional professional policing (e.g., responding to service calls, arrests, and citations), but such activities as the following: public speaking and public education, organizing problem-focused community initiatives, recruiting and supervising volunteers, networking with businesses and nonprofit organizations, making referrals to other agencies, facilitating conflict resolution (mediation and negotiation), and assisting groups with special needs, for example, sponsoring youth activities and rape prevention classes (Clairmont, 1991:476; Meese, 1993:2–7; Scrivner, 1995:426–28). Scrivner (1995:429–30) underscores that community policing has the potential to effect broadscale social change. She elaborates the prosocial influence that community-policing officers, as role models and mentors, can have on youth, including the capacity to counter the destructive influences of negative role models, such as drug dealers and gang leaders. Scrivner also points to the potential social value of the community-building model of community policing that focuses on improving the quality of neighborhood life largely through community mobilization initiatives. There are core features of community policing that should be especially appealing to an officer with a social activist orientation. Cherniss (1980:191) observes that when social activists evaluate their work, the most important factor is its social significance. Clearly, the opportunities to make a socially significant difference in community policing exceed those in traditional policing. As Meese (1993:2) observes, community policing requires officers who view their community service and peacekeeping functions as just as important as their crime control and law enforcement functions. Social activists who tend to become dissatisfied and disillusioned with the traditional, reactive mode of policing likely have a more comfortable niche in community policing. In addition, there are features of community policing that should appeal to officers with the artisan career orientation. Cherniss (1980:193) describes the artisan as preferring jobs that per-
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mit independent functioning and provide new experiences, challenging tasks, and opportunities for skill development. In community policing, each of these preferences may be satisfied. Police departments are decentralized with much greater autonomy and decision-making authority granted to officers who often are given jurisdiction over their own beats. The role of the community policing officer is a greatly expanded one. The officer is a “generalist” (Trojanowicz and Bucqueroux, 1994:70) who is required to deal with a wide variety of law-and-order and qualityof-life problems and demonstrate a wide variety of skills. The officer not only reacts to incidents, but analyzes, plans, innovates, and initiates in taking a proactive approach to community problems (Vinzant and Crothers, 1994:189–94). Thus, the opportunities for new experiences, challenge, and skill development are considerable in community policing. There is an essential compatibility between community policing and the artisan career orientation. Several authorities have proposed that community policing should promote greater officer job satisfaction (Greene, 1989:168; Murphy, 1988:180; Wycoff, 1988:111–14). Greene (1989), for instance, categorizes community policing as job redesign (Hackman and Oldham, 1980) and suggests that because of the motivational benefits from the job enlargement and job enrichment associated with its enactment, community policing may enhance the job satisfaction of officers. Greene, however, recognizes that not all officers are good candidates for community policing, and Scrivner (1995:424) stresses the need to expand police selection research to consider those individual characteristics most suitable for community policing. The present analysis suggests that an officer’s career orientation may be one characteristic that should be considered when selecting officers for community policing.
Position Tenure One of the objectives of this study was to compare how organization tenure and position tenure relate to job satisfaction. Separately, each tenure variable, as well as both age and
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rank, was significantly correlated with job satisfaction; however, the covariance analysis revealed that only assignment tenure accounted for a significant proportion of unique variance in job satisfaction, with low satisfaction being linked to high tenure. This finding replicates that of Hoath (1993), and the findings of both studies suggest that in the investigation of determinants of police officer job satisfaction, it may be more productive to examine the role of position tenure than that of organization tenure. The inverse association between job satisfaction and position tenure is consistent with the theorizing and research on career plateauing, in general (Near, 1985; Slocum et al., 1985), and in policing, in particular (Burke, 1989:84; McGinnis, 1991:29–59), that associate negative outcomes with plateauing. Although some researchers have limited the definition of the career plateau to the period of a career when hierarchical mobility is unlikely (Stoner et al., 1980), the present authors agree with those who broaden the concept to pertain to horizontal immobility as well as vertical immobility (Bardwick, 1986). This broader conceptualization posits the negative influence on job attitudes of significant restrictions on one’s career ambitions, whether they concern opportunities for advancement to higher organizational levels or concern opportunities for working in other positions or developing other skills or specialties at the same organizational level. The relevant literature, including the present study, points to the deleterious consequences of leaving police officers in the same jobs for extended periods of time. Clearly, there is a need for police management to develop mechanisms that prevent intraposition stagnation and facilitate continued progress toward the attainment of their members’ career ambitions. Community policing may represent part of the solution to the negative attitudinal consequences associated with career plateauing and prolonged position tenure. While community policing may not directly address problems related to vertical immobility, it is relevant to problems of horizontal immobility. The job enlargement and enrichment that are intrinsic to community policing are likely to mitigate intraposition stagnation and promote more positive job attitudes.
