Research on the occupational responses of federal government employees has grown dramatically over the last 40 years. Though invaluable, few have explored these issues in federal law enforcement populations who operate within diverse working environments that differ from traditional state and local police agencies, and other civil servants. In addition, their working lives can be impacted by political factors beyond their control, such as government shutdowns. These concerns may drive their occupational experiences, leading to different correlates for job stress and satisfaction compared to other law enforcement officers. This study attempts to explore the relationship between federal agents’ and officers’ perceptions of their organization, personal background, and concerns regarding government shutdowns and their occupational experiences. Responses from 891 respondents serving in 72 federal law enforcement agencies across the whole of the US government were used to conduct two separate ordinary least squares regression models for occupational stress and satisfaction, respectively. The implications of this study for our understanding of the dynamics shaping the experiences of the federal workforce and policies to improve their working lives are explored in detail.
AbdollahiM. K. (2002). Understanding police stress research. Journal of Forensic Psychology Practice, 2(2), 1–24.
2.
AckermanT. H. (2006). Federal law enforcement careers: Profiles of 250 high-powered positions and tactics for getting hired (2nd ed.). Jist Publishing.
3.
AhmadR.IslamT. (2019). Does work and family imbalance impact the satisfaction of police force employees? A “net or a web” model. Policing: An International Journal, 42(4), 585–597.
4.
AndreasP.NadelmannE. (2006). Policing the globe: Criminalization and crime control in international relations. Oxford University Press.
5.
AnshelM. H. (2000). A conceptual model and implications for coping with stressful events in police work. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 27, 375–400.
AristovnikA.SeljakJ.TomaževičN. (2016). A three-stage data envelopment analysis approach to measure the effect of job satisfaction on organisational performance in law enforcement agencies. International Journal of Services and Operations Management, 25(3), 294–312.
8.
ArredondoR.ShumwayS.KimballT.DerschC.MorelockN.BryanL. (2002). Law enforcement and corrections family support: Final report of the development and evaluation of a stress management program for officers and their spouses. National Institute of Justice. https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/197900.pdf
BarrattC. L.ThompsonR. J.BergmanM. E. (2011, June 23). Women in federal law enforcement: Why do non-supervisory sworn female officers seek promotion into supervisory roles and how did female supervisors get there [Conference session]. Twelfth Annual WIFLE® Leadership Training Conference, Long Beach, CA.
11.
BeckerW. S.DaleW. M. (2003). Strategic human resource management in the forensic science laboratory. Forensic Science Communications, 5(4).
12.
BishoppS. A.Leeper PiqueroN.WorrallJ. L.PiqueroA. R. (2018). Negative affective responses to stress among urban police officers: A general strain theory approach. Deviant Behavior, 40, 635–654.
13.
BlauG. (1988). Psychology in police training. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 4, 21–24.
14.
BlevinsK. R.CullenF. T.FrankJ.SundtJ. L.HolmesS. T. (2007). Stress and satisfaction among juvenile correctional workers: A test of competing models. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 44, 55–79.
15.
BradyP.KingW. (2018). Brass satisfaction: Identifying the personal and work-related factors associated with job satisfaction among police chiefs. Police Quarterly, 21(2), 250–277.
BrooksC. (2023). Federal law enforcement officers, 2020- Statistical tables. Bureau of Justice Statistics. U. S. Department of Justice. https://bjs.ojp.gov/document/fleo20st.pdf
18.
BurkeR.J.MikkelsenA. (2005). Gender issues in policing: Do they matter?Women in Management Review, 20, 133–143.
19.
BuzawaE.AustinT.BannonJ. (1994). The role of selected sociodemographic and job specific variables in predicting patrol officer job satisfaction: A reexamination ten years later. American Journal of Police, 13(2), 51–75.
20.
BuzawaE. S. (1984). Determining patrol officer job satisfaction: The role of selected demographic and job-specific attitudes. Criminology, 22(1), 61–81.
21.
CantarelliP.BelardinelliP.BelleN. (2016). A meta-analysis of job satisfaction correlates in the public administration literature. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 36, 115–144.
22.
CarlanP. E. (2007). The search for job satisfaction: A survey of Alabama policing. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 32(1), 74–86.
23.
