Psychological Well-Being and Job Satisfaction of Kenyan Police Officers
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47604/ijp.2286Keywords:
Job Satisfaction, Police Officers, Police Managers, Psychological Wellbeing, StressAbstract
Purpose: Police work is a high risk job in terms of stress and low psychological wellbeing. In Kenya, police officers have presented high levels of suicide, homicide, assault and intimate partner abuse and this has become a matter of concern.
Methodology: This theoretical paper applies the hermeneutic phenomenological approach to study psychological wellbeing and job satisfaction of police officers as a phenomenon and how it affects police work. Extensive and systematic literature review is done using search engines like google scholar, web of science and Scopus. The search includes historical and contemporary scholarly data which reveals how police work is understood by scholars and the media. This data is then assessed and interpreted to discern the emerging patterns, findings and conclusions.
Findings: Statistics on the Kenya police service indicate that 20,000 police officers are either depressed or they present with various psychological disorders. Between 2016 and 2020 police have recorded within their ranks across the country 13 murders and 11 suicides per year without a break. Systematic literature view has revealed that high psychological wellbeing of police officers is imperative in order to remove or reduce psychological morbidity in police work. This not only decreases turnover, but also retains talent, and increases productivity. High psychological wellbeing also spills over to work teams and families in terms of happiness and wellbeing. Analysis of literature has also revealed that job satisfaction is one of the facets of psychological wellbeing at the work place.
Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: This paper proposes that police managers, and stakeholders should proactively put in place strategies that enhance job satisfaction and therefore improve the psychological wellbeing of police officers. Researchers in partnership with police management should also address the knowledge gap in explaining how police stressors finally precipitate the high rates of murders and suicide and implement solutions.
Downloads
References
Alsaigh, R. & Coyne, I. (2021). Doing Hermeneutic Phenomenology Research Underpinned by Gadamer’s Philososphy: A Framework to Facilitate Data Analysis. International Journal of Qualitatiive Methods. Vol 20: 1 -10.
Anjum, Z., Fan, L., Javed, M.F., & Rao, A. (2014). Job characteristics model and job Satisfaction. International Journal of Education and Research. Vol. 2 No. 11
Armstrong (2006). Human Resource Management Practice 10th Edition. London:
Kogan Page
Baker, W. K. (2004). Antecedents and Consequences of Job Satisfaction: testing a Comprehensive model using integrated Methodology. Journal of Applied Business Research. Vol. 20 No. 3
Bauer, T. & Erdogan, B. (2015). Organizational Behaviour. Flat World Knowledge, Inc.
One NY Bridge Street Irvington
Boell, S. K., & Cecez-Kecmanovic, D. (2014). A Hermeneutic Approach for Conducting Literature Reviews and Literature Searches. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 34, pp-pp. https://doi.org/10.17705/1CAIS.03412
Cabrita, J. & Perista, H. (2006). Measuring Job satisfaction in surveys: comparative. Analytical report. EU countries. Psychosocial factors, quality of work indicators. European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions file:///E:/Measuringjobsatisfactioninsurveys-.pdf
Dachapalli, L.P. (2016). An investigation into the levels of job satisfaction and Organizational commitment amongst South African police service employees Problems and Perspectives in Management, Volume 14, Issue 3
Demou, E., Hale, H., Hale, H. & Hunt, K. (2020) Understanding the mental health and Wellbeing needs of police officers and staff in Scotland. Police Practice and Research. An International Journal vol. 21, no. 6, 702–716 https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/gppr20
Erol, T., Morland, S. (2023 August 21st). Kenyan officials meet with Haiti police to Discuss gang fighting force. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/kenyan-delegation-meeting-haitian-police-chief-assess-security-force-source-2023-08-21/
Furuzawa, Y. (2011). Two Police Reforms in Kenya: Their implications for Police Reform policy. ci.nii.ac.jp
Gau, J. M. & Gaines, D.C. (2012). Top-Down Management and Patrol Officers' Attitudes about the Importance of Public Order Maintenance: A Research Note. Police Quarterly Volume: 15 Issue: 1 Pages: 45-61.
Greenberg, J. (1997) Behaviour in Organizations. London Prentice Hall.
Kular, S. & Guler, A. (2014). Influence of Supervisor Support on Job Satisfaction Levels:
An Evaluation of Turkish National Police (TNP) Officers in the Istanbul Police Department. International Journal of Criminal Justice Sciences .Vol, 9 Issue 2
Heller, D. J., (2002). The confounding Role of personality and trait affectivity in the Relationship between job and Life Satisfaction. Journal of Organizational Behaviour, 815 - 835.
