Organizational reform in a hierarchical frontline organization

Abstract

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.

Literature on Police Reforms in the Nordic Countries

“…Measurements of citizens' perception of the police had on the other hand not declined, but persisted at a high level. This was confirmed by Vuorensyrjä (2014), who from a survey reports that organizational stressors on labour turnover intention have been increasing in the Finnish police force during the police reform years.…”

Strain, negative emotions and turnover intentions among American police managers

“…Moreover, police officers who reported work-related negative interactions with coworkers were significantly more likely to report turnover intentions (Adams and Buck, 2010). Alternatively, police officers who acknowledged a positive organizational climate, characterized by group cohesiveness, team spirit, mutual trust, optimism and openness among coworkers, were significantly less likely to express turnover intent (Jaramillo et al, 2005;Vuorensyrj€ a, 2014). However, Yun and colleagues found that the perceived lack of cooperation among coworkers was not a significant predictor of police offices' turnover intentions (Yun et al, 2015).…”

“…When examining the sources of strain that may affect the police officers' attitudes and behavior, police researchers differentiate between stressors that are specific to the police work (i.e. occupational stressors) and organizational stressors, which may occur in any organization (Vuorensyrj€ a, 2014). Although exceptions do exist (e.g.…”

“…However, although several studies examined the predictors of police officers' turnover intentions (e.g. Adams and Buck, 2010;Jabeen et al, 2020;Martinussen et al, 2007;Pines and Keinan, 2005;Shim et al, 2015;Vuorensyrj€ a, 2014;Yun et al, 2015) and the police officer's rank was sometimes used as a control variable (Shim et al, 2015;Yun et al, 2015), research focusing exclusively on police supervisors' turnover is scarce. For instance, while a handful of studies examined the correlates of police chiefs' (in)voluntary turnover (e.g.…”

Employee well-being of Finnish criminal investigators – mixed methods approach

“…Uniqueness of the occupations also emphasises the need to analyse police work separately from others, to be able to take account multidimensional nature of the work and its differences compared to other occupations (Tops and Spelier, 2013; Vuorensyrjä, 2014c).…”