Source of Job Satisfaction among South Korean Police Officers

Abstract

Studies of police job satisfaction show consistent findings that work-related variables have greater effects than personal demographic factors. Despite the cumulative knowledge about the sources of police officers' job satisfaction, there exist several limitations, including the applicability of the findings drawn from Western studies to the Asian context and differences in the determinants of job satisfaction across organisational subgroups. This study contributes to current literature by examining both phenomena: (1) whether work-related factors dominate for South Korean police officers, and (2) whether determinants of job satisfaction vary across type of duty. Using a sample of 341 Korean police officers, this study found that work-related variables indeed had stronger effects than demographic on job satisfaction in the sample. However, the determinants of job satisfaction differ between patrol officers and clerical officers. Although perceptions of pay and commitment have significant effects on job satisfaction for both groups, autonomy, job security and citizen feedback affect only clerical officers' job satisfaction, but not patrol officers'.