CONCLUSIONS Underlying this research is Cherniss’s thesis that the particular characteristics/demands of a work setting facilitate greater employment adaptability on the part of individuals with certain career orientations (Cherniss, 1980). Accordingly, drawing upon the present findings and related evidence, it is suggested that the job satisfaction of careerist police officers may be relatively high because of an essential compatibility between the careerist orientation and the rewards inherent in the traditional police work setting. Furthermore, there are features of the work environment prescribed by community policing that may contribute to increased levels of job satisfaction in officers with social activist and artisan career orientations. This study, therefore, directs the law enforcement community’s attention to the importance of considering an individual’s career orientation in the selection and placement process, including considering the implications of the transition to community policing for that process. Also, it is suggested that the use of a longitudinal research design would make for clearer interpretation of the interrelationships among career orientation, work setting, and job satisfaction. With a longitudinal design, one could track both career orientation shifts and attitude (and performance) changes of officers during the course of their careers. In the present case, for example, one could better determine whether the more senior self-investors in patrol entered policing as selfinvestors and were low in job satisfaction from the start or entered policing as other career orientations and, after experiencing low job satisfaction, shifted to the self-investor orientation. Lastly, it is predicted that position tenure, a seldom-examined background variable, will prove to be an important determinant of police officer job satisfaction and likely other attitudinal outcome variables. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors express their appreciation to those personnel of the Windsor Police Service who contributed to this study. Also, appreciation is extended to the three anonymous reviewers whose suggestions led to significant improvements in the paper.
Police Job Satisfaction
REFERENCES Bailyn L. (1977). Involvement and accommodation in technical careers: An inquiry into the relation to work at midcareer. In Organization careers: Some new perspectives, ed. J. Van Maanen. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Bardwick, J. M. (1986). The plateauing trap. New York: Amacom. Burke, R. J. (1989). Examining the career plateau: Some preliminary findings. Canadian Police College Journal 13:77–86. Burke, R. J., and Deszca, G. (1987). Changes in career orientations in police officers: An exploratory study. Psychological Reports 61:515–26. Burke, R. J., and Deszca, G. (1988). Career orientations, satisfaction and health among police officers: Some consequences of person-job misfit. Psychological Reports 62:639–49. Burke, R. J., Deszca, E., and Shearer, J. (1984). Career orientations and burnout in police officers. Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences 1:179–94. Chacko, J., and Nancoo, S. E., eds. (1993). Community policing in Canada. Toronto: Canadian Scholars. Cherniss, C. (1980). Professional burnout in human service organizations. New York: Praeger Publishers. Clairmont, D. (1991). Community-based policing: Implementation and impact. Canadian Journal of Criminology 33:469–84. Cooper, W. H. (1982). Police officers over career stages. Canadian Police College Journal 6:93–112. Cranny, C. J., Smith, P. C., and Stone, E. F. (1992). Job satisfaction: How people feel about their jobs and how it affects their performance. New York: Lexington. Dhillon, P. K. (1990). Some correlates of job satisfaction: A study of police personnel. Psychological Studies 35:197– 204. Fry, L. W., and Greenfeld, S. (1980). An examination of attitudinal difference between policewomen and policemen. Journal of Applied Psychology 65:123–26. Greene, J. R. (1989). Police officer job satisfaction and community perceptions: Implications for communityoriented policing. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 26:168–83. Hackman, J. R., and Oldham, G. R. (1980). Work redesign. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Hoath, D. (1993). The effects of career plateauing on selfefficacy expectations, career coping strategies, and job outcomes among police. Doctoral dissertation, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario. Kemery, E. R., Bedeian, A. G., and Zacur, S. R. (1996). Expectancy-based job cognitions and job affect as predictors of organizational citizenship behaviors. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 26:635–51. Kurke, M. I. (1995). Organizational management of stress and human reliability. In Police psychology into the 21st century, eds. M. I. Kurke and E. M. Scrivner. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Lester, D., and Butler, A. J. P. (1980). Job satisfaction and cynicism in police: A cross-national comparison. Police Studies 2:44–45. Lord, V. B. (1996). An impact of community policing: Reported stressors, social support, and strain among police
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officers in a changing police department. Journal of Criminal Justice 24:503–22. MacDonald, V. N., and Martin, M. A. (1986). Specialists and the personnel of Canadian police forces. Canadian Police College Journal 10:189–222. McGinnis, J. (1987). Police careers: Assignment, assessment, and development. In Police managerial use of psychology and psychologists, eds. W. M. More and P. C. Unsinger. Springfield, IL: Thomas. McGinnis, J. (1991). Adaptation to career constable status. Canadian Police College Journal 15:26–71. Meese, E., III. (1993). Community policing and the police officer. Perspectives on policing 15. Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice and Harvard University. Murphy, C. (1988). The development, impact and implications of community policing in Canada. In Community policing: Rhetoric or reality, eds. J. R. Greene and S. D. Mastrofski. New York: Praeger Publishers. Near, J. P. (1985). A discriminant analysis of plateaued versus nonplateaued managers. Journal of Vocational Behavior 26:177–88. O’Leary-Kelly, A. M., and Griffin, R. W. (1995). Job satisfaction and organizational commitment. In Psychology and policing, eds. N. Brewer and C. Wilson. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Pogrebin, M. (1976). Some observations of the detective role. Journal of Police Science and Administration 4:277–84. Rosenbaum, D. P. (ed.). (1994). The challenge of community policing: Testing the promises. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Scrivner, E. M. (1995). Community policing: New roles for police psychology. In Psychology and policing, eds. N. Brewer and C. Wilson. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Scrivner, E. M., and Kurke, M. I. (1995). Police psychology at the dawn of the 21st century. In Police psychology into the 21st century, eds. M. I. Kurke and E. M. Scrivner. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Slocum, J. W., Cron, W. L, Hansen, R. W., and Rawlings, S. (1985). Business strategy and the management of plateaued employees. Academy of Management Studies 28:133–54. Stoner, J. A. F., Ference, T. P., Warren, E. K., and Christensen, H. K. (1980). Managerial career pleateaus. New York: Columbia University Press. Trojanowicz, R., and Bucqueroux, B. (1990). Community policing: A contemporary perspective. Cincinnati: Anderson Publishing Co. Trojanowicz, R., and Bucqueroux, B. (1994). Community policing: How to get started. Cincinnati: Anderson Publishing Co. Vinzant, J., and Crothers, L. (1994). Street-level leadership: The role of patrol officers in community policing. Criminal Justice Review 19:189–211. Weiss, D. J., Dawis, R. V., England, G. W., and Loquist, L. H. (1967). Manual for the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota. White, S. E., and Marino, K. E. (1983). Job attitudes and police stress: An exploratory study of causation. Journal of Police Science and Administration 11:264–74. Wycoff, M. A. (1988). The benefits of community policing: Evidence and conjecture. In Community policing: Rhetoric or reality, eds. J. R. Greene and S. D. Mastrofski. New York: Praeger Publishers.
