The Mediator Role of Peer Feedback in Linking Personality and Career Success: Implications for Health Literacy within the Police Workplace

Abstract

Seeking support is important for employees who are working under high pressure. Police officers working field duty have been regarded as one of the most stressful occupations in Taiwan. According to recent findings (Chen, et al., 2006; Chen, 2009; Kuo, 2015), Taiwanese police reported that work stress was a fundamental issue closely related to their psychosomatic symptoms. Work stress mainly came from performance evaluations, interpersonal relationships, and the risks involved in regular work duties. In addition, it has been increasingly indicated that the positive feedback from co-workers provides social support which could reduce these daily stressful experiences, as well as contribute to the improvement of work performance (Anshel, 2000; Klimley, Van Hasselt, & Stripling, 2018). For the reason, we conducted this research to explore the mediator role of peer feedback (London, 2003) in linking personality and career success. Methodologically, 138 police officers completed the research survey and reported their experience of career success. The data regarding their internal locus of control at work, as well as the positive feedback received from peer colleagues, was also collected. The results showed that the relationship between the internal locus of control and career success was significant (β= .55, p ＜ .001) (χ^2 = 10.63, df = 13, p =.64, χ^2/df = .81; RMSEA = 0, CFI = 1, TLI = 1, SRMR = .03). However, this significant relationship disappeared after the positive peer feedback had been taken into account. Positive peer feedback was significantly related to both internal locus of control at work and career success (β= .69, β= .76, p ＜ .001) (χ^2 = 45.02, df = 41, p =.30, χ^2/df = 1.09; RMSEA = .02, CFI = .99, TLI = .98, SRMR = .04). These results supported our hypothesis that peer feedback mediated the relationship between personality and career success. We discussed the results from the perspective of long-term career. Implications for mental health professionals who are working with police officers and for the establishment of health literacy in the policing workplace were addressed.