1

STRESS AND POLICE PERFORMANCE: A STUDY OF POLICE

OFFICERS’ PERCEPTION IN TAIWAN

By

Ming-Li Hsieh

Washington State University,

Pullman, WA, USA

Hsiao-Ming Wang

University of Houston-Downtown,

Houston, TX, USA,

Email:: wangh@uhd.edu

&

Chen-Mao Chiang

Haishan Precinct,

New Taipei City Police Bureau, Taiwan, ROC

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Abstract

Most prior research projects in the correlation of stress and police performance were

conducted in the United States, a setting of decentralized policing. Several studies in this

topic had published in Taiwan, a setting of centralized policing, but not explicitly

differentiate individual and organizational stresses. To shed some highlight on this issue,

the present study examined police officers’ perception in stress and performance by

employing a dataset collected from officers serving with the New Taipei City Police

Bureau in 2011. The OLS model showed that police officers who have higher level of

personal adjustment of stress are more likely to perform well in work; in contrast, police

officers who have higher level of organizational stress are less likely to perform well. It is

worth to note that organizational stress has more influence over police performance than

personal stress. The findings of this study are expected to provide certain baselines for

comparative policing and the reduction of police work stress.

Keyword: organizational stress, individual stress, police performance, policing

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Introduction

Several police officers in Taiwan committed suicides in 2010. A female officer

shot herself in a dorm of police station in a late evening in January. It was the first

suicide case involved female officers in Taiwan (The China Post, 2010a). Ten days later,

a male officer killed himself on duty after an argument with his fiancé (The China Post,

2010b). Four months later, another male officer committed suicide by using his on-duty

pistol during a quarrel with his precinct chief in a parking lot (The China Post, 2010c).

Those unfortunate incidents might be caused by varied reasons, but all pointed to a

common factor—the adjustment to stressful workloads.

Being a police officer has been recognized as a highly stressful job (Bittner, 1990).

The stress from works is reasonably expected to affect officers’ performance and even

causes officers to have difficulty coping with their mandates and assignments (Anshel,

Robertson, & Caputi, 1997). Prior research has resulted in mixed results on the

relationship between work stress and police performance. One group indicates that work

stress and job performance are negatively correlated; police officers who perceive more

work stresses are more likely to be evaluated as lower performance levels (Chen, 2009;

Shane, 2010). On the other hand, Shen and Wang (2007) found that job stresses yield a

better performance of police officers.

Kappeler and Potter (2005) pointed out that police stress is related to a number of

controversial factors. The individual adjustment to the occupation (e.g., tasks and

mandates) is one of the primary stressors in the work environment (Dawis, Lofquist, and

Weiss, 1968). In contrast, Collins and Gibbs’s (2003) argued that organizational culture

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and workload were the primary causes of police stress. In other words, organizational

issues rather than individual adaptations were the main causes of police work stress.

Most prior research projects in the correlation of stress and police performance

were conducted in the United States, a setting of decentralized policing. Several studies

in this topic had been published in Taiwan (e.g., Chen, 2009), a setting of centralized

policing, but not explicitly differentiate individual and organizational stresses. In

addition, it has not been determined whether organizational factors are more influential

than the personal adjustment factor or vice versa. To fill this gap, this study examined a

data set of officers’ perception of stress in Taiwan. This data set was collected in 2011 by

surveying 1,200 officers who served with varied police precincts and stations in New

Taipei City, the largest city in Taiwan. The Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression

model was employed to test following hypotheses:

Police officers who have a higher level of personal adjustment of stress are

more likely to perform well.

Police officers who have a higher level of organizational stress are less likely

to perform well.

Organizational stresses have more influences over police performance than

that of personal adjustment of stress.

The findings of this study are expected to provide certain baselines for

comparative policing. Also, policy recommendations were provided regarding the

reduction of work stress and the improvement of police work performance. In the next

section, stress and police work as well as policing in Taiwan were reviewed.

