Stress, Burnout, and Job Satisfaction

Abstract

Basic-level police work in China is regarded as highly stressful. The purpose of this article is to examine the relationship between stress, job satisfaction, job burnout, and locus of control as related to the police work. The article consists of an empirical study with a sample of 521 basic-level policemen and policewomen in an autonomous region of China. Participants completed a series of questionnaires that included Police Stress Questionnaire, the Overall Job Satisfaction Scale, the Maslach Burnout Inventory, and the Internality, Powerful Others, and Chance Scale. The results indicated that police stress was negatively related to job satisfaction, whereas it was positively related to job burnout. The relationship between police stress and job satisfaction was mediated by job burnout. Locus of control acted as a moderator in the stress–burnout relationship as well as in the burnout–satisfaction relationship. The findings had certain practical implications for mental health, police management, and personnel recruitment of police in China.

The Role of Training, Democratization, and Self-Actualization in Addressing Employee Burnout

“…Several studies have confirmed a negative relationship between job satisfaction and employee burnout (Maher & El-Bedawy, 2014;Steffens, Haslam, Kerschreiter, Schuh, & Van Dick, 2014;Wang, Zheng, Hu, & Zheng, 2014). Job satisfaction reflects the degree to which a person's needs, or expectations are met at work and represents the degree of satisfaction with one's work, co-workers, supervisors, promotional opportunities, pay scale, and organizational setup.…”

“…Job satisfaction reflects the degree to which a person's needs, or expectations are met at work and represents the degree of satisfaction with one's work, co-workers, supervisors, promotional opportunities, pay scale, and organizational setup. Both satisfaction and dissatisfaction represent a relationship between what one wants from a job and what one perceives to be getting from the job (Wang et al, 2014). If they feel that the organization is unable to meet their expectations, employees feel less satisfied and accordingly are more inclined to leave the organization (Kar & Suar, 2014).…”

“…Job stress occurs as well when the source of stress exceeds the individual's capacity to resist. Accordingly, job stress can predict numerous negative outcomes such as job dissatisfaction and job burnout (Wang et al, 2014). Prolonged exposure to stress can lead to burnout which is a state of physical and mental exhaustion that happens when employees are subjected to prolonged periods of stress within their work environment.…”

“…Furthermore, according to (Wang et al, 2014), job burnout is a multidimensional concept and reflects three components. First is the emotional exhaustion which is the feeling of being emotionally overextended and exhausted by one's work.…”

“…Second is depersonalization which is the unfeeling and impersonal response toward recipients of one's service, care, treatment, or instruction. Third is personal accomplishment which is the feeling of competence and successful achievement in one's work with people (Wang et al, 2014). Burnout has been defined as a long-term consequence of aversive working conditions, characterized by the simultaneous experience of the symptoms of exhaustion and disengagement from one's job.…”