Antecedents and consequences of job satisfaction in Kerala police: a study

Abstract

Job satisfaction has been one of the most discussed concepts both in the field of psychology and organisational behaviour. Job Satisfaction of the police forces has been extensively analyzed all over the world, though not as much in India. The study of job satisfaction in the police gains significance due to several factors. The police is a service organisation with a large segment of its force in constant public contact. Hence, a satisfied police man would facilitate the contentment of the society at large. Emergence of the movement of New Public Management movement with efficiency, effectiveness and economy as its pillar stones has channelized organizational interests towards understanding its human resources. Close supervision and control in the police were traditionally emphasized to enhance conformity and predictability. Now with the participative style of leadership becoming appreciated in the police also, the study of job satisfaction has become momentous. This was the first time that Job Satisfaction along with its antecedents and consequences in Kerala police was studied. Police personnel belonging to different districts, different age groups and different years of experience had differing levels of Job satisfaction. There was no significant difference in the Job Satisfaction of men and women. The Job Satisfaction of the circle inspectors was the highest. Those with post graduate degrees showed the least satisfaction. Job Autonomy, Job Variety, Peer Cohesion, Supervision, Extraversion, Neuroticism, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness showed significant positive correlation with Job Satisfaction. Organisational Commitment, Organisational Citizenship Behaviour and Life Satisfaction were positively correlated with Job Satisfaction. Perceived Organisational Support, Cynicism, Employee Role Conflict, Job Stress did not show any significant correlation with Job Satisfaction. The findings are important for the Kerala Police department as they can aid in developing a road map to make the police personnel or woman more satisfied with their jobs. Organisational Commitment and Organisational Citizenship Behaviour in a police personnel will aid in the achievement of the objectives of the department as a whole. The awareness that these two behaviours are positively correlated with Job Satisfaction would give impetus to the department in recognizing the instrumentality of job satisfaction of the force in the achievement of the department s objective of serving the society.