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Literature Review

Stress and Police Work

Stress can be defined as individuals’ psychological and biological response to

perceived changes of environmental conditions (Chen, 2009). In this sense, stress is an

emotional reaction to perceived difficulties and barriers or the inability to overcome

tension and to fulfill the demands of required responses (Hickman, Fricas, Strom, & Pope,

2011). A stressor is a stimulus that causes stress, which could be any internal (e.g.

personal problem) or external (e.g. environment) factor in one’s daily life or workplace

(Brown & Campbell, 1994; Zhao, He, & Lovrich, 2002). Stress could be beneficial or

disruptive, depending on how individuals perceive, react, and deal with stress on different

levels of mental, emotional or physical adjustment and adaptation (Selye, 1956).

From a criminological perspective, stress lays a role in deviant behaviors (Agnew,

2001). Contemporary strain theory (Agnew, 1992, 2006; Agnew & White, 1992)

emphasizes how individuals cope with the negative influence from failure, avoidance,

and frustration when a positive goal is blocked. In this case, stress and pressure may

foster deviant behavior (Manzoni & Eisner, 2006; Williams & McShane, 2010). Agnew

(1992:75) argued that most individuals under strain may not necessarily turn to deviant

behavior because such pressure “may prove useful in devising strategies to prevent

delinquency” through coping mechanisms and adaptation processes even with negative

emotions. Adopting the broader scope of Agnew’s theory provides certain explanations to

police work stress and adjustment of stress on various aspects of police work (Bittner,

1990), police officers may become stressed when they:

Fail to accomplish expected work objectives and goals

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Lose valuable and priceless things or persons (e.g. facing the death of

partners or loved ones)

Encounter negative stimuli or experience noxious situations in the workplace

(e.g. use of force, physical assaults, violence, victimization) (Manzoni &

Eisner, 2006).

Examining stressful occupations in the U.S., the police career is ranked the top

five, after enlisted soldiers, firefighters, pilots, and military generals (Little, 2012).

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2012), the police job is the third fatal

occupation with a high number of work injuries. Policing is an obviously stressful job

because law enforcement officers deal with various crime situations involving split-

second decisions (Perman, 2012). Different controversial factors have been found to be

related to police stress. Those factors may be distinguished into two categories:

individual adjustment abilities to law enforcement work (Brown & Campbell, 1994;

Stevens, 1999; Violanti & Aron, 1994) and organizational problems that police officers

perceive and confront (Shane, 2010).

Individual Adjustment Ability

Individuals are capable to adjust themselves to facilitate the nature of work

environment and the needs of job for successful performance (Dawis et al., 1968). Police

officers reported a significant amount of stress when they could not cope with work-

related situations, such as dealing with victims, handling criminal cases, using of force,

accidentally shooting a civilian, and losing a partner (Ellison & Genz, 1978). The

maladaptation on certain assignments was not only related to situational stress (Hickman

et al., 2011) but also caused psychological risks to police officers (Ellison & Genz, 1978).

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Band and Manuele (1987) found that competent performance is significantly associated

with police officers’ self-coping capabilities and self-adaptive efficacies toward stress.

On the other hand, poor stress coping mechanisms affected police officers’ performance

in the field (Anshel, 2000).

Organizational Problems

Reiser (1974) pointed out that the most powerful stress sources for police officers

were generated from the administration and organization of police department structures.

Organizational problems include frustration and dissatisfaction with departmental culture

and administration style, lack of internal support, poor relationships with colleagues and

supervisors, and perceived unjust workload and promotion (Band & Manuele, 1987;

Collins & Gibbs, 2003; Ellison & Genz, 1978; Hickman et al., 2011; Shane, 2010). These

organization-related stressors were considered having a profound influence upon police

officers’ stress (Jaramillo, Nixon, & Sams, 2005). A survey across 11 police departments

found that organizational problems were a strong predictor of police stress (Morash,

Haarr, & Kwak, 2006). Another research revealed that police officers with higher levels

of organizational stress were less likely to be satisfied with their work and to perform

well (Manzoni & Eisner, 2006).

