Moderating Role of Perceived Organizational Support on the Effect of Occupational Stress Management Practices on Employee Engagement amongst Law Enforcement Officers in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya

Abstract

Excessive stress that law enforcement officers are exposed to not only threatens their physical and mental health but also affects professionalism, organisational effectiveness, and public safety. This invokes the need for the adoption or strengthening of occupational stress management practices amongst law enforcement officers to abate the consequences of operational and occupational stressors they are exposed to for the purposes of their engagement. However, there is still a limited understanding of how occupational stress management practices and perceived organisational support may work together to effect employee engagement based on social exchange theory and job demands-resource theory. In this regard, the study adopted a correlational research design. The target population consisted of 620 law enforcement officers from 34 police posts and stations in Uasin Gishu County, with a sample size of 248 officers calculated using Krejcie and Morgan Table 1970. The study adopted simple and stratified sampling techniques to identify the officers from the top, middle, and lower levels of management. Data was collected using questionnaires and interview schedules. Reliability was ensured through internal consistency techniques. The data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results of moderated regressions revealed that occupational stress management practices jointly and independently influenced employee engagement among law enforcement officers in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya. Safety and health programmes jointly explained 70.7% of the of the variation in engagement amongst law enforcement officers in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya, without a moderator. However, with a moderator, the variables jointly explained 73.5% (R2 = 0.735) of the of the variation in employee engagement amongst law enforcement officers in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya (F = 62.364; ρ <.05). Therefore, there is a significant moderating role of perceived organisational support in the relationship between occupational stress management practices and employee engagement amongst law enforcement officers in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya. These findings are premised on both social exchange theory and job demand resource theory. This implies that when the management of law enforcement officers embraces occupational stress management practices and proactively formulates policies ingrained with perceived organisational support, employee engagement amongst law enforcement officers in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya, will improve. In the strategic orientation of these occupational stress management practices, perceived organisational support remains the cornerstone for enhancing employee engagement amongst law enforcement officers.