Perceived COVID-19 impacts on auxiliary police in China

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to assesses whether supervisor justice is linked to COVID-19 negative and positive impacts directly and indirectly through the mechanisms of stress and resiliency among auxiliary police in China.Design/methodology/approachThis study utilized survey data from more than 300 auxiliary police in a large Chinese provincial capital city in 2020. Structural equation modeling was conducted to analyze the direct and indirect relationships between supervisor justice and COIVD-19 impacts.FindingsResults indicate that supervisor justice connects to COVID-19 negative impacts indirectly through stress. Supervisor justice is also indirectly related to positive impact through resiliency.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings' generalizability is limited due to using a nonrandom sample of officers. Officers' emotional states in the forms of stress and resiliency are important in mediating the association between supervisory justice and COVID-19 impacts.Originality/valueThe present study represents one of the first attempts to empirically investigate the occupational experiences of a vital group of frontline workers in Chinese policing. This study also generates evidence to support the importance of officers' emotional conditions in reducing negative COVID-19 impacts in an authoritarian country.