Stresses occur when police officers believe that they are perceived negatively or

they do not receive enough attention and support from their department. As a result, their

self-image and sense of organizational membership cannot be consolidated. This results

in fragile and weak employee-organizational relations that may diminish the strength of

performance commitment (Byrne & Hochwarter, 2008; Ferris, Bowen, Treadway,

Hochwarter, Hall, & Perrewé, 2006). A study in South Korea found that police officers

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who maintained a good relationship with supervisors and perceived their internal needs

being consistent with organizational goals are more likely to have positive organizational

commitment and work productivity (Crow, Lee, & Joo, 2012).

Policing in Taiwan

Taiwan was colonized by Japan from 1895 to 1945. The Koban system, a form of

community policing, has prevailed in Taiwan since colonial era (Alarid & Wang, 2000).

To date, Taiwan not only embraces professional policing but also carries out a

community policing philosophy at district and neighborhood levels. It is worth noting

that the structure of policing in Taiwan is a centralized system, which contrasts with the

theoretical decentralized structure suggested for implementing community policing

(Bayley, 1976). There are more than 60,000 officers within 154 police precincts, 1,604

police stations, and 18,174 police beats under the supervision of the National Police

Agency (NPA) (Cheng, Chu, Chang, Chang, & Chuang, 2008). In 2010, the officer ratio

in Taiwan is about 285 officers per 100,000 of population (NPA, 2011). This number is

higher than most industrialized countries, including the USA (227.1), the UK (251.8),

Canada (203.6), and Japan (203.9) (United Nations on Drugs and Crime, 2012). On

average, an officer serves 415 citizens in Taiwan (NPA, 2011). Police stations and police

beats reside with local neighborhoods and this geographic connection help police to

investigate cases and to collect information effectively (Cheng et al., 2008).

Confucianism is a core philosophy of Chinese culture, which emphasizes the

values of harmony in society. Chinese philosophy infuses Taiwanese culture with

attachment to social obligations, social bonds, collective responsibility and loyalty, and

community cohesion. Those values facilitate the role of the police officer in Taiwan

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particularly in regards to keeping close contact with the local community, building

confidence and developing rapport with residents (Chu & Sun, 2007). In everyday

policing, officers patrol on the streets, visit households and business settings, as well as

chat with neighbors. Police officers can provide immediate service to and respond to

citizens’ needs, and assist communities in solving crime or non-crime problems.

However, the emphasis of community relationship likes a two-edged sword. Chu

and Sun (2007:81) noted that “Taiwanese police have been historically viewed as part of

the community, deployed closely to the people they police, and given the responsibility

of performing a wide array of social functions.” This explained why public expectations

and perceptions of police performance would cause pressure for police officers (Weng,

2002). This perspectives goes along with another western study that “police services are a

public service that, like many other public services are under pressure for greater

efficiency and better performance….because of pressure from citizens and interest

groups” and internal organizations (Singh & Duque, 2012, p. 238). This illustration may

also apply to Taiwanese police officers as they have the same stressful issues from the

burden of police services. Indeed, the inherent nature of police work is also the main type

of stressor in Taiwan (Wu, 1995).

Traditionally, police officers in Taiwan play dual roles (i.e. being a crime fighter

and a social “nanny”), which causes a lot of stress for police officers (Cheng & Hsieh,

2005). The second type of stressor comes from the internal structure of the agency. For

instance, Wu (1995) indicated that higher demands on work performance and

organizational commitments create a stressful work environment. On the other hand,

Chen, Tang, Ho, and Jehng (2007) argued that police stress as a product of the

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individuals’ personality and adjustment problems might not necessarily lead to poor

performance. They indicated that the “conscientious” personality type is associated with

an elevated sense of personal responsibility which contributes to job involvement and job

performance. This type of person possesses the ability to adapt to and organize work

challenges. Even under stress, they execute their duties with professional accountability.

