Love or Bread? Public Service Motivation and Fringe Benefits in the Retention of Police Forces in Beijing City

Abstract

Drawing upon the job demands-resources model (JD-R) and self-determination theory, this study investigates whether a set of fringe benefit initiatives taken by the police organization was able to relieve perceived work–family conflict and further reduce policemen’s intention to leave the job. A survey of 421 respondents from Beijing City Police Bureau revealed a positive relationship between work pressure, work–family conflict (WFC), and turnover intention (TI), showing that the satisfaction of fringe benefits (SFB) can moderate the linkage between WFC and TI. However, the moderating role of SFB would be crowded out when the participants possess higher level of public service motivation (PSM). This suggests that organizational support via fringe-benefit policy helps to decrease turnover intention only among employees who possess lower PSM. These findings demonstrate a special interaction of external benefits and PSM in the context of retaining police forces.