Keywords

1 Introduction

It is well known that internal marketing has been viewed as a managerial approach, where customer satisfaction could be attained through motivated employees, the first internal “customers”. In this frame, job satisfaction is not only important for the employee but also for the organization. Indeed, “absence of job satisfaction may result in low organizational commitment, poor job performance, absenteeism, and high employee turnover” [1: 126]. At the same time, many reviews and meta-analyses on job satisfaction have linked “low employee job satisfaction and high employee turnover and absenteeism, low productivity and low organizational commitment” [2: 158].

Concerning police officers’ job satisfaction, it “is associated with a sense of pride that their profession contributes to the betterment of society and directly serving the needs of people in their community” [3: 712]. Thus, “poor performance can impact on police-community relations by adversely affecting public attitudes toward the police” (Buzawa et al. 1994, qtd. in: [4: 98]). That’s why many job satisfaction theories have been applied in a police organization context, considering “the nature of problems personnel face—long hours, unpredictable nature of work, and physical dangers” (Crank 1998; Manning 1977, qtd. in: [1: 126]).

According to Bennett, job satisfaction is a “neglected but important and timely topic in police studies” (1997, qtd. in: [4: 98]). Indeed, most studies have not conducted multidimensional analyses of police officers’ job satisfaction. On the contrary, most studies emphasize on three distinct dimensions: “relationship between workers’ personal demographic characteristics and job satisfaction level”, “importance of the employee’s work environment characteristics”, and “the characteristics of the organization that employs the worker” [2: 159]. In other words, although empirical studies on job satisfaction in a police environment are limited, it is well known that it is a multidimensional construct, which is highly related to personnel’s higher levels of productivity and lower levels of job stress. Indeed, “police officers have been found to be more satisfied with their job when they get support from their immediate supervisor and less satisfied with their pay and access to in-service training” (Dantzker and Surrette 1996, qtd. in: [5: 16]).

In conclusion, there is a common agreement among researchers that further investigation concerning police officers’ job satisfaction is needed. That’s why over the last decades there has been an increase in empirical research on police personnel job satisfaction, including studies across different regions. The aim of this study is to better understand the implementation of internal marketing practices in a non-profit organization, by investigating the level of job satisfaction for police personnel. For the purpose of the study, an empirical survey was carried out at Police Department of Chios on a sample of 218 police officers between January and March 2018.

This research is organized as follows. Following the introduction, a general overview of internal marketing practices along with an analysis of job satisfaction in general and job satisfaction in police personnel in particular, are presented in the literature review section. The research methodology which was used in this study is then discussed, using quantitative data research. Data analysis is outlined in the Sect. 4, using univariate and multivariate data analysis. Finally, contributions for police managers, limitations of the study and directions for further research are considered in the final section.

2 Literature Review

2.1 From Internal Marketing to Job Satisfaction

Since the original suggestion of internal marketing “to describe the company’s effort to understand employees’ needs and increase their job satisfaction, so that customers could receive a better service”, or “a managerial approach to ensure customer satisfaction through the fulfillment of first-line employees’ needs” (Berry et al. 1976; Berry 1981, qtd. in: [6: 68–69]), many studies have been developed. In recent years, companies are trying to differentiate themselves through developing and sustaining a competitive advantage in a fast-changing environment. In this sense, they implement marketing strategies to provide superior service quality, which in turn will lead to greater customer satisfaction. This excellence in marketing is a basic goal not only for private but also for non-profit or private organizations. Internal marketing, along with external and interactive marketing—the “service marketing triangle”—is one of the three broad areas in which marketing excellence is required, which “describes training and motivating employees to serve customers well” [7: 365].

More specifically, internal marketing requires that every member of the organization has a clear perception of implementing a holistic marketing strategy and delivering value to their customers. In other words, “Only when all employees realize their job is to create, serve, and satisfy customers does the company become an effective marketer” [7: 623]. It is, therefore, imperative for many studies to investigate the effect on internal marketing to job satisfaction and service quality. As Bellaouaied and Gam [8: 5] claimed, “internal marketing results by satisfying the needs of employees, it is a holistic approach, it results in job satisfaction”. This could explain why it is so crucial for every organization to foster high levels of job satisfaction among its employees. Gounaris [6] concluded that job satisfaction is positively associated with the implementation of internal marketing, while an internal marketing orientation could be viewed as a key variable in understanding employee job satisfaction. In a similar way, Gounaris, Vassilikopoulou and Chatzipanagiotou, investigated the joint effect on marketing orientation and internal-marketing orientation on customer satisfaction, regarding the need to “sustain a balance between the company’s external and internal focus” [9: 1667].

Since Locke defined job satisfaction as “a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or job experiences” [10: 1304], many researchers have investigated the concept of job satisfaction. Hopkins (1983, qtd. in: [2: 158]) defined job satisfaction as “the fulfillment or gratification of certain needs that are associated with one’s work”, while Robbins (2003: 7, qtd. in: [5: 56]) as “an individual’s general attitude toward his or her job”. At the same time, the effect on many factors on job satisfaction has been investigated, both personal and environmental, with many researchers focusing on main job satisfaction dimensions, and others on investigating ratings of overall job satisfactions. Spector (1997, qtd. in: [5: 56]) recognized many facets of job satisfaction, such as “appreciation, communication, co-workers, benefits, job conditions, nature of work itself, organization itself, organization policies and procedures, pay, personal growth, promotional opportunities, recognition, security and supervision”.