Methodology

Data

This study explored the issue of work stress and police officers’ performance. To

gain more insights into this topic, this study examined a data set of officers’ perceptions

of stress in Taiwan. This data set was collected in 2011 by using questionnaire surveys of

1,200 police officers (N=1,200) with the New Taipei City Police Bureau (NTCPB). New

Taipei City has 3.9 million populations and is the largest city in Taiwan. NTCPB has

11,068 sworn officers and is the largest metropolitan police department in Taiwan. The

survey was randomly distributed to police officers in the department. The respondents

came from 16 police precincts and 78 police stations, which reflected and fit the

demographic characteristics of the entire police department. This data set includes such

variables as police officers’ gender, age, years of service, and their perceptions of the

issues of stress and performance.

Hypotheses and Analytic Technique

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between work stress and

police performance. The Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression analysis was

employed to test three hypotheses as below:

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H1: Police officers who have a higher level of personal adjustment of stress are

more likely to perform well in work.

H2: Police officers who have a higher level of organizational stress are less likely

to perform well in their work.

H3: Organizational stresses have more influence on police performance than

personal adjustment of stress.

Variables and Measures

Table 1 presents the descriptive statistics of this study. Approximately 95% of

respondents are male officers and about 49% are married. Roughly 80% of samples hold

the rank of “patrol officer” and the remainders with higher ranks such as sergeants,

lieutenants and captains (coded as “supervisors”). More than half of the subjects have

served less than 10 years. Police officers tend to evaluate themselves as having

performed well on job assignments and agree they have an overall positive work outcome

(Mean = 20.74). Police officers experience moderate level of individual stress (Mean =

TABLE 1 Descriptive Statistics (N=1,200)

Variables Level of

Measurement

Range % / Mean(SD) %Missing

Work Performance Index Ordinal 5-25 20.74(.14) 0.20

Individual Stress Index Ordinal 6-30 19.87(.10) 0.00

Organizational Stress Index Ordinal 4-20 12.47(.09) 0.00

Gender 1 = Male

0 = Female

--- 95.00

5.00

0.00

Marital Status 1 = Married

0 = Not Married

--- 49.10

50.90

0.00

Rank 1 = Officer

0 = Supervisor

--- 80.10

19.90

0.00

Years of Service Interval

3 = Above 20

2 = 10-20

1 = 10 and below

--- 1.67(.03)

23.0

21.0

56.0

0.00

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19.87) and organizational stress (Mean = 12.47) from either inherent work content or

internal department policies or management.

Dependent Variable

Work performance refers to “all behaviors involved in accomplishing a given job,

including effectiveness and outcome of each behavior” and can be tested by assessing an

individuals’ overall satisfaction with their job outcomes (Chen, 2009, p.1343). Police

work performance includes outcomes that officers confront the nature of police work in

the context of receiving assignments, encountering situations, and providing services. It

can be evaluated in several ways, including observations at the police work environment,

internal files, reports, and documents, or individual officers’ perceptions and self-report

regarding their work activities (Bayley, 1985).

The dependent variable used in this study is the police officers’ level of

satisfaction regarding their work performance—how police officers feel about or evaluate

their competence with respect to police work outcomes (Band & Manuele, 1987). The

variable Work Performance index is a composite of five items from the questionnaire,

including:

My team and I have a higher assignment achievement rate and meet the goals

of job demands.

My team and my assignments are accomplished in an effective and efficient

way.

Overall, my and my team’s performance generates positive outcomes for the

situations I/we handled.

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My and my team performance outcomes in terms of the results of assignments

completed and responding to calls is satisfying.

