The Influence of Demographic Factors and Work Environment on Job Satisfaction Among Police Personnel: An Empirical Study

Job satisfaction among employees is important for police organizations. Low job satisfaction may result in poor organizational commitment, unsatisfactory job performance, and absenteeism. Job satisfaction is impacted by demographic factors and characteristics of the work environment. Analyzing survey data of 6,041 police officers, the study finds that while demographic factors and job characteristics impact job satisfaction, organizational characteristics have the greatest influence. The study illuminates the similarities and differences in organizational dynamics impacting job satisfaction in police organizations in India and other countries and underlines the relevance of the theory across countries and cultures.


Demographic Characteristics
This research takes into account the demographic characteristics of age, gender, education, rank, and marital status. Research on relation between age and job satisfaction has revealed both a linear relationship with job satisfaction increasing with age (Hickson & Oshagbemi, 1999;Hunt & McCadden, 1985;Siu et al., 1999) and a curvilinear relationship (Clark et al., 1996;Gazioglu & Tansel, 2006). The increasing linear trend of job satisfaction could be due to employees adjusting to their jobs, reduced aspirations, and a process of self-selection with dissatisfied older workers exiting the job market, leaving behind a small pool of satisfied employees (Gazioglu & Tansel, 2006). In a curvilinear relationship, there is a "honeymoon" period with a high job satisfaction which then declines to a low point of a "hangover effect" (Boswell et al., 2005) and then steadying of job satisfaction (Boswell et al., 2009). The trend has been explained as due to the initial excitement and anticipation in early career which could be due to lack of experience in the labor market to judge their working conditions. With increasing experience, they acquire knowledge to judge their working condition, which reduces their job satisfaction, followed by a period of settling down through a process of socializing in the organization and coping with the less attractive aspects of the job (Boswell et al., 2009). Most research in police organizations has revealed a negative relationship between years of service and job satisfaction (Buzawa, 1984;Buzawa et al., 1994;Zhao et al., 1999). Miller et al. (2009) reported a U-shaped relationship between age and job satisfaction, which they explain as due to new challenges and responsibilities in mid-career and promotion of police officers to higher administrative positions in later career.
Another important demographic characteristic that has an impact on job satisfaction is gender. The experience of women in a police organization is unique, keeping in view the characterization of the work as masculine, the low share of women employees, and the domination of the organization by males. Police organizations support hegemonic masculinity, which establishes gender relations by creating a dominant idea of what it means to be a man, and all other concepts in the organization are constructed in relation to the established precepts of masculinity (Connell, 1987). Female officers experience higher levels of stress at the workplace (He et al., 2002) due to the organizational culture, characteristics of the work environment, and demands from family. Surprisingly, most studies have reported that gender does not have a significant impact on job satisfaction (Johnson, 2012;Lambert et al., 2015;Miller et al., 2009;Zhao et al., 1999).
In the Indian context, there is low female participation in the labor force, and the proportion of women employees in the police is less. On average, women form 7.28% of the police force at the national level and 6.32% of the police in Kerala (Bureau of Police Research and Development [BPR&D], 2017). Women face difficulties in police work due to varying work hours during both day and night, the requirement of physical work, and dangers in some work. However, proactive measures have been adopted to protect women at the workplace, especially from sexual harassment. 1 But studies have found no impact of gender on job satisfaction in India (Kumar, 2017;Lambert et al., 2015).
Increasing importance has been given to recruiting educated candidates into the police (President's Commission, 1967). Officers with a college education are better equipped with communication skills, decision-making capacities, and a better understanding of social and human relations (Carter & Sapp, 1990;Dantzker, 1992;Worden, 1990). Educated officers are better able to manage their stress levels in police work (Crank et al., 1993). There have been mixed findings on the impact of education on job satisfaction with some studies reporting a positive impact of education on job satisfaction (Dantzker, 1992;Roberg & Bonn, 2004), and other studies finding no significant impact (Buzawa et al., 1994;Johnson, 2012;Miller et al., 2009;Paoline et al., 2015;Zhao et al., 1999). However, studies conducted in India did not find any impact of education on job satisfaction (Kumar, 2017;Lambert et al., 2015).
The rank of personnel has been found to have a significant impact on job satisfaction (Robie et al., 1998). Similar relationships have also been found in police organizations (Bennett, 1997;Forsyth & Copes, 1994;Hoath et al., 1998). The relationship could be due to variations in job content, status, challenges, responsibilities, prestige, and authority. Robie et al. (1998) have attributed the impact of rank on job satisfaction to the power distance among the ranks and recommend that the reduction of power distance would reduce the difference in job satisfaction. Research in India has reported mixed findings with Lambert et al. (2015) finding no impact of rank on job satisfaction and Kumar (2017) reporting a significant relationship between the variables.
Marital status has an impact on job satisfaction through the degree of support provided by the family in carrying out official duties and the negative impact of the work-family conflict on job satisfaction (Howard et al., 2004). While family support reduces stress, work-family conflict reduces job satisfaction and even causes emotional exhaustion and burnout (He et al., 2002). Johnson (2012), however, did not find any impact of marital status on job satisfaction.

