Mass exodus? Police officer turnover intention and organizational commitment in New York City

Abstract

PurposeThis study assesses the relationship between job satisfaction, perceived organizational support and workplace factors on officer turnover intention within an urban, municipal police organization.Design/methodology/approachUsing data from an online survey of New York City Police Officers (n = 1,823), both bivariate analysis and logistic regression models were utilized to assess the salience of police officer job satisfaction, perceived organizational support and perception of six workplace domains, including financial compensation, environmental factors, professional fulfillment, work/quality of life balance, treatment from management and occupational risk, on predicting turnover intention.FindingsThe cross-sectional study finds that job satisfaction, financial factors (salary, benefits and retirement benefits) and fulfillment predict lower levels of turnover intention (i.e. higher levels of organizational commitment). Work–life balance and environmental factors (cleanliness of work environment and condition of equipment) predict higher levels of turnover intention. Both perceptions of organizational support and occupational risk, while significant in the bivariate models, were not significantly associated after accounting for other factors. There is no evidence that officer perception of public support or the risk of being injured/killed at work were related to officer turnover intention.Research limitations/implicationsThe current study is limited by its focus on only one police department and its use of cross-sectional data, which may limit the generalizability of the results to agencies that differ in size and type and do not allow for assessment of causality.Practical implicationsOfficer turnover intention may be reduced by increasing financial compensation, improving the work environment and promoting a healthy work–life balance.Originality/valueThe study contributes to a growing body of research on police officer voluntary turnover by evaluating established predictors along with workplace factors in an urban police department: the setting where officer turnover intention is hypothesized to be the greatest.