PII S0047-2352(98)00010-5
POLICE JOB SATISFACTION AS A FUNCTION OF CAREER ORIENTATION AND POSITION TENURE: IMPLICATIONS FOR SELECTION AND COMMUNITY POLICING
David R. Hoath Hoath and Associates Newmarket, Ontario L3Y 7T9
Frank W. Schneider Department of Psychology University of Windsor Windsor, Ontario N9B 3P4
Meyer W. Starr Department of Psychology University of Windsor Windsor, Ontario N9B 3P4
ABSTRACT This research focused on how the job satisfaction of 239 members of a municipal police department varied as a function of officer career orientation (careerist, artisan, social activist, and self-investor), job assignment category (patrol, investigation, and administration), and two indices of tenure (organization and position). The results revealed that among career orientations, careerists were highest in job satisfaction, and among assignment categories, officers in investigation and administration were higher than those in patrol. Also, of four background variables (position tenure, organization tenure, rank, and age), only position tenure accounted for a significant proportion of unique variance in job satisfaction: job satisfaction was associated with low position tenure. The findings were interpreted as supporting the idea that there is a fundamental compatibility between the careerist career orientation and the normative climate of the traditional police organization. It was also observed, however, that there is an essential compatibility between the social activist and artisan career orientations and many of the core features of community policing, the emerging paradigm of policing. The need to consider individual officer characteristics, including their career orientations, in selection and placement was emphasized. © 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd
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INTRODUCTION In the field of organizational psychology, there is increasing recognition of the fundamental significance of the concept of job satisfaction (Cranny, Smith, and Stone, 1992). For instance, evidence is mounting that job satisfaction is the most “robust” antecedent of organizational citizenship behaviors (i.e., cooperative/altruistic employee acts aimed at accommodating each others’ needs) that contribute greatly to the effective functioning of an organization (Kemery, Bedeian, and Zacur, 1996). There are several important and interrelated reasons why those responsible for the operation of police organizations should be concerned with police officer job satisfaction (Greene, 1989: 168–69; O’Leary-Kelly and Griffin, 1995:377). One is that negative worker attitudes, including job dissatisfaction, may adversely affect job performance, that is, both the quantity and quality of the law enforcement service an organization provides. Second, negative police attitudes may adversely affect the attitudes and views the public develops about a law enforcement organization and its officers, thus undermining police-community relations. Third, a police organization has a moral obligation to demonstrate concern for its employees and promote positive work-related attitudes among them. Fourth, job satisfaction promotes lower stress levels and, accordingly, fewer symptoms of stress (e.g., absenteeism, burnout, and alcoholism). In a recent review of job satisfaction among police, O’Leary-Kelly and Griffin (1995:378– 83) distinguished between two categories of variables that have been related to job satisfaction: individual characteristics and workplace characteristics. They indicate that two of the most frequently investigated individual characteristics are the career orientations of officers and their tenure (length of time) in the organization. Also, they indicate that one workplace characteristic that has been emphasized is the officer’s assignment, the actual work that the officer does. The present research focused on the role of these three variables in police officer job satisfaction. Specifically, the objectives were to (1) replicate existing research on the relationship between career orientation and job
satisfaction (Burke and Deszca, 1988; Burke, Deszca, and Shearer, 1984) and extend that research by considering the importance of distinguishing between different job assignment categories; (2) distinguish between two indices of tenure—organization tenure and position tenure—and examine their relative contributions to the variance in job satisfaction; and (3) consider the implications of the results pertinent to objectives one and two to questions of job design and officer selection and placement, particularly in the context of community policing. With respect to the first objective, the concept of career orientation defines for individuals their most important job-related values, their long- and short-term vocational goals, and those aspects of their jobs that are most satisfying to them (Cherniss, 1980:189–205). Cherniss identifies four career orientations. Social activists are motivated to contribute to social and/or institutional change. They are idealists and visionaries who look upon their work more as a vehicle for achieving social justice than simply as a job. Careerists are motivated by the extrinsic rewards of a job, valuing prestige, recognition, advancement, and financial security. Careerists are highly competitive. Artisans seek the intrinsic rewards offered by challenging and interesting tasks. Artisans are motivated primarily by their own inner standards of competence, and they value mental challenge, professional skills development, independence, and autonomy. Self-investors are not especially motivated by work-related concerns. They value more highly their off-the-job activities and interests. Cherniss suggests that self-investors tend to feel trapped in their jobs and, as a consequence, experience considerable frustration and job dissatisfaction. Burke, Deszca, and Shearer (1984) drew upon Cherniss’s thinking in studying the relationship between career orientation and burnout, including job dissatisfaction, among police officers attending a police college. The officers were presented with four paragraphs, each describing a police officer who possessed the characteristics of one of the four career orientations. The participating officers were categorized by assigning them the career orientation they ranked as best representing themselves
