Professional efficacy, exhaustion, and work characteristics among police officers: A longitudinal test of the learning-related predictions of the demand-control model

The present study addressed the relationships among professional efficacy, emotional exhaustion, and job characteristics (job demands and job control) in the context of a two‐wave panel study among 828 Dutch police officers. Based on the demand–control model, we expected that high demands/high contr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of occupational and organizational psychology 2010-06, Vol.83 (2), p.455-474
Main Authors: Taris, Toon W., Kompier, Michiel A. J., Geurts, Sabine A. E., Houtman, Irene L. D., Van Den Heuvel, Floor F. M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Demand-Control model
Efficacy
Fatigue
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Job characteristics
Job control
Longitudinal studies
Occupational psychology
Occupations
Organizational behavior
Police
Police officers
Policing
Predictions
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Studies
Work condition. Job performance. Stress
Working conditions
Working life
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Summary:The present study addressed the relationships among professional efficacy, emotional exhaustion, and job characteristics (job demands and job control) in the context of a two‐wave panel study among 828 Dutch police officers. Based on the demand–control model, we expected that high demands/high control would be positively related to professional efficacy, and that high demands/low control would be related to high levels of exhaustion. Moreover, we hypothesized that high levels of exhaustion would lead to lower levels of professional efficacy and that high levels of efficacy would lead to low levels of exhaustion. Structural equation modelling largely supported these predictions. High demands were longitudinally related to high levels of efficacy and high levels of exhaustion; high control was longitudinally related to high levels of efficacy. Further, efficacy and exhaustion were indeed mutually related. Finally, high levels of exhaustion were longitudinally related to high levels of demands. We conclude that there are complex, yet theoretically, and practically interpretable relations among efficacy, strain and work characteristics.
ISSN:0963-1798
2044-8325
DOI:10.1348/096317909X424583