The impact of the police professional identity on burnout

Abstract

Purpose Little research has been conducted which assesses the impact of the police self-identity on burnout. The purpose of this paper is to assess how identification with the police role, work centrality, policing values and perceived dissonance in values contributes to emotional exhaustion across the police career. Design/methodology/approach Conjunctive analysis of case configurations (CACC) is utilized to examine how various factors conjunctively interact to influence the probability of burnout among officers at various career stages. This method allows for the examination of more complex interactions than traditional statistical methods. Findings The findings suggest that the interaction between police values and professional identity is complex and neither completely supportive nor unsupportive of existing identity theories. Specifically, strong identification with the police role has both positive and negative effects over the course of the police career. Practical implications Understanding how the police professional identity changes over the course of the police career can help to inform more deliberate and targeted training to help officers avoid burnout and improve the quality of policing for both citizens and police. Originality/value The present research applies an emerging statistical method, CACC, to an important but understudied question – the impact of the police professional identity on burnout throughout the career. In doing so, the present research illustrates that the effects of the professional identity on burnout are both complex, with significant ramifications for the practice of policing.