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when they began police work. Burke and his associates found that social activists and selfinvestors were lowest in job satisfaction. Both groups were significantly lower than careerists, and self-investors also were lower than artisans. The authors concluded that careerists tend to be most satisfied with their jobs and self-investors least satisfied. In a similar study, Burke and Deszca (1988) related officers’ current career orientations to work satisfaction and several indices of well-being. Only self-investors distinguished themselves from the other career orientations; self-investors reported lower work satisfaction (job satisfaction and intention to remain on job) and more psychosomatic and burnout symptoms. In the two studies by Burke and his colleagues, the vast majority of officers were assigned to patrol duties; the researchers did not distinguish among job assignment categories. In the present research, the respondents were divided according to their job assignment categories—patrol, investigation, and administration— in order to investigate the possibility that officers of a given career orientation may have higher job satisfaction than officers of other career orientations in one assignment category, while they may have a similar or lower level of job satisfaction in another assignment category. For instance, artisans may be most satisfied when working in investigation because the characteristics of detective work (e.g., freedom, autonomy, challenge, specialized training, and the opportunity to see oneself as a craftsperson; Pogrebin, 1976) appear to parallel those job features valued by artisans. Thus, the present study extended the research of Burke and his colleagues by looking at the career orientation–job satisfaction connection across different job assignment categories. Also, the study employed a more rigorously developed and widely used measure of job satisfaction, the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire—Short Form (Weiss et al., 1967). Burke and his colleagues used a shorter, ad hoc index. The second objective of this study focused on the relative contributions of organization tenure and position tenure to the variation in job satisfaction. In reviewing the relationship be-
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tween job satisfaction and organization tenure, O’Leary-Kelly and Griffin (1995:380–81) indicate that research consistently shows that job satisfaction declines after officers finish their training and propose that the decline results from having to cope with the difficult realities of police work (see also Cooper, 1982:109–10). O’Leary-Kelly and Griffin suggest that the evidence concerning what happens in the years beyond training is less conclusive, with some studies (Dhillon, 1990; Lester and Butler, 1980) showing no tenure-satisfaction relationship and one (Burke, 1989) showing a curvilinear relationship (lowest satisfaction at mid-career). The present study considered the possible role of another tenure variable, position tenure, which refers to the amount of time an officer has worked in his or her specific position or job assignment. In another study, one of the authors (Hoath, 1993:152) found that position tenure accounted for a significant amount of variance in job satisfaction (satisfaction declined with position tenure), while organization tenure did not. Thus, in this study, it was anticipated that position tenure would be more strongly associated with job satisfaction than would organization tenure. The third objective was to examine the implications of the results for personnel selection and placement. Many writers have pointed to the importance of the fit or match between police officer characteristics and the requirements and demands of the police role and/or organization (Greene, 1989; Kurke, 1995; McGinnis, 1987; Scrivner and Kurke, 1995; White and Marino, 1983). For instance, Greene (1989:172) interprets the research evidence as indicating that police officer job satisfaction is directly related to the degree of fit between the police role and officer disposition characteristics. Particularly relevant to the present study, McGinnis (1987) emphasizes the importance of career orientations (also called career typologies) in the job assignment of police officers, suggesting that both the individual and organization benefit if members are provided career opportunities that allow for the fulfillment of their needs. McGinnis affirms that a personwork mismatch can lead to serious performance decrements and work maladjustment. Moreover, in accounting for self-investors’ and so-
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cial activists’ lower levels of job satisfaction (and other negative affective indicators, e.g., work alienation and stress from lack of fulfillment), Burke, Deszca, and Shearer (1984:192– 94) suggest the possibility of a poor fit between these career orientations and police work. Burke and Deszca (1987:526) also suggest that police organizations may increase the satisfaction of members, specifically self-investors and social activists, by improving the orientation-work fit through changes in policies and procedures. Given the significant and fundamental changes in the police officer role that are inherent in the widespread emergence of community policing as the preeminent policing paradigm of this decade (Chacko and Nancoo, 1993; Rosenbaum, 1994), questions arise regarding which officer characteristics, including career orientations, may be especially compatible with the values and demands of traditional, professional policing, on the one hand, and the values and demands of community policing, on the other hand. The present career orientation–job satisfaction findings are examined in the context of this question and associated questions concerning officer selection and placement. Likewise, the implications of the tenure–job satisfaction findings for selection and placement are explored.