In this sense, many job satisfaction scales have been used, such as Job Descriptive Index (JDI), Job Satisfaction Scale (JSS), Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ), Job Diagnostic Survey (JDS), or Job in General Scale (JIG) and Michigan Organizational Assessment Questionnaire satisfaction subscale (MOAQ) [5]. More specifically, “pay, promotion, coworkers, work and supervision” are subscales included in JDI (Smith et al. 1969, qtd in: [11: 15]), while JSS included subscales such as “salary, promotion, supervision, fringe benefits, contingent, rewards, operating procedures, co-workers, work and communication” (Spector 1985, qtd. in: [12: 194]).

2.2 Police Job Satisfaction

As mentioned above, research on police job satisfaction “is still relatively sparse when compared to the study of employee job satisfaction in the private sector” [3: 711]. In recent decades, research on police personnel job satisfaction has increased to investigate both the total level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with their work, or specific dimensions of job satisfaction. Studies on police job satisfaction have typically focused on demographic variables, i.e. gender, age, race, education, years of service etc. and physiological variables, i.e. supervisor fairness and support, sense of comradery with fellow officers etc. [3]. Ercikti et al. [4] found that the major determinants of job satisfaction among police managers where years of service, feedback on the job, and involvement in educational programs. In other words, “there continues to be a lack of research on police officer job satisfaction beyond the effects of demographic attributes or simple work characteristics” [2: 158].

In this frame, Johnson [2] outlined the need for multidimensional assessment of police officers’ job satisfaction by analyzing the impact on three different dimensions: officers’ demographic characteristics, job task characteristics, and organizational environment characteristics of patrol officers. Kumar [1], examined the impact on multidimensional factors such as demographic factors, organizational, and job characteristics on job satisfaction in police organizations. According to the findings, only “rank” as a demographic factor had an impact on “gender” and “education” not having any impact on job satisfaction. “Supervisor’s support” had a significant impact on job satisfaction, with “keeping with existing research Welfare-oriented housing and health facilities extended by the department, as well as Citizen support” having a positive impact on job satisfaction. Finally, the “absence of sufficient personnel in the police station affecting the ability of individual officers and the police as a team to carry out their tasks” had an impact on job satisfaction, while “job strain caused by role conflict” had a negatively impact on job satisfaction.

Hakan et al. [3], developed a new measure to identify specific dimensions of job satisfaction in patrol officers. More specifically, they produced a 14-item Patrol Officer Job Satisfaction Scale (POJSS) with three dimensions: supervisor fairness, peer comradery and occupational pride, which “would help police departments assess their strengths and weaknesses in providing for the job satisfaction experienced by their first responders so they may make relevant improvements where necessary” [3: 712]. The advantage of such measures is that they “may be more effective than overall measures for guiding work supervisors to design the most relevant interventions for their employees” [3: 711].

3 Methodology

For the purpose of this study an empirical survey was designed. Data were collected from the police officers at Police Department of Chios, using a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire design has been the result of extended bibliographical research on police officers job satisfaction, based on the abovementioned literature and scales of similar surveys conducted by NZ Police [13], Marietta Police Department [14], Scottish Police Force [15] and Calgary Police Commission [16]. The survey was conducted between 1/1/2018 and 31/3/2018, using convenience sampling. The questionnaire was distributed, after prior authorization by the Directorate of Communication of the Hellenic Police Headquarters, both on paper and on-line via the Google Docs application, to the 365 police officers serving in Police Directorate of Chios. In addition, supplementary instructions were given before completing the questionnaires and all measures were taken to ensure anonymity and confidentiality. Finally, the valid questionnaires were 218 with a response rate of 59.7%, which is considered satisfactory. The questionnaire was divided into two parts: the first one included nine questions about the demographic profile of the respondents (gender, age, education, personal income, length of service, marital status, police rank, form of service, job position), while the second one included 53 questions about the influencing parameters of police officers satisfaction, such as vision and purpose, working environment, current base pay, security, learning and development, supervision, co-workers, senior management, and recognition (e.g. “Does your immediate supervisor encourages teamwork”, or “Do citizens appreciate the value of your work” etc.), with the use of a five-point Likert scale, ranging from 1—“strongly disagree” to 5—“strongly agree” [17].

4 Data Analysis

4.1 Demographic Profile of the Respondents

Data were processed by IBM SPSS Statistics Version 23. Firstly, descriptive statistics were used to identify the profile of the respondents. According to the results, 89.91% of the respondents were men, 50.46% were between 31 and 40 years old and 57.8% had 11–20 years of service. In addition, 55.05% have graduated from Police Academy (for Police Officers), 19.73% were placed at one of the three Police Stations of Chios Island, 91.28% had a monthly income from 1001 to 1500 €, 53.21% were married, 44.95% had the rank of Police Sergeant and 85.78% were in Patrol Service (Table 1).

