Job Satisfaction and Work Performance of Police

Abstract

To demonstrate causal relation between two variables requires their relationship satisfy three criteria: temporal precedence, covariation, and closure to outside influence with respect to the observed covariation. Two rival hypotheses posit the direction of the causal relationship between job satisfaction and work performance: ( a ) (past) job satisfaction + (present) job performance or ( b ) (past) job performance + (present) job satisfaction. Previous research has nor yielded conclusive support for either hypothesis. Nevertheless, both posit a substantial correlation between job satisfaction and work performance. Altruism, an orientation toward helping people even when there is nothing personal to be gained, is probably the most significant element of police work. Measurements for the linear correlation between job satisfaction and altruism were taken from the 29 employees of a county police department. They had an average of 3.8 yr. of employment (SD = 3.04).' A self-administered eight-item Likert-type questionnaire (scored from 8 to 40) developed by Berkowitz and Luaerman ( 1 ) was used to measure altruism (M = 33.5, SD = 2.8). The Job Descriptive Index ( 3 ) measured job satisfaction in five areas using 72 adjectives or descriptive phrases (scored from 0 to 216)-18 in each of supervision, type of work, and people on the job and nine each in pay and promotions (M = 147.8, SD = 102.8)? Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients were .26 for supervision, .21 for type of work, .21 for people on the job, .03 for pay, and .26 for promotions.' Correlations were small and nonsignificant. The data indicate no meaningful relationships between altruism and each of five areas of job satisfaction. Further study must determine what suppresses these relationships for police.