METHOD
males were included with those of the males for the data analyses. Measures The questionnaire used in this study included the following measures: Career orientation. Career orientation was assessed using the descriptive paragraphs developed by Burke, Deszca, and Shearer (1984:182); however, instead of having the respondents rank the four orientations, as in the earlier study, they were asked to rate the degree of similarity between themselves and each career orientation on a scale ranging from very little like me (1) to very much like me (5). As an example, the paragraph for the artisan career orientation was as follows: Bob: Bob values independence and freedom. He prefers jobs that provide challenge, new experiences, and the development of professional skills. Performing well according to his own internal standards is important to Bob. Career and financial success are less important to him (p. 182).
After completing the four scales, the respondents were instructed to review the ratings they had assigned to the four orientations and, if they had rated two or more of the paragraphs as the highest, to break the tie by indicating the orientation that most resembled them.
Subjects The respondents were 232 policemen and 7 policewomen who were employed by an urban Ontario police organization of approximately 340 sworn personnel. This study was conducted just prior to the implementation of the department’s first community policing initiative. The number of respondents by rank in each job assignment category were as follows: patrol: 137 constables; investigation: 19 constables and 27 sergeants; administration: 10 constables, 14 sergeants, 20 staff sergeants, and 12 inspectors. The respondents had a mean age of 37.39 years, a mean of 15.61 years in the organization, and a mean of 6.74 years in their particular job assignment categories. The data of the seven fe-
Job satisfaction. Job satisfaction was measured by the twenty-item Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire—Short Form (Weiss, et al., 1967). Using a five-point scale, ranging from very dissatisfied (1) to very satisfied (5), respondents rated their degrees of satisfaction with each of twenty aspects of their jobs (e.g., “the feeling of accomplishment I get from the job”). The sum of the ratings constituted an individual’s job satisfaction score. Minor changes were made to some of the wording to increase its suitability for a police population (e.g., “boss” was changed to “supervisor”). Background factors. Respondents were asked to provide information regarding four back-
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ground variables: (1) age; (2) organization tenure: number of years employed by this particular police agency; (3) position tenure: number of years spent in their current assignment (e.g., traffic control); and (4) rank, ranging from constable (1) to inspector (4).
sistent with the general findings of Burke and his associates (Burke and Deszca, 1988:644; Burke, Deszca, and Shearer, 1984:187) artisan was the most frequently endorsed career orientation, followed in order by careerist, self-investor, and social activist.
Procedure
Preliminary Analyses
The questionnaires were administered while the respondents were on duty. Officers in patrol were approached by the first author during lineup at the beginning of a shift. The questionnaires, which took ten to fifteen minutes to answer, were distributed, completed, and collected at that time. A questionnaire was left with each officer in the investigation and administration assignment categories and picked up when completed a few days later. Participation in the study was voluntary. Two hundred and eighty questionnaires were distributed (60 persons were unavailable due to time off or special assignments), and 239 (85 percent) usable questionnaires were returned.
The four background variables—age, organization tenure, position tenure, and rank—were expected to covary with job assignment category. A one-way analysis of variance of the role of job assignment category was conducted for each background variable. For all variables a significant effect of assignment category was found: age, F(2, 221) 5 34.25, p , .0001; organization tenure, F(2, 221) 5 55.14, p , .0001; position tenure, F(2, 221) 5 17.18, p , .0001; and rank, F(2, 221) 5 174.06, p , .0001. Tukey’s HSD tests (p , .05) showed that patrol officers were younger (M 5 33.38), had less organization tenure (M 5 11.83), had greater position tenure (M 5 9.12), and had lower rank (M 5 1.00) than officers in both investigation (M 5 41.31, 19.14, 4.86, and 1.62, respectively) and administration (M 5 44.61, 22.55, 3.16, and 2.63, respectively). The officers in investigation were significantly lower than those in administration in organization tenure and rank, but did not differ in age and position tenure. In addition, Pearson product-moment correlations revealed that all four background variables were significantly associated with job sat-
RESULTS Because only fifteen (6 percent) of the officers saw themselves as social activists, their responses were not included in the data analyses. The number of officers representing each of the remaining three career orientations for each assignment category is presented in Table 1. Con-
TABLE 1 MEAN JOB SATISFACTION SCORES BY CAREER ORIENTATION AND JOB ASSIGNMENT CATEGORY
Job Assignment Category Career Orientation Self-investor Careerist Artisan Overall
Patrol 62.43 (n 5 35) 67.47 (n 5 36) 63.94 (n 5 62) 64.50—a,b (n 5 133)
Investigation 71.86 (n 5 7) 77.64 (n 5 14) 69.76 (n 5 21) 72.74—a (n 5 42)
Administration
Overall
70.33 (n 5 9) 77.88 (n 5 16) 76.50 (n 5 24) 75.82—b (n 5 49)
65.12—a (n 5 51) 72.15—a,b (n 5 66) 67.90—b (n 5 107)
Note: Job satisfaction scores could range from 20 to 100, with high scores signifying high satisfaction. Overall career orientation means with the same letters and overall assignment category means with the same letters differ significantly at the .05 level.
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isfaction scores. Position tenure was negatively correlated with job satisfaction (r[222] 5 2.37, p , .0001), while age (r[222] 5 .20, p , .01), organization tenure (r[222] 5 .13, p , .05), and rank (r[222] 5 .33, p 5 , .0001) were positively correlated. Thus, the results showed that all background factors were correlated with officer job satisfaction. Covariance analysis was used because of the job assignment differences in background variables and the relationships between the background variables and job satisfaction. With the four background variables serving as covariates, a 3 3 3 (Career Orientation 3 Assignment Category) ANCOVA was conducted on the job satisfaction scores.