Guanya, C. R., Oruta, E. M. & Lidiva, M. K. (2016). An Evaluation of Factors Influencing Perceptions of Job satisfaction among Police Officers in Kenya. Public policy and administrative Research. Vol. 6, no. 10.
Hilal, S. & Litsey, B. (2020). Reducing police turnover: Recommendations for the law Enforcement agency. International Journal of Police Science & Management Volume 22, Issue 1 Pages 73-83
Johansson, E. (2004). Job Satisfaction in Finland. Some Results from the European Community Household Panel. ELTA Discussion Papers, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy (ELTA), No. 958, http://hdl.handle.net/10419/63640
Judge, T. A., Heller, D. & Mount M. K. (2002). The Five Factor Model Of Personality and Job Satisfaction. APA Journal of Applied Psychology June 2002. Vol.87, No. 3, 530 - 541.
Kakkori, L. (2020). Hermeneutics and Phenomenology Problems When Applying Hermeneutic Phenomenological Method in Educational Qualitative Research. Paideusis vol.18 (2).pp.19-27
Karasek, R., Baker, D., Marxer, F. Ahlbom A. & Theorell, T. (1981). Job decision Latitude, job demands, and cardiovascular disease: a prospective study of Swedish men. Am J Public Health. 71(7): 694–705.
Karasek, R., Theorell, T., Schwartz, J.E., Schnall, P.L., Pieper, C.F., & Michela, J.L. (1988). Job characteristics in relation to the prevalence of myocardial infarction in the US Health Examination Survey (HES) and the Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (HANES). Am J Public Health; 78(8):910-8.doi: 10.2105/ajph.78.8.
Kiage, N. (2021, April 14th). Why Stress and Trauma Push police to the edge. The people daily: Online edition https://www.pd.co.ke/news/why-stress-and-trauma-push-police-to-the-edge-71908/
Kumar, T. K. (2021). The Influence of Demographic Factors and Work Environment on Job Satisfaction among Police Personnel: An Empirical Study. International Criminal Justice Review Vol. 31, Issue 1, pp.59-83
Laffaldano, M.T. & Muchinsky P.M. (1985). Job satisfaction and job performance: A Metaanalysis. Psychological bulletin 97, 251 - 273.
LaMontagne, A., Milner, A., Allisey, A.F., Page, K.M., Reavly, N. J., Martin, A., & Tchemitskaia, I. (2016). An integrated workplace mental health Intervention in a Policing context: Protocol for a cluster randomized control trial. BMC Psychiatry.16 49. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-016-0741-9
Laurie (2005). Management and Organizational Behaviour. London: Prentice Hall
Laurence, J. (2023 July 14th). Comment by UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Jeremy Laurence on Kenya protests. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-briefing-notes/2023/07/comment-un-human- rights-office-spokesperson-jeremy-laurence-kenya
Nakao, M. (2010). Work-related stress and psychosomatic medicine. BioPsychosocial Medicine. Vol.4.
Ndungu, S. K., & Muoka, B. (2021). Police Transfers and job Satisfaction: Case of Nairobi City County, Kenya. Public policy and administrative Research. Vol. 11 no. 5
Ngai, M. M. (2022). Effect of restructuring on Employee job satisfaction at the National Police Service Commission in Kenya. http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/bitstream/handle/11295/164113/
Maran, D.A., Magnavita, N. & Gabarino, S. (2022). Identifying Organizational Stressors That Could Be a Source of Discomfort in Police Officers: A Thematic Review. Int J Environ Res Public Health19 (6):3720. Doi: 10.3390/ijerph19063720
Michie, S. & Williams, S. (2003). Reducing work related psychological ill health and Sickness absence: a systematic literature review. Occup Environ Med; 60:3–9
Miner, B.M. (2005). Organizational Behaviour. Essential Theories of motivation and Leadership. 1 New Delhi: M.E. Sharpe/ Inc.
Ministry of Health (2022). The task force on mental health. Mental Health (MoH Kenya) http://www.health.go.ke
Mullins, L. J. (2005). Management and Organizational Behavior. London: FT Pitman.
