Examining Police Officer Work Stress Using the Job Demands–Resources Model

Policing has long been recognized as a stressful, emotionally trying, and sometimes dangerous occupation. Job stress is related to several harmful outcomes for officers, and ultimately police organizations. The present study empirically examined the applicability of the job demands–resources model t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of contemporary criminal justice Vol. 33; no. 4; pp. 348 - 367
Main Authors Frank, James, Lambert, Eric G., Qureshi, Hanif
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.11.2017
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects
Criminal justice
Decision making
Job characteristics
Law enforcement
Occupational stress
Organizational support
Police
Role ambiguity
Role conflict
India
work stress
police
job stress
job demands–resources model
law enforcement
India
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Summary:Policing has long been recognized as a stressful, emotionally trying, and sometimes dangerous occupation. Job stress is related to several harmful outcomes for officers, and ultimately police organizations. The present study empirically examined the applicability of the job demands–resources model to explain levels of work stress experienced by a sample of police officers in India. Survey data collected from 827 officers in the Indian state of Haryana were examined to determine the impact of five job demands and four job resources on work stress. Our findings suggest that role ambiguity, role conflict, and role overload are associated with higher levels of officer stress, whereas organizational support, formalization, and employee input in decision making are all associated with lower levels of stress. The implications of our findings for policing and the job demands–resources model are also discussed.
ISSN:1043-9862
1552-5406
DOI:10.1177/1043986217724248