Career Orientation and Job Assignment Category The possibility of an interaction between career orientation and job assignment category was anticipated; that is, the patterns of job satisfaction scores for officers with the three different career orientations would vary for the three job assignment categories. Contrary to this expectation, the results revealed no evidence of an interaction (p . .40). On the other hand, there were significant main effects of both career orientation (F [2, 215] 5 4.52, p , .02) and job assignment category (F [2, 215] 5 3.08, p , .05). The mean job satisfaction scores are presented in Table 1. Tukey’s HSD tests (p , .05) indicated that careerists (M 5 72.15) reported significantly higher levels of job satisfaction than both artisans (M 5 67.90) and self-investors (M 5 65.12); there was not a significant difference between artisans and self-investors. Regarding assignment category, officers in patrol (M 5 64.50) reported significantly lower levels of satisfaction than officers in both investigation (M 5 72.74) and administration (M 5 75.82); the latter two groups did not differ significantly. As noted, the data for the social activists were omitted from the statistical analyses due to the small sample size. Nonetheless, because the discussion section includes speculation about the social activists, their job satisfaction scores
are provided as follows: patrol (M 5 61.50, n 5 4), investigation (M 5 75.50, n 5 4), and administration (M 5 70.71, n 5 7). To gain a clearer appreciation of the level of job satisfaction in the present sample of police officers, it is helpful to compare the present results with those of other groups. The Manual for the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (Weiss et al., 1967:24) reports, for the short form, a mean of 74.85 (SD 5 11.92) for a heterogeneous group of 1,723 employed individuals, and a survey (Fry and Greenfeld, 1980) of 529 male patrol officers from a U.S. urban department indicates a mean of 68.50 (SD 5 12.00). Thus, with the social activist data included, the job satisfaction scores for the officers in investigation (M 5 72.98, SD 5 9.43) and administration (M 5 75.18, SD 5 11.48) are consistent with a general (heterogeneous) group mean. On the other hand, the mean for the patrol officers (M 5 64.41, SD 5 9.85) is below both a general group mean and a comparable occupational group mean, although from an absolute perspective still above the theoretical midpoint of 60 on the 20–100 point scale. Position Tenure It was expected that position tenure would be more strongly related to officer job satisfaction than organization tenure. This expectation was confirmed. The covariance analysis revealed that with the other background variables controlled, only position tenure accounted for a significant proportion of variance in job satisfaction scores (p , .0001). Age approached significance (p , .07), while organization tenure and rank fell far short of significance (p . .40).
DISCUSSION Emphasized throughout the following consideration of the results is the importance of the fit between the characteristics of the individual police officer and the characteristics of the police job/organization as a determinant of job satisfaction. While this view assumes a causal sequence—degree of fit influences degree of job satisfaction—and the sequence is supported by
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existing theory and research (see introduction), it is important to keep in mind that causal inferences about the present findings are limited by their correlational nature. The notion of person-environment fit provided the basis for the expectation that given the different work demands and requirements associated with different job assignment categories—administration, investigation, and patrol—the pattern of job satisfaction–career orientation scores might vary from one job assignment category to another. The results, however, revealed no interaction between career orientation and assignment category. Instead, they showed main effects of both variables. Career Orientation and Traditional Policing Across the three job assignment categories, careerists were the most satisfied of the three career orientations. Moreover, across the three career orientations, officers in patrol were less satisfied than those in investigation and administration. These findings are consistent with the observation of MacDonald and Martin (1986) that North American police agencies use promotion as the predominant method of motivating and satisfying their personnel (see also McGinnis, 1991:62–68). MacDonald and Martin suggest that, regardless of the intrinsic worth of the job, because promotion is considered by police personnel to be the most important and frequently offered form of recognition and reward, its impact dominates their motivation and morale. Thus, it is suggested that under traditional organizational conditions, no matter what job officers are assigned, the overriding atmosphere surrounding their jobs reflects most closely the careerist orientation, with its emphasis on extrinsic organizational rewards. This may explain why careerists were the most satisfied group (see also Burke, Deszca, and Shearer, 1984:189). It may also help to explain why officers working in investigation and administration were more satisfied than officers in patrol. The majority of those individuals had experienced the preeminent reward of promotion, while none in patrol had received a promotion. If careerists tend to be more satisfied than the other career orientations because of a funda-
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mental compatibility between careerist values and the organizational reward structure, why is it that careerists were the most satisfied group in patrol even though they had not achieved their promotional goals? In considering this question, it was reasoned that among patrol officers the careerist group may have been comprised largely of younger officers who had the least tenure in the organization. There is a greater likelihood that such officers would have been more optimistic about their chances for promotion and, therefore, relatively more satisfied with their jobs (Cooper, 1982:103). On the other hand, the self-investors, the group with the lowest mean job satisfaction, may have consisted largely of older, longer-tenured officers who felt frustrated and disillusioned by their failures to be promoted and by being increasingly trapped in dead-end jobs. In accordance with this thinking, additional analyses showed that among patrol officers, self-investors were significantly older (M 5 37.38, p , .01) than the other two orientations, and careerists (M 5 30.67) were younger than artisans (M 5 32.55), but not significantly so. In addition, self-investors had significantly more position tenure (M 5 9.84) than careerists (M 5 5.72, p , .01) and artisans (M 5 5.33, p , .01). That is, self-investors had remained in the same job assignments without transfer or promotion longer than had either careerists or artisans. Not only this study, but other research indicates that self-investors express the highest levels of job dissatisfaction (Burke and Deszca, 1988:645; Burke, Deszca, and Shearer, 1984:189). Selfinvestors also score consistently high on other negative outcome variables, such as job stress, burnout, propensity to quit, and psychosomatic symptoms (Burke and Deszca, 1988:644–45; Burke, Deszca, and Shearer, 1984:188–90). It is not surprising that self-investors score relatively high on various negative outcome variables. Of the four career orientations, the self-investor orientation, which places extrawork needs and activities ahead of work obligations, most clearly does not fit the police environment, with its valuation of contribution to work and the organization as a means to promotion and status (Bailyn, 1977). Further, when police officers were asked to identify their current career orientations, in both