Organizational Characteristics
The organizational characteristics examined in this study are organizational support, supervisor support, instrumental communication, input into decision making, formalization in organization, promotional opportunities, and procedural justice in performance evaluation. Perception of organizational support has a positive impact on job satisfaction (Currie & Dollery, 2006;Ford et al., 2003;Johnson, 2012). The positive influence could be explained by the social exchange theory of employment, which views employment as an exchange of efforts and loyalty for benefits and social rewards (Bateman & Organ, 1983). Employees assess and develop a belief regarding the extent to which organizations value their contributions and have concern for their wellbeing (Eisenberger et al., 1986). Those who perceive organizational support feel the obligation to take care of organizational interests and goals. Employees incorporate organizational membership into their social identity and believe that the organization recognizes and rewards better performance, which has an impact on job satisfaction and improved performance. In their study on police in India, Lambert et al. (2017) and Kumar (2017) found a significant impact of organizational support on job satisfaction.
There is a positive impact of supervisor support on job satisfaction of employees (Bennet, 1997;Griffin et al., 2001;Lambert et al., 2015;Yukl, 1989). Support of supervisors is usually manifested in the form of day-to-day encouragement, guidance, and assistance to meet challenges at work. Supervisors are seen by employees as agents acting on behalf of the organization. However, this perception may not be accurate as managers have discretion, and supervisor behavior may not be completely determined by organizational characteristics (McGovern et al., 1997).
Instrumental communication is the degree to which information about the job is formally transmitted by the organization to its employees (Agho et al., 1993). Instrumental communication is taskoriented and has the goals of providing information to the employee (Caris-Verhallen et al., 1997). The absence of instrumental communication hinders the execution of tasks, which causes frustration and stress. On the other hand, providing task-related information in a structured manner makes the employee's job easier, makes them feel that they are valued members of the organization, and has a positive impact on job satisfaction (Lambert & Paoline, 2008).
Opportunities for contributing to the decision-making process create a sense of control over work and a sense of belonging. Input into decision making is essential for providing the employees with a sense of involvement in the organization and a voice in the administrative process (Lincoln & Kalleberg, 1990). The absence of such opportunities fosters a feeling of powerlessness and frustration, which adversely impacts job satisfaction (Lambert & Paoline, 2008).
Formalization is the use of well-defined rules and regulations to govern the behavior of employees (Taggart & Mays, 1987). The rules and regulations are in written form in employee handbooks and manuals of procedures (Pandey & Scott, 2002;. It is argued that codification of rules and formalization helps provide guidance and directions to the employee, aids them to do their work with confidence, increases their efficiency, raises self-esteem, improves motivation, and enhances job satisfaction (Adler & Borys, 1996;Deming, 1986). The process of formalization ensures organizational control by encouraging productive behavior and discouraging acts of indiscipline and harmful behavior (Marsden et al., 1994). Lambert et al. (2017) found a significant impact of formalization on job satisfaction among police in India.
Employees are concerned about their careers and not just doing a job. Promotional opportunities are important for employees as promotions result in wage increases (Blau & Devaro, 2007;Kosteas, 2011) and have a significant impact on job responsibilities, status, and perquisites (Pergamit & Veum, 1999). A lack of perception of opportunity for career advancement would engender a feeling of being in a dead-end job, enhancing stress, and reducing job satisfaction (Lambert & Paoline, 2008). As police organizations are rigidly hierarchical, a great amount of importance is placed on rank. Opportunity for promotion has an impact on job satisfaction .
Organizational justice fosters the perception in the employee that the organization treats them in a fair and just manner (Greenberg, 1990;Lambert et al., 2007). It has two facets of procedural and distributive justice. Procedural justice is determined by the degree of fairness adopted by the regulatory system (Leventhal, 1980). Procedural fairness calls for consistency, bias suppression, accuracy, and correctability (Leventhal, 1980;Leventhal et al., 1980). The quality of procedure is also determined by interactional justice (Bies & Moag, 1986;Colquitt, 2001), which includes informational and interpersonal justice (Bies & Moag, 1986;Wenzel, 2006). Procedural justice results in greater legitimacy of the regulator and compliance and cooperation with the authority (Mazerolle et al., 2013;Tyler, 2003). Distributive justice, on the other hand, is the perception that the outcomes are fairly distributed. Distributive justice requires that the outcomes an employee obtains must be proportional to the efforts put in. These outcomes include pay, performance evaluation, punishments, and rewards (Wolfe & Piquero, 2011). Organizational justice has an impact on individual behavior and organizational outcomes (Cohen-Charash & Spector, 2001;Myhill & Bradford, 2013) and is causally related to job satisfaction (Farmer et al., 2003;Lambert et al., 2007).

Job Characteristics
The job characteristics included in the present research are the five job characteristics enumerated by Hackman and Oldham (1975) and stress due to disagreements at the workplace and demands of work. Hackman and Oldham identified five job characteristics of skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback. The job characteristics were developed on the six task attributes identified by A. N. Turner and Lawrence (1965), which were posited to impact job satisfaction. The core job dimensions of skill variety, task identity, and task significance impact the psychological state of experienced meaningfulness of work, which in turn impacts the personal outcome of job satisfaction. Similarly, autonomy impacts the psychological state of experienced responsibility for outcomes and feedback the knowledge of actual results. The experienced responsibility for outcome and knowledge of actual results, in turn, have an impact on job satisfaction.