ComanG.EvansB. (1991). Stressors facing Australian police in the 1990s. Police Studies, 14, 153–165.
24.
CullenF. T.LemmingT.LinkB. G.WozniakJ. F. (1985). The impact of social supports on police stress. Criminology, 23, 503–522.
25.
CurtinR.PresserS.SingerE. (2005). Changes in telephone survey non-response over the past quarter century. Public Opinion Quarterly, 69, 87–98.
26.
DantzkerM. L. (1992). An issue for policing: Educational level and job satisfaction: A research note. American Journal of Police, 12, 101–118.
27.
DantzkerM. L. (1994). Identifying determinants of job satisfaction among police officers. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 10(1), 47–55.
DowlerK. (2005). Job satisfaction, burnout, and perception of unfair treatment: The relationship between race and police work. Police Quarterly, 8(4), 476–489.
32.
El SayedS. A.SanfordS. M.KerleyK. R. (2019). Understanding workplace stress among federal law enforcement officers. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 44(3), 409–429.
33.
FanW.YanZ. (2010). Factors affecting response rates of the web survey: A systematic review. Computers in Human Behavior, 26, 132–139.
FinnP. (2000). Addressing correctional officer stress: Programs and strategies. Issues and practices. US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs.
GriffinD. R.DunbarR. L.McGillM. E. (1978). Factors associated with job satisfaction among police personnel. Journal of Police Science and Administration, 6, 77–85.
40.
HaarrR.MorashM. (1999). Gender, race and strategies of coping with occupational stress in policing. Justice Quarterly, 16(2), 303–335.
41.
HeN.ZhaoJ.ArchboldC. A. (2002). Gender and police stress: The convergent and divergent impact of work environment, work-family conflict, and stress coping mechanisms of female and male police officers. Policing, 25, 687–708.
42.
HepburnJ. R.AlbonettiC. (1980). Role conflict in correctional institutions. Criminology, 17, 445–459.
43.
HoltT. J.BlevinsK. (2011). Examining job stress and satisfaction among digital forensic examiners. Journal of Contemporary Justice, 27(2), 230–250.
44.
HoltT. J.BlevinsK. R.BurrussG. W. (2012). Examining the stress, satisfaction, and experiences of computer crime examiners. Journal of Crime and Justice, 35(1), 35–52.
45.
HoltT. J.BlevinsK. R.Waddell SmithR. (2017). Examining the impact of organizational and individual characteristics on forensic scientists’ job stress and satisfaction. Journal of Crime & Justice, 40, 34–49.
46.
JacksonS. E.MaslachC. (1982). After-effects of job-related stress: Families as victims. Journal of organizational behavior, 3(1), 63–77.
47.
JaramilloF.NixonR.SamsD. (2005). The effect of law enforcement stress on organizational commitment. Policing, 28(2), 321–336.
48.
JexS. M.BeehrT. A.RobertsC. K. (1992). The meaning of occupational stress items to survey respondents. Journal of Applied Psychology, 77(5), 623–628.
KangI. G.KimN.BichelmeyerB. A. (2023). Racial/ethnic differences in employee perceived organizational performance, job satisfaction, and diversity management among the U. S. federal public health agencies. Public Personnel Management, 52, 70–90.
52.
KirkcaldyB.BrownJ.CooperC. (1998). The demographics of occupational stress among police superintendents. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 13, 90–98.
KrimmelJ. T.GormleyP. E. (2003). Tokenism and job satisfaction for police women. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 28(1), 277–289.
55.
KroesW. H. (1985). Society’s victim—The policeman. Charles C. Thomas. (Original work published 1976).
56.
KshetriN. (2010). The global cybercrime industry. Springer.
57.
LeeH. W.RobertsonP. J.KimK. (2020). Determinants of job satisfaction among US federal employees: An investigation of racial and gender differences. Public Personnel Management, 49, 336–366.
58.
LefkowitzJ. (1974). Job attitudes of police: Overall description and demographic correlates. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 5, 221–230.
59.
LimV. K. G.TeoT. S. H. (1998). Effects of individual characteristics on police officers’ work -related attitudes. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 13, 334–340.
60.