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this study and Burke’s research (Burke and Deszca, 1987:519, 1988:644; Burke, Deszca, and Shearer, 1984:187), social activists constituted the smallest group of respondents (8 percent or less in four samples). The small number of social activists leads one to question the compatibility between this career orientation and the traditional police work environment and to expect that social activists may be low in job satisfaction. Although the data for the social activists were not analyzed in the primary analyses (due to their small number), consideration of the job satisfaction scores of the 15 social activists revealed a mean of 69.53. This mean is similar in magnitude to those of the other career orientations (see Table 1). The social activists who were in patrol, however, had a mean satisfaction score of 61.50 (N 5 4), which is the lowest of all groups. The lower satisfaction of the social activists in the patrol category, all of whom were constables, accords with the result of Burke, Deszca, and Shearer (1984:189), whose subjects were similar in rank. Burke and his colleagues found that social activists, along with self-investors, reported the lowest job satisfaction and also the highest number of burnout symptoms. Moreover, in a study of police officers who changed their career orientations, Burke and Deszca (1987:519) found that social activities comprised the least stable career orientation, with the highest proportion having changed their career orientations since the beginning of their policing careers. Such changes suggest a likely person-environment fit problem in which the realities of police work thwart the social activist’s opportunities to effect social change. In accordance with this idea, Cherniss (1980:204) suggests that social activists may be at the greatest risk of burnout because their career orientation is least consistent with the demands and rewards of public human service organizations.
Career Orientation and Community Policing This investigation certainly raises questions about how compatible the normative structure of a police organization is with the work-related needs and values of its membership. The
present results and those of Burke and his associates suggest the greatest harmony exists between the police environment and those officers with a careerist orientation. Questions also arise about possible policing contexts that may be more compatible with the other career orientations. One possibility is community policing. The community policing paradigm evolved rapidly in the last decade or so and has received widespread acceptance in North American policing as the most viable means of policing society (Chacko and Nancoo, 1993: Rosenbaum, 1994). The philosophy of community policing calls for increased police involvement with the community, with particular emphasis on a police-community partnership in the identification, prevention, and solution of community problems. Perhaps the most profound changes mandated by community policing pertain to the frontline officer’s role (Clairmont, 1991:476; Meese, 1993:2; Trojanowicz and Bucqueroux, 1990). Under community policing, there are major, broad-based changes in the skills and responsibilities required of the officer (a “new breed of line officer”, Trojanowicz and Bucqueroux, 1990:xiii) that are dictated by the increased emphasis on community involvement, the police-community partnership, proactive policing, empowerment to the officer, and so on. It is proposed that there are features of the community-policing-officer role that are fundamentally congruent with two career orientations in particular—the social activist and the artisan—and it is suggested further that the successful implementation of community policing may serve to enhance the vocational adjustment, including job satisfaction, of individuals with these orientations. Conversely, it is suggested that extant problems with the implementation of community policing (Lord, 1996; Scrivner, 1995:419–30) would be ameliorated if greater attention were given to individual officer characteristics, including their career orientations, in the selection of personnel. With respect to the social activist career orientation, community policing greatly expands upon an officer’s ability and opportunity to effect positive change in the community. Communitypolicing officers work closely with community residents, leaders, groups, and organizations to
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identify, prioritize, prevent, and eliminate community problems. The responsibilities of community-policing officers include not only those associated with traditional professional policing (e.g., responding to service calls, arrests, and citations), but such activities as the following: public speaking and public education, organizing problem-focused community initiatives, recruiting and supervising volunteers, networking with businesses and nonprofit organizations, making referrals to other agencies, facilitating conflict resolution (mediation and negotiation), and assisting groups with special needs, for example, sponsoring youth activities and rape prevention classes (Clairmont, 1991:476; Meese, 1993:2–7; Scrivner, 1995:426–28). Scrivner (1995:429–30) underscores that community policing has the potential to effect broadscale social change. She elaborates the prosocial influence that community-policing officers, as role models and mentors, can have on youth, including the capacity to counter the destructive influences of negative role models, such as drug dealers and gang leaders. Scrivner also points to the potential social value of the community-building model of community policing that focuses on improving the quality of neighborhood life largely through community mobilization initiatives. There are core features of community policing that should be especially appealing to an officer with a social activist orientation. Cherniss (1980:191) observes that when social activists evaluate their work, the most important factor is its social significance. Clearly, the opportunities to make a socially significant difference in community policing exceed those in traditional policing. As Meese (1993:2) observes, community policing requires officers who view their community service and peacekeeping functions as just as important as their crime control and law enforcement functions. Social activists who tend to become dissatisfied and disillusioned with the traditional, reactive mode of policing likely have a more comfortable niche in community policing. In addition, there are features of community policing that should appeal to officers with the artisan career orientation. Cherniss (1980:193) describes the artisan as preferring jobs that per-