Ndikaru, J. T. (2021). Evaluation of homicide in the police force: The Kenyan Perspective. International Journal of Current Research. Vol. 13, Issue, 07, pp.18216-18224. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24941/ijcr.41929.07.2021
Nina, T., Janko, S., & Aleksander, A. (2014). Factors Influencing Employee Satisfaction in the Police Service: The Case of Slovenia. Munich Personal RePEc Archive. https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/62037/
Obondo, P. A., Okwonkwo, E. A. & Abo, U.J. (2019). Job Characteristics and Job Satisfaction among police officers in Enugu urban. Practicum Psychologia 9(1), 139-157
Ombati, C. (2022 December 16th). 57 police, prison officers killed in line of duty this year –Koome. The star: Online edition https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2022-12-16-57-police-prisons- officers-killed- in-line-of-duty-this-year-koome/
Ometo, B. (2020). Improving Police Accountability in Kenya: Curing the Shortcomings Of the IPOA in Bringing an End to Police Brutality in the Country. Columbia Human Rights Law Review, SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3568251(1st Ed.) Lexington, Massachusetts/Toronto.
Osse, A. (2016). Police Reform in Kenya: a process of ‘meddling through’. Policing and Society. An international Journal of Research and Policy. Vol. 26, no. 8, 907-924.
Otory, W. & Kiiru, D. (2020). Work Environment and Job Satisfaction at National Police Service, Kenya. International Journal of Business Management Entrepreneurship and Innovation 2(4):33-51
Peccei, R.E., (2004). Human Resource Management and the Search for the Happy Workplace. ERIM Inaugural Address Series Research in Management EIA-2004-021-ORG, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM). https://repub.eur.nl/pub/1108/EIA-2004-021-ORG.pdf
Pfeiffer, J. (1982). Organizations and Organizational Theory. Ballinger publishing Company, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Prysmakova, P., Vandenabeele, W. (2019). Enjoying Police Duties: Public Service Motivation and Job Satisfaction. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology 35:304–317 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-019-09324-7
Purba, A., Demou, E. (2019). The relationship between organizational stressors andMental wellbeing within police officers: a systematic review. BMC Public Health, 1286 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7609-0
Porter & Lawler (1976). Behaviour in Organizations. Tokyo: McGraw Hill.
Rao, G.V. (2017). The analysis of facets of job satisfaction of police personal. Vishwakarma Institute of Management. Vishwakarma Business Review Volume VII, Issue 1 (January 2017) 40-47
Ransey, P. (20O9). Report of the National Task Force on Police Reforms. https://vdocuments.net/ransley-report.html
Erol, R, T., & Morland, S. (2023). Kenyan officials meet with Haiti police to Discuss gang fighting force. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/kenyan-delegation-meeting-haitian-police-chief-assess-security-force-source-2023-08-21/
Ryff, C. D. (2013). Psychological well-being revisited: Advances in the science and Practice of Eudemonia. Psychotherapy and psychosomatics 83, no. 1 10-28.
Salancik, G.R. & Pfeiffer, J. (1978). A social information Processing approach to job Attitudes and Task Design. Administrative science quarterly vol.23 pp. 224- 253,
Spector, P.E. (1997) Job Satisfaction: Applications, Assessments causes and Consequences. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.
Taris, T.W., & Schreurs, P. J. (2009). Well-being and organizational performance: An Organizational-level test of the happy-productive worker hypothesis. An international Journal of work, health and Organizations.Vol. 23. Issue 2
Wango, G., Wairire, G. G. & Odiemo, L. (2018). Counselling Interventions and the Use Of Counselling Skills in Police Services in Kenya. IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science (IOSR-JHSS) Volume 23, Issue 7, Ver. 6 PP 39-52 e-ISSN: 2279-0837, p-ISSN: 2279-0845. www.iosrjournals.org.
Warr, P. (1987). Work, unemployment, and mental health. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Warr, P. (2013). How to think about and measure psychological well-being. In R. R. Sinclair, M. Wang, & L. E. Tetrick (Eds.), Research methods in occupational health psychology: Measurement, design, and data analysis (pp. 76–90).
World Health Organization (2022 June 16th). Mental state of the World 2021. Transforming mental Health for all. https://www.who.int/teams/mental-health- and-substance-use/world-mental-health-report
Vinayak, S. & Judge, J. (2018). A study of psychological well-being among police Personnel. International Journal of Health Science Research. 2018; 8(9):190-198.
Zekavica, R., Simeunovic-Patic, B., Potgieter, P.J. and Roelofse, C.J. (2018), Police cynicism in Serbia: prevalence, nature and associations with job satisfaction, Policing: An International Journal, Vol. 41 No. 5, pp. 659-672.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Peter Kiragu Ndero, Prof. Charles Kimamo, Dr. Lucas Mwaura
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work’s authorship and initial publication in this journal.
