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

Police forces are under constant government pressure to improve their performance through better management of existing resources. However, little research has been done that explains how officers’ organisational 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 and job demand variables are explored that influence officers’ organisational commitment. It was found that the way officers were managed had the strongest influence on their organisational commitment while job demand variables were found to have a lesser influence. The findings indicate the importance of the current Police Leadership Development Board’s agenda to improve workforce management skills to encourage transformational leadership styles. However, there clearly remains much to be done to make police HRM policies more effective in achieving the promotion of officers who have the managerial competences needed to engender higher levels of organisational commitment.