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mit independent functioning and provide new experiences, challenging tasks, and opportunities for skill development. In community policing, each of these preferences may be satisfied. Police departments are decentralized with much greater autonomy and decision-making authority granted to officers who often are given jurisdiction over their own beats. The role of the community policing officer is a greatly expanded one. The officer is a “generalist” (Trojanowicz and Bucqueroux, 1994:70) who is required to deal with a wide variety of law-and-order and qualityof-life problems and demonstrate a wide variety of skills. The officer not only reacts to incidents, but analyzes, plans, innovates, and initiates in taking a proactive approach to community problems (Vinzant and Crothers, 1994:189–94). Thus, the opportunities for new experiences, challenge, and skill development are considerable in community policing. There is an essential compatibility between community policing and the artisan career orientation. Several authorities have proposed that community policing should promote greater officer job satisfaction (Greene, 1989:168; Murphy, 1988:180; Wycoff, 1988:111–14). Greene (1989), for instance, categorizes community policing as job redesign (Hackman and Oldham, 1980) and suggests that because of the motivational benefits from the job enlargement and job enrichment associated with its enactment, community policing may enhance the job satisfaction of officers. Greene, however, recognizes that not all officers are good candidates for community policing, and Scrivner (1995:424) stresses the need to expand police selection research to consider those individual characteristics most suitable for community policing. The present analysis suggests that an officer’s career orientation may be one characteristic that should be considered when selecting officers for community policing.
Position Tenure One of the objectives of this study was to compare how organization tenure and position tenure relate to job satisfaction. Separately, each tenure variable, as well as both age and
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D. R. HOATH, F. W. SCHNEIDER, and M. W. STARR
rank, was significantly correlated with job satisfaction; however, the covariance analysis revealed that only assignment tenure accounted for a significant proportion of unique variance in job satisfaction, with low satisfaction being linked to high tenure. This finding replicates that of Hoath (1993), and the findings of both studies suggest that in the investigation of determinants of police officer job satisfaction, it may be more productive to examine the role of position tenure than that of organization tenure. The inverse association between job satisfaction and position tenure is consistent with the theorizing and research on career plateauing, in general (Near, 1985; Slocum et al., 1985), and in policing, in particular (Burke, 1989:84; McGinnis, 1991:29–59), that associate negative outcomes with plateauing. Although some researchers have limited the definition of the career plateau to the period of a career when hierarchical mobility is unlikely (Stoner et al., 1980), the present authors agree with those who broaden the concept to pertain to horizontal immobility as well as vertical immobility (Bardwick, 1986). This broader conceptualization posits the negative influence on job attitudes of significant restrictions on one’s career ambitions, whether they concern opportunities for advancement to higher organizational levels or concern opportunities for working in other positions or developing other skills or specialties at the same organizational level. The relevant literature, including the present study, points to the deleterious consequences of leaving police officers in the same jobs for extended periods of time. Clearly, there is a need for police management to develop mechanisms that prevent intraposition stagnation and facilitate continued progress toward the attainment of their members’ career ambitions. Community policing may represent part of the solution to the negative attitudinal consequences associated with career plateauing and prolonged position tenure. While community policing may not directly address problems related to vertical immobility, it is relevant to problems of horizontal immobility. The job enlargement and enrichment that are intrinsic to community policing are likely to mitigate intraposition stagnation and promote more positive job attitudes.
CONCLUSIONS Underlying this research is Cherniss’s thesis that the particular characteristics/demands of a work setting facilitate greater employment adaptability on the part of individuals with certain career orientations (Cherniss, 1980). Accordingly, drawing upon the present findings and related evidence, it is suggested that the job satisfaction of careerist police officers may be relatively high because of an essential compatibility between the careerist orientation and the rewards inherent in the traditional police work setting. Furthermore, there are features of the work environment prescribed by community policing that may contribute to increased levels of job satisfaction in officers with social activist and artisan career orientations. This study, therefore, directs the law enforcement community’s attention to the importance of considering an individual’s career orientation in the selection and placement process, including considering the implications of the transition to community policing for that process. Also, it is suggested that the use of a longitudinal research design would make for clearer interpretation of the interrelationships among career orientation, work setting, and job satisfaction. With a longitudinal design, one could track both career orientation shifts and attitude (and performance) changes of officers during the course of their careers. In the present case, for example, one could better determine whether the more senior self-investors in patrol entered policing as selfinvestors and were low in job satisfaction from the start or entered policing as other career orientations and, after experiencing low job satisfaction, shifted to the self-investor orientation. Lastly, it is predicted that position tenure, a seldom-examined background variable, will prove to be an important determinant of police officer job satisfaction and likely other attitudinal outcome variables. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors express their appreciation to those personnel of the Windsor Police Service who contributed to this study. Also, appreciation is extended to the three anonymous reviewers whose suggestions led to significant improvements in the paper.
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