Overall, my team and I are confident about our fieldwork performance and are

competent to perform well on mandates.

All these items were measured by a Likert scale from “1” (strongly disagree) to “5”

(strongly agree). Hence, the work performance index ranged from 5 to 25. The higher the

index, the better an officer perceived his or her performance to be.

Independent Variables

There are two independent variables in this study. The first one is the Individual

Stress Adjustment index, which measures individual adjustment of stress. This index was

composed of six questions as follows:

I feel stress and encounter difficulties in coping with work mandates and the

missions/assignments.

I feel stressed over the inherent nature of police work and especially the dual

roles to being a crime fighter and a public servant.

I cannot seem to find a way to balance my work and personal life (e.g.

familial responsibilities, private space).

I felt stress because I think about my assignments and work performance

outcomes all the time. Sometimes it is hard for me to adjust to problems and

stresses.

I felt stress because my family cannot understand the nature of police work.

It is hard for me to discuss and communicate job content with my family.

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All above items were measured by a Likert scale from “1” (strongly disagree) to “5”

(strongly agree). Hence, the individual stress adjustment index ranged from 6 to 30. The

higher the index, the less capacity of stress adjustment of an officer is.

The second independent variable is the Organizational Stress index. This index

measures police stress towards the job context setting and pressures that come from the

internal organization and administration of the department. This index was composed of

four questions listed as follows:

I feel stressed by a heavy workload while my department pressures me to be

accountable on performance appraisals which emphasize outcomes.

I feel stress when communicating with my supervisors who do not provide a

useful communication channel.

I feel stress when I am not fully supported by my colleagues/supervisors on

fieldwork or other assignments.

I feel stress when rules are applied inconsistently to different scenarios/people

and sometimes these rules conflict with my personal principles.

All above items were also measured by a Likert scale from “1” (strongly disagree) to “5”

(strongly agree). Hence, the organizational stress index ranged from 4 to 20. The higher

the index, the higher the organizational stress an officer is perceived. Prior research

indicated that “the measurement of police stress has typically revolved around self-report

scales consisting of a series of statements with Liker-type response options…to quantify

perceptions of work-related stress” (Hickman et al., 2011, p. 231). The use of composite

measurement for individual stress adjustment and organizational stress should be

appropriate.

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Control Variables

Four demographic variables were used as control variables in this study. Gender

(Male = 1, Female = 0), Marital Status (Married = 1, Not Married = 0), and Rank (Officer

= 1, Supervisor = 0) were dichotomous and dummy coded. The last variable Years of

Service was interval level.

Findings

Table 2 is a zero-order correlation matrix presenting the bivariate statistics of this

study. The results indicated that most variables are significantly associated with the

dependent variable except male. The coefficients of married (r = .095) and years of

service (r = .156) show a positive correlation with work performance. It suggests that

married and veteran officers are more likely to perceive a better performance in work. On

the other hand, the coefficients of individual stress (r = –.104), organizational stress (r

= –.300), and rank (r = –.137) reveal a negative correlation. It implies that patrol officers

and those who perceived higher individual and organizational stresses and may associate

poor performance. The correlation coefficients may also be used to examine the issue of

multicollinearity in regression models. There is no scientific rule to decide the criterion of

multicollinearity; but the higher the coefficient is, the higher the threat exists. The results

indicated that marriage status and years of service are highly correlated (r = .063). It

suggests that veteran officers are more likely to be married. It also reminds that the

interpretation in the regression model should be more cautious in this regard.

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Table 2 Correlation Coefficients of Police Work Performance

*p< .05,

**p< .01

Table 3 presents the OLS regression model of police work performance. The

determinant coefficient (R2) indicated that about 10% of the variation of police work

performance was explained by the independent variables of this model. The F-test (3.46;

d.f. = 6) implied that this model was significant at critical level 0.01. The t-test revealed

that in this OLS model three independent variables’ partial slope coefficient (b) were

significant, including individual stress, organizational stress, and years of service. The

partial slope coefficient indicated that the linear relationship between police work

performance and each independent variable. The results of standardized coefficient (Beta)

suggest that organizational stress has the largest explanatory power in this model.