Table 1 Demographic profile of the respondents
Full size table

4.2 Multivariate Data Analysis

Following, factor analysis was conducted to investigate the factors of police job satisfaction. Principal Components and Varimax were the extraction and the rotation methods used respectively. The criterion used for determining the factors was the Kaizer criterion indicating factors having eigenvalue higher than one. In addition, a reliability analysis, by using Cronbach’s alpha, was carried out to check the consistency level. Some of the questions affecting the reliability were removed. Reliability using Cronbach’s alpha of this questionnaire ranged from 0.631 to 0.912. Considering that values >0.70 are acceptable in social sciences, with 0.6 the minimum acceptable level [18], we may conclude that the reliability is adequate for the entire construct. According to the findings, nine factors were obtained, explaining an overall of 64.810 of the total variance. In addition, KMO, which measures the sampling adequacy, is 0.856 indicating a satisfactory factor analysis to proceed. Finally, a total of nine major factors have been identified:

  • Relationship with immediate supervisor (Cronbach’s α = 0.912)

  • Relationship with co-workers (Cronbach’s α = 0.845)

  • Perceptions of pride working in Hellenic Police (Cronbach’s α = 0.757)

  • Relationship with senior management (Cronbach’s α = 0.846)

  • Financial and non-financial benefits (Cronbach’s α = 0.774)

  • Working hours (Cronbach’s α = 0.673)

  • Employees’ workload (Cronbach’s α = 0.814)

  • Promotional process (Cronbach’s α = 0.631)

  • Recognition for achievement (Cronbach’s α = 0.688).

5 Discussion

The above factors are bibliographically verified in the literature review presented in the previous sections. Indeed, “work environment factors include achievement, recognition for achievement, the work itself, responsibility, and growth and advancement”, while “work environment factors that lead to job dissatisfaction include company policy, supervision, relationship with supervisor, and work conditions” (Herzberg 1969, qtd. in: [14: 10]). At the same time, “Police work tends to be a difficult job when compared to other professions. Police officers have to work in all conditions, in various situations and, in many cases, with limited recourses” [14: 9]. Nevertheless, the perceptions of pride and the recognition for achievement for police officers may counterbalance this difficulty. Furthermore, other factors such as working hours, workload, or financial and no-financial benefits will affect their satisfaction. More specifically, pay levels within an organization are based among others on the employees’ contribution to organizational success, their competences and skills and their potential [19]. Finally, “time rates, which also are known as day work, rates, hourly rates or flat rate provide employees with a predetermined frame for the total hours which they work” [19: 446].

6 Conclusion, Limitations and Future Research

In recent years, internal marketing practices have been investigated in service organizations, as the company’s employees can generate greater customer value. Consequently, employees’ satisfaction, which in turn will encourage better performance, is an important issue not only for private organizations, but also for public or non-profit organizations, such as police departments. As the current studies on police job satisfaction remains still relatively sparse, there is “a need to undertake job satisfaction research on a larger continual basis for updating and optimizing the available human resources in the police organization” [5: 56]. The purpose of this study was to investigate the major determinants of job satisfaction among police personnel at Police Directorate of Chios. The results indicated that police officers were generally satisfied with their jobs, although both the risk and the volume of their work increased significantly due to the refugee crisis. Also, they are proud of their role as officers working at Hellenic Police. However, they would like better technical equipment to work more effectively. Nevertheless, there is a productive environment concerning working relations with their colleagues, their supervisors and the administration. Furthermore, the results indicated that police officer job satisfaction is multidimensional, as it was affected by a total of nine factors, namely “relationship with the immediate supervisor”, “relationship with co-workers”, “perceptions of pride”, “relationship with senior management”, “financial and non-financial benefits” “working hours”, “employee’s workload”, “promotional process”, and “recognition for achievement”.

This preliminary study is not without limitations. As the sample of this study is a first limitation, future research can extend it to a larger sample from police departments in other regions of Greece, or even international locations, to compare the different level of job satisfaction among police officers. In addition, the immigration issue, which has affected police officers’ workload should be further investigated, especially for island regions, which are mainly affected by refugee crisis.

At the same time, the findings in this study have important implications for both police chiefs or city managers, as incorporating these results about police management to their decisions could benefit all the stakeholders engaged in public safety and citizens’ satisfaction. For police departments, research among police officers on a regular basis could prevent poor job satisfaction and performance, which in turn will lead to increased problems such as conflict and losses of good officers. “This information is necessary so that policing scholars and police executives can better understand the impact on the total police work environment on officer job satisfaction” [2: 158]. By identifying any weak areas, police executives could provide targeted improvements and make the appropriate interventions. Considering the dangers of their profession and the fact that they must work in all conditions with limited resources, one may understand why engaged employees has become a strategic priority for a police department’ success. In conclusion “Further, better job satisfaction would reduce stress level, foster fewer absenteeism, decrease burnout, and diminish employee turnover—all of which can contribute towards optimizing the available human resources in the police organization” [5: 61].