Skill variety is the degree to which the job requires a variety of different activities that involves the use of different skills and talents. A work that draws on varied skills enhances an employee's selfesteem and meaningfulness of work, which is in contrast with routine, repetitive work. Zhao et al. (1999), Lawton et al. (2000), and Lambert et al. (2015) reported a positive impact of skill variety on job satisfaction.
Task identity is the degree to which the job requires completion of a whole and identifiable piece of work (Hackman & Oldham, 1975). High task identity results in the employee completing a job from start to finish, leading to a visible outcome. In police organizations, task identity has been found to have a significant impact on job satisfaction (Zhao et al., 1999). However, Miller et al. (2009) andErcikti et al. (2011) found no impact of task identity on job satisfaction. Task significance is the degree to which the employee's work has an impact on the lives of other people. Zhao et al. (1999) tested the impact of task significance and found it to have a significant impact on job satisfaction. But Miller et al. (2009) andErcikti et al. (2011) did not find a statistically significant impact of task significance on job satisfaction.
Autonomy is the degree to which an employee has substantial freedom, independence, and discretion in scheduling work and adopting procedures for carrying it out (Hackman & Oldham, 1975). Autonomy provides the opportunity for creativity and innovation (Shalley et al., 2000), which enhances job experience and impacts job satisfaction. Police officers like to work in an environment that allows them discretion to handle a situation (Johnson, 2012). This is at the heart of innovative policing methods such as community policing and problem-oriented policing. Autonomy has been found to have a statistically significant impact on job satisfaction among police officers. (Carlan, 2007;Johnson, 2012;Miller et al., 2009;Zhao et al., 1999).
Feedback is the process through which the carrying out of the job results in the employee receiving clear information about the effectiveness of the work (Hackman & Oldham, 1975). There have been divergent findings on the impact of the variable. While Abdulla et al. (2011), Miller et al. (2009), and Ercikti et al. (2011 found a significant impact of feedback on job satisfaction, Zhao et al. (1999) and Johnson (2012) found no significant impact of feedback on job satisfaction.
Job stress is the anxiety caused by workload and lack of work control in a job (Crank et al., 1993;Johnson, 2012;Vila, 2000) and job-related conflict (Amaranto et al., 2003). The job demand-control-support model (Karasek, 1979;Karasek & Theorell, 1990) posits that high levels of job demands, low levels of work control, and low social support lead to high job stress levels. There is a relationship between job stress and physical ailments, especially cardiovascular disease (Kivimäki et al., 2012). Job stress has a negative impact on job satisfaction (Zhao et al., 1999).
Organizations are inherently competitive and conflict-ridden. Conflict occurs when individuals or groups perceive differences between themselves regarding interests, beliefs, or values . Two broad classes of conflict have been recognized-task-related conflicts and relationshiprelated conflicts (Amason, 1996;Jehn, 1997;M. E. Turner & Pratkanis, 1997). Task-related conflicts occur when employees disagree about the methods, goals, and strategy of work, whereas relationshiprelated conflicts occur when differences are based on personality clashes or interpersonal styles. De Dreu and Weingart (2003) demonstrated that relationship conflicts have an adverse effect on the satisfaction levels of employees. Conflict causes stress and consequent adverse physiological, psychological, and behavioral outcomes (Quick et al., 1997) and results in lower job satisfaction.

Police Organization in India
The modern police system in India traces its roots to the colonial period in the 19th century when the British made efforts to set up a criminal justice system based on Western principles. Their efforts through the appointment of the first Law Commission in 1834 resulted in reforms through the enactment of important legislation such as the Indian Penal Code (1860), the Criminal Procedure Code (1873), and the Indian Evidence Act (1872). The legal foundation for the functioning of the police was provided through the enactment of the Indian Police Act of 1861. The Indian Police Act has had an abiding influence on the structure and functioning of the police in India. There have been major efforts to reform the police in India, including the amendment of the Police Act by the states. The present functioning of the police in the states reflects the influence of both colonial history and the present-day reforms.
In the state of Kerala, where the study has been conducted, the reforms had resulted in the enactment of the Kerala Police Act of 2011. One of the new features introduced in the Act was the re-designation of the junior-most ranks of the police from constable to civil police officer (CPO) and the next higher rank from head constable to senior civil police officer (SCPO). Above these two ranks are the assistant sub-inspector (ASI), sub-inspector (SI), the circle inspector (CI), deputy superintendent of police (DySP), and the superintendent of police (SP). 2 Most of the personnel surveyed were recruited at two levels-one at the junior-most rank of CPO and the other in the rank of the SI. The majority of the personnel were recruited in the rank of CPO, and over the course of their career, they get promoted to the ranks of SCPO, ASI, and sometimes SI. Officers recruited at the rank of SI usually advance to the rank of Inspector, DySP, and SP.
At the police station level, CPOs form the majority of the personnel strength and carry out most of the core duties of public order maintenance, beat patrols, enquiries, executing court warrants, and serving summons. The SCPOs who have years of experience as a CPO investigate crimes, maintain station crime and administration records, and carry out court duties and other general duties in the station. The ASI is a supervisory rank in the police station and assists the SI in administering the station. The ASI investigates minor cases, supervises field-level work done in connection with the investigation of cases, and leads public order maintenance duties. The SI, who is generally in charge of the station and known as the station house officer (SHO), is responsible for the public order maintenance, crime prevention and detection, and service to the community. He leads the police at the station level and should be adept at administration, crime investigation, crisis management, and community relations, among other things. The Inspector is the next senior rank and usually supervises a circle consisting of more than one police station. The Inspector inspects the police stations at periodic intervals and investigates serious or grave crimes. The DySP heads a subdivision, which consists of two or more circles (generally two to five circles). The DySP is a senior rank and provides leadership at the subdivision level for crime control and public order management. A district usually comprises of two or more subdivisions. The district SP heads the District Police and is a crucial position in the district and state administration. The SP is responsible for the crime-and security-related matters in the district. A similar hierarchy exists in other special units such as the crime branch or the police intelligence units.