Table 3 OLS Model of Police Work Performance (N = 1200)

Variables b Beta t

Individual Stress 0.140 0.100 2.813**

Organizational Stress – 0.507 – 0.334 – 9.185***

Male – 0.302 – 0.014 – 0.495

Married – 0.295 – 0.032 – 0.846

Rank – 0.516 – 0.045 – 1.388

Years of Service 0.559 0.101 2.524*

Constant 24.101

Notes: Adjusted R

2 = .104

** d.f. = 6

*p< .05,

**p< .01,

*** p<.001

In sum, the regression analyses confirm all hypotheses of this study. Specifically,

police officers who have a higher level of personal adjustment of stress are more likely to

Y1 X1 X2 X3 X4 X5 X6

Y1 Work Performance 1

X1 Individual Stress -.104**

1

X2 Organizational Stress -.300**

.578**

1

X3 Male -.020 .051 .045 1

X4 Married .095**

-.048 -.153**

.055 1

X5 Rank -.137**

.114**

.210**

-.008 -.345**

1

X6 Years of Service .156**

-.067**

-.190**

.063* .653

** -.439

** 1

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perform well (H1). Police officers who have a higher level of organizational stress are

less likely to perform well (H2). Organizational stresses have more influence on police

performance than personal adjustment of stress (H3).

Discussion and Conclusion

This study explored the issues of police stress, both on personal adjustment

abilities and organizational problems, which may affect police officers’ performance in

Taiwan, a centralized policing setting. This study found that both individual and

organizational stress affect police performance, but organizational stress exerts more

influence on police officers’ performance outcomes compared to individual adjustment

stress.

In the era of community policing, the role of police officers has been dramatically

changed. Police officers are not only playing the traditional role of “crime fighter” but

also a new role of loyal “public servant” to deliver social services (Ericson, 1982). Police

are often summoned to deal with “something that ought not to be happening” and “about

which something had better be done now” (Bittner, 1990, p. 249).

As the police officers’ burden become heavier due to their dual roles, their stress

could be reasonably expected to increase accordingly (Aaron, 2000). Moreover, the

structure of police departments is considered to be quasi-paramilitary (McCullocah, 2001)

that inevitably produces more bureaucratic strains to police officers in the workplace

(Zhao et al., 2002). From the administration perspective, it is worth to enhance police

officers’ ability to adapt to stress for achieving better performance. Police departments

should consider implementing certain emotion management training programs. Those

programs should be different from traditional psychological therapies or stress

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management programs (Roger & Hudson, 1995; LeScanff & Taugis, 2002), which send

officers who already have a psychological disorder, stressful syndrome or who perform

special force and tasks (e.g. SWAT) to receive treatment. In other words, those programs

are proactive, by which police officers can understand and be prepared for the potential

psychological risks they may face in advance. In addition, police administrators should

maintain an open and clear employee-supervisor communication channel. A monthly

face-to-face forum could be a useful approach in this context. The forum provides an

opportunity for police administrators hearing the voices from varied levels and divisions

in the organization. This effort may reduce officers’ organizational stress and increase

their individual stress adjustment.

Furthermore, this study found a positive correlation between year of service and

work performance. As police officers’ work experiences accrue, they may become more

confident and perceive themselves being able to control situations, which would make

them less likely to feel stress in the workplace (Patterson, 1992). After years of service in

a police department, an officer may develop a more collective-oriented personality (Wu,

2010). However, before police officers can accumulate enough experiences, the police

administrators are required to develop a better working environment for retention. How

to build a sound working environment is beyond the scope of this study. However, the

proactive emotion management training program and monthly face-to-face forum should

definitely be included in this effort.

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