Effects of Organizational Support and Organizational Justice on Police Officers’ Work Engagement

Andrzej Piotrowski,Ole Boe,Samir Rawat

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.642155

Abstract

The impact of organizational support and organizational justice on work engagement was investigated in a group of police officers. A review of the literature revealed that studies reporting differences between the influence of supervisors and coworker justice and support on work engagement among police officers are grossly insufficient. This study hypothesized that organizational support and organizational justice would positively predict work engagement among police officers. It was also hypothesized that, among police officers, supervisor support is more strongly related to work engagement than coworker support and that supervisor justice is more strongly linked to work engagement than coworker justice. Participants were 170 police officers who worked in police departments in northern Poland. A regression analysis showed that supervisor support and supervisor justice had a positive effect on police officers’ work engagement, whereby organizational support coupled with organizational justice accounted for 26% of the variability of work engagement. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, and directions for future research are suggested.

Highlights

In organizational psychology, work engagement (WE) has been defined as “a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption” (Schaufeli et al, 2002, p. 74)
The purpose of our research was to investigate the relationships between organizational support (OS), Organizational justice (OJ), and WE in Polish police officers, and we found that positive relationships existed between these three variables
Our main research question in this article was which of the dimensions of OJ and OS have the greatest relationship to WE among police officers

Summary

Introduction

Work engagement (WE) has been defined as “a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption” (Schaufeli et al, 2002, p. 74). Work engagement (WE) has been defined as “a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption” Perceived organizational support (POS) is an important psychological resource for work resources. POS is a subjective feeling that an organization cares about employee involvement in work and well-being (Zeng et al, 2020). POS addresses employees’ perceptions about the extent to which their organization highly values their contribution and promotes their welfare (Eisenberger et al, 1986). Empirical evidence shows that POS is associated with a number of positive organizational consequences that have been categorized into three main categories of outcomes, i.e., (1) subjective employee wellbeing, (2) positive employee attitudes toward organization and work, and (3) favorable employee behavior (Caesens and Stinglhamber, 2020).

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