Research Methods and Data
The study examines factors impacting job satisfaction of police officers from the rank of CPOs to SP. The research question examined was whether demographic factors, organizational, and job characteristics have an impact on job satisfaction of police personnel. The research uses data collected from a survey administered on police personnel. The survey was conducted using a printed questionnaire with 140 questions. The survey instrument was originally written in English and then translated into Malayalam, the local language of the state. The translation of the questions in the survey instrument from English to Malayalam was done by professional translators who were proficient in both the languages. The translation process went through multiple iterations so as to ensure that the Malayalam translation captured the nuances of the original questions in English. In addition, the finalized survey instrument was separately examined by four language experts to make sure that the translation was correct and the integrity of the survey instrument was ensured.
Data were collected from police personnel in 19 police districts across the state. The data were collected by designated survey teams in each district who visited police units and conducted the survey. The survey was administered on personnel working in the local police stations, the special units such as the special branch, crime branch, armed police units, and training academy. From the different police stations and special units, all available SPs, DySPs, Inspectors, SIs, and ASIs were surveyed. From each unit, at least two SCPOs and four CPOs were surveyed. The CPOs and SCPOs surveyed were randomly selected from the personnel available in the police stations in the morning hours during roll call and duty distribution.
The respondents were assured at the beginning of the survey itself that it was being conducted in full confidentiality, and the respondents were not expected to provide their names on the survey. The respondents were given a questionnaire and asked to complete the survey in the police station itself. As the respondents were police officers, they had the education and capacity to understand the questions by reading them without the active help of the person conducting the survey. On average, the respondents took 2 hr to complete the survey, and the survey instruments were collected back on completion. The survey was administered on 7,700 officers, 3 but 243 survey responses were not usable as they were only partially filled and critical information was missing. Responses from 7,457 officers were usable. The completed surveys were collected, and the data were entered into a spreadsheet by a team of trained data entry personnel.
The variables were measured using different methods. The respondent age was measured in years (see Table 1). The mean age of the respondents was 42.15 (SD ¼ 7.44), and the range was 37 with the youngest respondent of 23 years and the oldest respondent just short of 60 years, which is the retirement age of officers of the rank of SP. 4 Of the surveyed respondents, 85.4% were male and 14.6% were female personnel. The large number of 1,082 women personnel surveyed was more than their share in the population of 6.32% but provide a sufficiently large sample for meaningful analyses.
The education levels of the respondents were measured on a five-level scale of secondary school education (Grade 10), higher secondary education (Grade 12), diploma, undergraduate degree, and postgraduate degree; 46% of the respondents had an undergraduate degree or higher education and 45% had school-level education. A closer examination indicates that the ranks from CPO to SI had 50% of the personnel with school-level education, and the majority of the respondents above the rank of Inspector had college education. The difference is due to the fact that the education requirement for recruitment at the rank of CPO is school education (Grade 10), and for SIs, college education is the minimum requirement. The police organization in the state has a pyramidal structure with a broad base. Of the entire police in the state, CPOs form 74.13% of the strength, SCPOs 17.31%, ASIs 2.6%, SIs 4.25%, CIs 0.88%, DySPs 0.59%, and SPs 0.15% of the uniformed police personnel. The sample surveyed is, however, skewed to favor the higher ranks and underrepresents the junior ranks; 48.9% of the surveyed respondents were CPOs, 23.3% were SCPOs, 13.8% ASIs, 12.8% SIs and CIs, and only 1.1% were of the ranks of DySPs and SPs. The marital status of the respondents was also ascertained; 94% were married and 6% were single.
The measures of organizational characteristics entered into the model were organizational support, supervisor support, instrumental communication, inputs into decision making, formalization in organization, promotional opportunities, and procedural justice in performance evaluation. The perception of organizational support was measured using 4 items of perception of the quality of facilities of housing, education for children, health, and leisure time and recreation provided by the organization. The 4 items were measured on scales of 7, and all the four indicators loaded on one factor with factor scores of .712, .772, .814, and .717. The Cronbach a for the index was .748 (see Table 2).
Supervisor support was measured using three indicators adapted from Hackman and Oldham (1975). The three indicators were the amount of support and guidance received from the supervisor, the overall quality of supervision received at work, and the degree of respect and dignity received from the supervisor. The 3 items loaded on one factor with factor scores of .832, .880, and .879. The Cronbach a for the index was .831.
The quality of information that the employee receives about their tasks and organizational issues was measured using four indicators adapted from Curry et al. (1986). The 4 items of the index measuring instrumental communication loaded on a single factor with scores of .811, .876, .848, and .813. The Cronbach a of the index was .856. Inputs into decision making were measured using three variables, as suggested by Lambert and Hogan (2009). The Cronbach a for the index was .831, and the factor scores were .836, .889, and .865.