LusthausJ.BruceM.PhairN. (2020, September7–11). Mapping the geography of cybercrime: A review of indices of digital offending by country [Conference session]. 2020 IEEE European Symposium on Security and Privacy Workshops (Euros&pw) (pp. 448–453), Genoa, Italy.
61.
MannM.WarrenI.KennedyS. (2018). The legal geographies of transnational cyber- prosecutions: Extradition, human rights and forum shifting. Global Crime, 19(2), 107–124.
62.
MartelliT. A.WatersL. K.MartelliJ. (1989). The police stress survey: Reliability and relation to job stress and organizational commitment. Psychological Reports, 64, 267–273.
63.
MaslachC. (2003). Job burnout: New directions in research and intervention. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 12, 189–192.
64.
McCartinJ. A. (2019). Is a sleeping giant beginning to stir? Federal workers’ unions and the shutdown. New Labor Forum, 28, 62–69.
65.
MorashM.HaarrR.KwakD. (2006). Multilevel influences on police stress. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 22, 26–43.
66.
NewmanD. W.Rucker-ReedM. L. (2004). Police stress, state-trait anxiety, and stressors among U.S. Marshals. Journal of Criminal Justice, 32, 631–641.
67.
NguyenN. T. H.TuanL. T. (2022). Creating reasonable workload to enhance public employee job satisfaction: The role of supervisor support, co-worker support, and tangible job resources. Public Performance & Management Review, 45, 131–162.
68.
NixJ.PickettJ. T.BaekH.AlpertG. P. (2019). Police research, officer surveys, and response rates. Policing and Society, 29, 530–550.
PaolineE.GauJ. (2020). An empirical assessment of the sources of police job satisfaction. Police Quarterly, 23(1), 55–81.
71.
PetersL. H.O’ConnorE. J. (1980). Situational constraints and employee affective reactions: The influences of a frequency overlooked construct. Academy of Management Review, 5, 391–397.
72.
QuinnR. P.ShepardL. (1974). The 1972-1973 quality of employment survey. University of Michigan Survey Research Center, Institute of Social Research.
73.
RizzoJ. R.HouseR. J.LirtzmanS. I. (1970). Role conflict and ambiguity in complex organizations. Administrative Science Quarterly, 15, 150–163.
TangT. L.HammontreeM. L. (1992). The effects of hardiness, police stress, and life stress on police officers’ illness and absenteeism. Public Personnel Management, 21, 493–510.
76.
TurnerE. (2018). How can psychology advance police-community relations? Using psychological science and advocacy to contribute to solutions [Communique]. American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/pi/oema/resources
77.
Van VoorhisP.CullenF. T.LinkB. G.WolfeN. T. (1991). The impact of race and Gender on correctional officers’ orientation to the integrated environment. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 28, 472–500.
78.
Van YperenN. W.SnijdersT. A. B. (2000). A multilevel analysis of the demands-control model: Is stress at work determined by factors at the group level or the individual level?Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 5, 182–190.
79.
WalkerS.KatzC. M. (2013). Police in America. McGraw-Hill. (Original work published 2012).
80.
WangT. K.BowerR. (2019). Job satisfaction among federal employees: The role of employee interaction with work environment. Public Personnel Management, 48, 3–26.
YangK.KassekertA. (2010). Linking management reform with employee job satisfaction: Evidence from federal agencies. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 20(2), 413–436.
83.
YuH. H. (2015). An examination of women in federal law enforcement: An exploratory analysis of the challenges they face in the work environment. Feminist Criminology, 10(3), 259–278.
84.
YuH. H. (2018). Gender and public agency hiring: An exploratory analysis of recruitment practices in federal law enforcement. Public Personnel Management, 47(3), 247–264.
85.
YuH. H.RauhausB. M. (2019). All boys club or gender differences? Male officers perception of female officers’ workplace experiences in federal law enforcement. International Journal of Public Administration, 42(12), 1010–1019.
86.
ZhaoJ.ThurmanQ.HeN. (1999). Sources of job satisfaction among police officers: A test of demographic and work environment models. Justice Quarterly, 16(1), 153–173.
87.
ZhengC. (2018). Job satisfaction among frontline police officers in China: The role of demographic, work-related, organizational and social factors. Psychology, Crime & Law, 24(9), 895–914.
