PurposeThis paper aims to take a look at police‐specific factors of stress – police stressors – and to assess the effects of these factors on police officer burnout. The paper also seeks to test the linearity of these effects.Design/methodology/approachThe study focuses on four stressors: defective leadership, role conflicts, threat of violence, and time pressure. As a measure of burnout, Bergen Burnout Indicator 15 is used. The data are cross‐section in nature and come from the Police Personnel Barometer (PPB) conducted in Finland in 2008. The PPB‐survey targeted the entire police administration in Finland. The response rate was 67.2 percent (n=6,871). The current paper uses a sub‐sample of police officers (constable rank) from three functional areas of policing (n=2,821).FindingsControlling for age, gender, education, shift work, tenure and the function of the police officer, the effects of the different stressors on burnout were all statistically significant. Statistically significant and robust nonlinear effects of the stressors on burnout were also found.Originality/valueThe study introduces a new measure of stress to analyze police work. It takes a preliminary look at the reliability and validity of the measure. The study considers linear as well as nonlinear effects of the stressors on burnout and suggests that the effects under scrutiny are essentially nonlinear.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to track changes in organizational and occupational stress in the Finnish police force during the police reform years. It also estimates the effects of organizational stressors on labor turnover intention (LTI). Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on six distinct cross-sectional Police Personnel Surveys from 1999 to 2012. The surveys are not sample based, but have targeted the entire police force with good response rates. The study employs hierarchical logit models to predict LTI. Findings – Police agencies can be depicted as hierarchical frontline organizations. Major reforms in such agencies can be expected to give rise to increased organizational conflicts and stress. The empirical findings of the paper fall in line with the theory. Organizational stress and LTI have been increasing in the Finnish police force during the police reform years. However, at the same time, personal and occupational stressors have actually been reducing in the police force. Turnover intention was observed to be a positive function of those particular organizational stressors that have increased the most over the reform years. Research limitations/implications – The data are cross-sectional. No direct causal conclusions can be drawn from the results of this study. A non-material violation of the linearity assumption was detected in two logit models. Originality/value – Relying on Tops and Spelier's 2013 theory of police organizations as frontline organizations, the paper introduces a new theoretical construct – hierarchical frontline organization – and combines its theoretical ideas with comprehensive long-term data from the Finnish police force.

Purpose This study tracks changes in labor productivity of the Finnish police force over a period of thorough management reforms (2009-2014). Theoretically, the study is based on the cost disease hypothesis. It was assumed that police management reforms have had no noticeable effect on labor productivity and that, therefore, the fact that both physical police facilities and frontline employees have been reduced during the reform years has been reflected on the output side: on the number of outputs, accessibility, and quality of police services. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach The study was conducted as a series of longitudinal function-specific output-input analyses (2000-2015). The project employed data from the Police Performance Management database, Police Citizen Surveys (PCSs, 1999-2016), and Police Personnel Surveys (1999-2015). Methodologically, it relied on two different compounded annual growth rate concepts, linear regressions and likelihood ratio analyses. Findings The rate of growth of labor productivity was unaffected by the management reform period. In fact, productivity may have declined during the reform process. Citizens’ evaluations of police services have slightly deteriorated over the management reform period. Research limitations/implications PCS data are based on quota sampling. The procedure contains random sampling elements but is not fully random. The earliest PCS data lack satisfactory population weights, which is why unweighted data had to be used in this study. Originality/value Longitudinal studies on police productivity and, relatedly, on the cost disease phenomenon are rare. Yet, the themata are potentially very significant for both citizens and policy makers.

No abstract

No abstract