Formalization was measured using two indicators measuring how much the written manual helped in the employee's duty and whether the job description for the position was accurate for what was required for the job. The Cronbach a for the index was .612, and the factor scores were .860 and .841.
The promotional opportunity was measured using two indicators, which were adapted from Curry et al. (1986). The 2 items loaded on one factor with factor scores of .759 and .824, clearly indicating the discriminant validity of the measure. The Cronbach a of the index was .411, which could primarily be due to the fact that only two indicators were used in creating the index.
The degree of procedural justice in the evaluation of performance was measured using two indicators that the standards used to evaluate the employee's performance was fair and objective, and the supervisor was familiar with the job of the employee to evaluate the person fairly. Both the indicators are important for a fair evaluation of the work of an employee and loaded onto one factor with factor scores of .844 and .814. The Cronbach a for the index was .567.
The seven measures of job characteristics entered in the model were skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, feedback from the job, stress due to conflict/disagreements at the workplace, and stress due to work demands. Skill variety, task identity, and task significance were measured using the single survey questions of how much variety there was in the job, how much the job involved doing whole and identifiable piece of work, and how significant and important the job was. While indices adapted from Hackman and Oldham (1975) could have been used to measure the job characteristics, they were not used as the Cronbach as were very low.
Autonomy was measured using three indicators, which loaded on the same factor with factor scores of .720, .750, and .716. The Cronbach a for the index was .559. Feedback regarding the job done was Rate the quality of the housing facilities provided to you by the police department Rate the quality of the children's education facilities provided to you by the police department Rate the quality of the health care facilities provided to you by the police department Rate the quality of the leisure time and recreation facilities provided to you by the police department Support of supervisor. To what extent does your job involve doing whole and identifiable piece of work? Is the job a complete piece of work that has an obvious beginning and end, or is it only a small part of the overall piece of work, which is finished by other people?
(continued) computed using 2 items adapted from Hackman and Oldham (1975). The two indicators loaded on one factor with factor scores of .844 and .814. The Cronbach a of the variable was .547. 5 The stress at the workplace was measured through two separate indices of stress caused by conflict or difference of opinion at the workplace and stress caused by demands of work. Stress caused by conflict at the workplace was measured using three indicators. These items loaded on a single factor with factor scores of .829, .817, and .855. The Cronbach a for the index was .785. The 3 items measuring stress caused by demands of work loaded onto one factor with factor scores of .863, .867, and .712. The Cronbach a for the index was .747.
The dependent variable of job satisfaction was measured through an additive index using three indicators. The 3 items loaded on a single factor with scores of .786, .848, and .843. The Cronbach a for the index was .810.

Findings
The study examines the impact of demographic factors, organizational, and job characteristics on job satisfaction. A correlation matrix of the independent and dependent variables was computed. All correlations, except the correlation between age and rank (.572, p < .001) and procedural justice and input into decision making (.545, p < .001), were less than .5. Correlations higher than .5 are considered large, .3 to .5 are considered moderate, and less than .3 are considered small (Cohen, 1988). None of the independent variables have very high correlations indicating an absence of multicollinearity. The variance inflation factor (VIF) of the variables ranged from 1.066 to 1.803. Myers (1990) recommends that a VIF greater than 10 indicates multicollinearity, and Tabachnick and Fidell (2007) suggest a value of 5. The average VIF of the variables was 1.646, which is not substantially greater than 1, which confirmed that multicollinearity was not a problem (Bowerman & O'Connell, 1990).
Ordinary least square (OLS) regression was conducted to analyze the impact of the independent variables on job satisfaction. The three categories of variables were entered in three separate stages, with demographic factors entered first and job characteristics last. In the first stage, all demographic factors except marital status had a significant impact on the dependent variable. Older respondents, females, and personnel of higher rank reported greater job satisfaction. On the other hand, higher education levels had a negative impact on job satisfaction. Variables in this stage accounted for a .034 change in R 2 value.
In the second stage, seven indices measuring organizational characteristics were added in the model. With the addition of organizational characteristics, the impact of gender on the dependent variable waned and reduced to .026 (p < .05). The variables of age, education qualification, and rank continued to have a statistically significant impact on the dependent variable, and the impact of marital status became statistically significant, with married respondents having higher levels of job satisfaction (b ¼ À.029, p < .01). Of the seven organizational characteristics added in the model, all except perception of promotional opportunity had a statistically significant positive impact on job satisfaction. Of the variables, support of supervisor and organizational support had the greatest impact with b values of .252 (p < .005) and .140 (p < .005), respectively (see Table 3). The addition of organizational characteristics in the model accounted for a change in .286 in R 2 , indicating a significant impact of organizational factors on job satisfaction.
In the third stage, seven indices measuring job characteristics were added, completing the model. Adding the variables measuring job characteristics to the model increased R 2 by .030. In the final model, demographic characteristics of age (b ¼ .027, p < .05) and rank (b ¼ .026, p < .05) had a positive impact on the dependent variable, whereas the levels of education (b ¼ À.025, p < .05) had a significant negative impact on job satisfaction. Female officers and married respondents reported a greater level of job satisfaction. It is evident that the demographic factors had a statistically significant but slight impact on the dependent variable.
