The influence of managerial and job variables on organisational commitment in the Police

Like all public sector agencies police forces are under constant pressure to improve their performance through better management of existing resources. However, little research has been done that explains how officers’ organizational commitment, an essential requirement for above average employee productivity, can be improved. Using a whole population survey of a county police force in the UK, managerial, job, and demographic variables are analysed that influence officers’ organizational commitment. Experiences of the way officers are managed were found to have the strongest influence on their organizational commitment while job related variables were found to have a lesser influence. The decline in organizational commitment found in the early years of officers’ careers should be a cause for concern for senior managers in the police. The paper concludes that much need to be done to make police policies more effective in achieving promotion of officers who have the managerial competences needed to engender higher levels of organizational commitment.