NCJ Number
216673
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 34 Issue: 5 Dated: September-October 2006 Pages: 479-491
Date Published
September 2006
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This study examined whether background variables, job stress, and personality traits could predict occupational burnout and work engagement for police officers in South Africa.
Abstract
Findings show that background variables (ethnicity, language, rank, station size, education, sex, and marital status) predicted 2 percent of the variance in exhaustion and 3 percent of the variance in work engagement. Burnout (both exhaustion and cynicism) was best predicted by stress because of job demands and a lack of resources, low emotional stability, and low conscientiousness. Work engagement was best predicted by conscientiousness, emotional stability, and low stress because of job demands. Job stress because of job demands and a lack of job resources contributed significantly to burnout, confirming the findings of previous studies. Since stressful job demands had a primary role in job burnout, preventive organizationally based strategies should be developed to reduce high job demands. Future studies should explore the personality mechanisms that produce different coping patterns and preferences. All police officers randomly identified in small and medium police stations in each of eight Provinces were asked to complete the questionnaire, and stratified random samples were selected according to sex and ethnic group at large stations. The sample (n=1,794) included all major racial groupings. The Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey measured exhaustion and cynicism. The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale measured work engagement, and the Police Stress Inventory measured job stress. The Personality Characteristics Inventory assessed the five-factor model of personality dimensions. 6 tables and 70 references