In the final model, all organizational factors except promotional opportunities in the organization had a significant impact on the dependent variable. Support of supervisor had the maximum impact with a b value of .174 (p < .001) followed by formalization (b ¼ .125, p < .001), which indicates that the employee-supervisor relationship had a great impact on job satisfaction. Moreover, employees favored the use of well-defined written rules and regulations within the organization, and the presence of formal rules had a positive impact on job satisfaction.
The next important organizational factor that had an impact on job satisfaction was procedural justice for performance evaluation with a b value of .113 (p < .001). The significant relation indicates the value accorded by the respondents for just treatment by the organization and fair performance evaluation. Organizational support (b ¼ .103, p < .001) had a significant impact on job satisfaction. Respondents who felt that the organization provided them with quality support for housing, children's education, health care, and leisure and recreation facilities had greater job satisfaction.
Inputs into decision making had a positive impact on the respondent's job satisfaction (b ¼ .035, p < .05). Involvement in the decision-making process engenders a sense of inclusion and provides a voice to the employee, which had an impact on job satisfaction. Instrumental communication also had a positive impact with a b value of .029 (p < .05). Although the regression coefficient was low, the employees valued the information they received regarding their job and organizational processes, which provided them with clarity about matters at the workplace.
Of the seven variables measuring job characteristics, all variables except task identity had a statistically significant impact on job satisfaction. Autonomy had the maximum impact on the dependent variable with a b value of .105 (p < .001). Stress caused by work demands had a significant impact with a b value of À.087 (p < .001), followed by stress due to conflict at the workplace (b ¼ À.068, p < .001). Stress, therefore, had an impact of reducing job satisfaction. Feedback had a slight positive impact on job satisfaction with a coefficient of .041 (p < .001). Similarly, skill variety and task significance had a slight impact with b values of .046 (p < .001) and .031 (p < .01). The low regression coefficients explain the minimal change in R 2 on the addition of job characteristics in the model in the third stage.

Analyses and Discussion
The findings of the study indicate that organizational characteristics explained the variability in job satisfaction to the largest extent, followed by demographic factors and job characteristics. Of the demographic characteristics, gender had a statistically significant impact on job satisfaction. Women officers had greater levels of job satisfaction compared to men (b ¼ .028, p < .05). The state has a high level of women labor force participation (314 per 1,000 person 6 ) compared to other states in India. Note. Dependent variable is job satisfaction. ***p < .001. **p < .01. *p < .05.
The government policy of recruiting more women in the police could have aided in increasing the number of women in the organization and making the work environment gender neutral. Women having greater levels of satisfaction could also be because women are adapting themselves to the police work environment through training and organizational acclimatization. Government orders to protect women in the workplace empower women, make them feel more secure, and have a role in the higher levels of satisfaction of women. Moreover, women employees are pathbreakers and pioneers as they are the first or second generation of women officers in the police in the state. They have pride in the fact, and this could be a factor that leads to higher levels of satisfaction. The variable of marital status had an impact on job satisfaction with married officers having greater levels of job satisfaction. The impact of the variable indicates that the spouse has a role in providing support to the officer to face the pressures of the job, and this had an impact on job satisfaction. This could also be because the contentment of supporting and providing for a family with the wages from the job would render a greater meaning to the job and higher job satisfaction.
Age had a significant impact on job satisfaction with older personnel having greater job satisfaction. The greater levels of satisfaction could be because older personnel have had time to acclimatize themselves with the work environment and culture of the police and are more comfortable in the organizational setting. Their comfort could arise from acquired skill sets and knowledge and familiarity with people in the organization. The knowledge of work and ability to be useful for the organization could impact self-esteem and job satisfaction. There is a degree of self-selection of satisfied employees and attrition of dissatisfied younger personnel who seek jobs that they are more comfortable with and leave the police early in their careers. Most of the officers who are satisfied with their jobs opt to stay on to develop knowledge of work and serve the organization.
Rank had a positive impact on job satisfaction with increasing rank related to greater job satisfaction. The relationship could be due to the greater professional responsibilities of the respondents with higher rank, the greater opportunities to make important decisions and serve the community. Stationlevel police officers, especially of the rank of SI and above, have a high degree of prestige, power, and influence in society. People tend to meet the SHO and other senior officers to seek solution for problems of crime, disputes, and public security. The capacity and opportunity to work for society could greatly enhance the meaningfulness of their job and job satisfaction. This finding is in agreement with Kumar's (2017) study in India and Bennett's (1997) research in the Caribbean islands.
Education qualification had a significant negative impact on job satisfaction. The study surveys lower to middle level of officers in the department. In the recent past, most of the personnel entering the organization at the entry level of CPO had higher levels of education with graduate and postgraduate degrees (42.1% with graduate degrees and 11.4% with postgraduate degree). These new entrants in the organization have pursued college and higher degrees with the hope of obtaining satisfying and remunerative employment. However, due to the absence of job opportunities, they choose to join the police department, which may not be among their preferred jobs. They join anyway to obtain a job, especially a government job. They may, at times, feel underutilized or dissatisfied due to a job that does not have the job content that would allow them opportunities to use their knowledge and skill levels.
All variables measuring organizational characteristics, except promotional opportunities, had an impact on job satisfaction. The support of the supervisor had the maximum impact with a b value of .252 (p < .001) in the second stage. The variable's impact reduced with the inclusion of measures of job characteristics in the third stage (b ¼ .174, p < .001). Measures of autonomy, feedback, and stress due to disagreement at the workplace were included in the third stage. The supervisor has an important role in these variables, and therefore there is a reduction in the impact of the supervisor's support in explaining the variance of the dependent variable.
