Decision‐making styles, stress and gender among investigators

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between police investigators' decision-making styles, degree of judgmental self-doubt and work conditions, on the one hand, and their wellbeing, stress, burnout tendency and sleep quality, on the other. Design/methodology/approach -The study concerns investigative police officers (n ¼ 203). Decision-making styles were measured by Scott and Bruce's General Decision Making Style scale (GDMS), and judgmental self-doubt by Mirels et al.'s Judgmental Self-Doubt Scale (JSDS). Wellbeing was measured by the Satisfaction With Life scale (SWL), and stress and burnout tendency by the Perceived Stress Questionnaire (PSQ) and a scale for Performance Based Self-Esteem (PBS). Questions on sleep quality and work conditions were also used. Findings -High values on the decision-making styles Avoidant (tries to avoid making decisions) and Dependent (dependent on advice from others before important decisions) were associated with higher PBS, higher PSQ and poorer sleep quality. In addition, the Avoidant style was associated with lower SWL. Both the Dependent and the Avoidant styles were associated with higher influence experienced by others in the investigative work. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that JSDS explained the outcome measures better than the Dependent and the Avoidant decision-making styles. Gender analyses showed that male investigators showed higher values on Rational decision-making style ("exhaustive information search" and "logical evaluation of alternatives") and female investigators higher values on the Dependent decision-making style. Female investigators also evidenced a higher degree of stress and performance-based self-esteem.Research limitations/implications -The data were collected in a Swedish context and may not be fully generalizable to other countries. Practical implications -These results suggest the need to individualize training programs that seek to ameliorate stress and burnout. Originality/value -This paper furthers understanding of the relation between decision-making styles and wellbeing and stress in police investigators.

Exploratory structural equation modeling of the general decision-making style inventory

“…and may allow for the analysis of the relationship among the decision-making styles and other constructs. In this regard, it has been observed that avoidant and dependent styles are positively correlated with the self-reported ratings of stress (e.g., Allwood & Salo, 2012;Salo & Allwood, 2011); and that rational and avoidant styles are positively correlated with anxiety and depression (Schoemaker, 2010).…”

Thinking Styles, Perceived Stress and Life Satisfaction

“…Similarly, as for life satisfaction, although the processes of thinking and decision-making under stress have been extensively studied (see Starcke & Brand, 2012), the view on the relationship between perceived stress and cognitive styles can be adopted chiefly from the position of similar constructs, mainly decision-making styles. While Salo & Alwood (2011) reported no significant relationships between the rational or intuitive decision-making style and stress in police officers, Bavolar & Orosova (2015) found perceived stress to be negatively associated with the intuitive decision-making style and Lasikiewics (2015) reported its negative correlation with the rational thinking style. Correlations can depend on gender; stress was found to be more negatively associated with both the rational and experiential style in men than in women (Epstein et al, 1996).…”

Decision Making Styles: A Systematic Review of Their Associations with Parenting

“…The process of making a decision, however, is often stressful Janis and Mann 1977;Salo and Allwood 2011). The processes that individuals follow in making decisions often tend to differ from person to person (Galotti et al 2006;Riaz et al 2012;Williams and Esmail 2014).…”