Suchergebnisse

Abstract
Despite decades of workplace interventions, often focussed on increasing women police numbers, women continue to be under-represented in policing. Understanding the experiences of women once they have entered policing has been an area of ongoing interest. Examination of the experiences of women police is often undertaken with reference to its masculinized culture. Stemming from these discussions, sexual harassment remains a persistent concern across many police agencies. This study involves 491 women police employed in one large Australian, state police organization. Derived from the study findings, the concepts of psychological contract breach (PCB) and embitterment, two factors that have been rarely studied in policing, are critical to understanding the relationship between sexual harassment and psychological distress. Using mediated regression analysis, the research found PCB and embitterment provide a more nuanced explanation of outcomes of sexual harassment experiences and in turn, provided insight into why sexual harassment is associated with greater psychological distress. This research positions police agencies and their leaders to develop and implement more effective support strategies for women police who have experienced sexual harassment and mitigate negative psychological health impacts that may result.

Abstract
Policing worldwide is facing a staffing and retention crisis. If the staffing exodus continues, communities will be left with too few police and large cohorts of inexperienced new recruits on the job. Drawing on 2,669 survey responses collected as part of a national study of law enforcement officers across the USA, we test an integrated theoretical model of the predictors of turnover intentions. We computed a path model using structural equation modelling, finding that job demand stressors (including trauma, organizational, and operational stressors), burnout, psychological distress, and commitment (including organizational commitment and occupational commitment) all play important roles in explaining the intentions of officers to exit the policing profession. Based on the study findings, the importance of trauma, organizational and operational job demand stress, and the differential impact of organizational and occupational commitment on police turnover intentions is established. Addressing burnout and psychological distress through a wellness agenda is likely to assist in stemming the outflow of officers from policing. The current study makes a significant empirical and practical contribution to the small body of existing police turnover research. The current research guides police leaders on the critical factors that must be considered when developing strategies and initiatives that aim to positively impact on the retention of officers within policing.