The significant impact of supervisor support is in agreement with the existing research (Bennet, 1997;Lambert et al., 2015). Employees tend to view the supervisor as a conduit to the senior management of the organization and the supervisor's actions as indicative of the organization's views (Eisenberger et al., 2002). Supervisors function as agents of the organization and convey evaluation of the performance of the employee to the senior management. They influence the organization's evaluation and opinion of the employee. The supervisor's support is important for obtaining material and other resources such as logistical support, being chosen for good assignments, assessment of employee performance, and support during difficult times. The employees, therefore, value their supervisor's support and their relationship.
The next important variable measuring organizational characteristics having a significant impact on the dependent variable was formalization with a b value of .125 (p < .001). Formalization is the use of well-defined rules and regulations to govern employee behavior. The police in the state have a high degree of formalization with laws, rules, and departmental orders governing all aspects of work, including professional police work, administrative matters, and personal conduct. The Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) is the major act that guides professional police works such as investigation of crime and control of public disorder. The law provides guidelines for registration of cases, recording witness statements, collection and seizing of evidence, arrest of accused, charge sheeting of cases, execution of warrants, and conduct of trial. The CrPC also provides powers to the executive magistrate and the police for controlling public disorder. The CrPC is supplemented by provisions of the Kerala Police Act, which clearly lays out the duties and responsibilities of police personnel. In addition, there are service rules, government orders, and departmental circulars that provide guidelines for the administration of the department and personnel. The rules and orders include the procedure for recruitment, promotions, pay and allowances, leave, and retirement. The Kerala police departmental inquiries, punishment, and appeals rules provide the basis for maintenance of discipline in the department through cognizance of indiscipline, the conduct of enquiry, and award of punishment.
The laws and rules are an indication of the importance accorded to formalization by the administration. The high degree of formalization ensures that clarity is provided to the employees regarding all aspects of their professional work and conduct. Formalization ensures an understanding of what is expected of the employee at the workplace, which makes it easier for the employees and their supervisors. It creates an organizational consensus on what is good and bad behavior within the organizational setting. It provides protection to the employee against wrong charges and malicious action against them. It also provides due process rights to personnel regarding administrative, service, and disciplinary matters. The clarity in expectations and protections against arbitrary action creates greater job satisfaction. Lambert et al. (2017) in their study in India also found a significant relationship between formalization and job satisfaction.
Procedural justice is determined by the fairness in the process adopted by the regulatory authority (Leventhal, 1980). Tyler (2003) has argued that procedural justice results in greater legitimacy of the legal agent and greater compliance and cooperation with the authority. Procedural justice in performance evaluation has been measured by an additive index of fairness and objectiveness in the evaluation of performance and familiarity of supervisors to evaluate employees. The variable had a statistically significant impact with a standardized regression coefficient of .113 (p < .001). The statistically significant relationship between procedural justice and job satisfaction could be because employees desire fairness in the process of performance evaluation, and perceived unfairness causes psychological strain and reduces job satisfaction. A sense of fairness is all the more important in a hierarchical and disciplined organization like the police where orders have to be obeyed, and there are limitations in methods of grievance presentation and redressal. 7 Similar conclusions have been arrived at by Qureshi et al. (2017) in their study in India.
While procedural justice in performance evaluation had a significant impact on job satisfaction, promotional opportunities had no statistically significant impact. The absence of a relationship could be due to the fact that promotions are intrinsically linked to performance evaluations. High evaluations are a prerequisite for promotions. Officers are aware of the promotion path and the highest rank that they can achieve within the organization. An officer who entered at the rank of CPO can expect to retire at the rank of SI or Inspector, and an officer who joined as SI can expect to retire as an SP. If the performance evaluations are good, and there are no disciplinary issues, the officer is generally promoted on serving the required years. As the promotional avenues are known beforehand, and promotion is dependent largely on years served if service records were good, promotional opportunities available had no significant impact on job satisfaction.
Organizational support had a statistically significant impact with a b value of .103 (p < .001). Housing, health, and children's education facilities are coveted and valued by employees. Housing facilities are valued because of the high housing cost in the open market compared to the subsidized housing provided by the police department. In addition, police housing complexes have a sense of community for police personnel with common facilities and added security to the officers and their families.
The medical facilities provided by the department is a great support. Police work demands long hours, odd working hours, and results in high levels of stress, which causes a high frequency of debilitating health issues in mid and later career. Medical support is, therefore, valued by employees and raises job satisfaction (Kumar, 2017). Support for children's education through education allowance, scholarships, and even police schools is important for the personnel. These factors explain the positive relationship between organizational support and job satisfaction.
Inputs in decision making had a statistically significant impact on the dependent variable with a standardized regression coefficient of .035 (p < .05). Participation in the decision-making process creates a sense of inclusion, makes the employees feel valued, and promotes a sense that they were contributing to the achievement of the organizational goal . The enhanced sense of self-worth derived from engaging in the job increases the levels of job satisfaction. Involvement in the decision-making process is important for police work, whether it is a crime investigation or public order management. The actions of each police officer are liable to be scrutinized by the courts, supervisors, and the public. Police decision making and implementation involve more than one officer and require teamwork. Police personnel do not like to implement decisions for which they have legal and administrative responsibilities without having a voice and being heard during the decision-making process. When inputs of officers are taken during the decision-making process, there is a sense of ownership of the decisions taken, willingness to take responsibility, and implement the decisions properly. These factors enhance a sense of involvement, achievement, and job satisfaction of the employee.
Instrumental communication is the process through which employees receive information about the organization and their jobs . The formal transmission of this information is important for providing clarity regarding organizational goals and individual roles. Instrumental communication had a statistically significant impact on job satisfaction (b ¼ .029, p < .05). Instrumental communication is important in the police, which is marked by hierarchy and discipline, and which requires a clear transmission of requirements of work down the line and a mechanism for conveying concerns and difficulties to the supervisors. The process is helpful for carrying out large tasks involving a number of people spread over a geographical expanse. It reduces strain among the employees caused by a lack of clarity of tasks and organizational expectations. Instrumental communication is most clearly visible in police organizations in the briefing sessions before large tasks and debriefing sessions after the work. It is also seen in written orders and advisory notes on tasks ranging from investigation to public order management and compliance reports submitted on completion of the work. These are mechanisms that help both the supervisors and the employees to carry out complex tasks successfully.
The entry of the variables reflecting job characteristics in the model resulted in a small change in the R 2 from .320 to .350, which points to the low impact of job characteristics on the dependent variable. Of the seven variables entered in the third stage, autonomy had a statistically significant impact on job satisfaction (b ¼ .105, p < .001). The positive impact of the variable indicates that like in most police organizations, officers' exercise of autonomy in their jobs enhances their experienced responsibility for outcome of work and results in higher job satisfaction. However, while the officers like autonomy, the degree of independence and freedom they have in carrying out their tasks is circumscribed by laws and rules, the organizational culture and ethos, hierarchical structure, requirement for taking individual decisions during work, and being held responsible and liable for decisions they take by oversight institutions and courts. Police in India have a culture and ethos which stress on hierarchy and discipline (Kumar & Verma, 2009). Police officers get accustomed to the rigid hierarchical organizational and working style and find it necessary for the smooth functioning of the organization. Officers are informed of their duties and responsibilities and have the autonomy to carry out the work within the boundaries of the laws and rules. They negotiate the work environment with a clear idea of task expectations and responsibilities. The work done exercising autonomy enhances the sense of achievement and job satisfaction. On the other hand, hierarchy and control have a role in outlining the boundaries within which to exercise autonomy.
Stress caused by work demands had a significant impact on job satisfaction with increasing stress reducing job satisfaction (b ¼ À.087, p < .001). The findings are in keeping with existing research that job stress results in reduced job satisfaction (Lambert, 2004;Lambert & Paoline, 2008). High work demands result in stress, and the employee would tend to blame the organization, management, or supervisor for creating and allowing a stressful situation. Job stress results in psychological and physiological problems. Psychological problems may include anxiety and result in health problems such as migraine headaches, hypertension, heart attacks, gastrointestinal issues, and stroke (Anderson et al., 2002;Gershon et al., 2002;Kivimäki et al., 2012). These factors would result in lower satisfaction with the job.
Conflicts with subordinates, supervisors, or peers cause stress to the individual and lead to lower job satisfaction (Frone, 2000;Hershcovis & Barling, 2010). Task-related conflict could occur when there are disagreements on decisions taken. There is, therefore, a need for supervisory authorities to be fair, transparent, and to explain the rationale of decisions. Conflict may also occur when subordinates resist legitimate directions and orders of supervisory officers, which could cause stress within the organization and for supervisors, resulting in the use of more formal methods to ensure compliance of orders. In the Indian context, relationship-related conflicts could occur because of disrespectful behavior and perception of injustice or bias. Disrespectful behavior could be verbal or nonverbal and could range from the use of impolite or harsh language by the supervisor, subordinate, or peers at the workplace, unfair criticism, or belittling or marginalizing a person in the organization. The requirement of civil behavior among personnel is ensured by organizational norms and disciplinary rules.
The impact of most other job-related factors was low. Skill variety in the job also has a slight impact on job satisfaction (b ¼ .046, p < .001). Jobs that require different types of tasks draw on different skills of employees and lead to mental stimulation. Skill variety enhances experienced meaningfulness of work (Hackman & Oldham, 1980). Police work would require a wide variety of skills such as good communication skills-both verbal and written, intelligence, and physical skills. Verbal skills are required for a variety of tasks ranging from crime interviews, negotiations, deposing in courts, and community policing. Writing skills are required for documenting crime scenes, recording witness statements, and writing reports for supervisors or courts. Investigation of crime calls for a variety of skills ranging from methodical approach for addressing a crime scene, logical approach for recreating sequence of events, understanding of law, and capacity to comprehend a wide variety of facts to decide whether there was a violation of law or not. Physical capacities are required for public order management and specialized work such as weapons and tactics. Officers who are involved in tasks requiring varied skills experience greater satisfaction (Lambert et al., 2015).
Feedback from job had a standardized regression coefficient of .041 (p < .001). The feedback provided in the police is usually direct feedback by supervisors and colleagues regarding the good work done. It could also be in the form of cautionary notes or a discussion with the supervisor in case of poor quality of work. Formal feedback includes rewards, commendation, reviews in annual performance evaluations, cautionary warnings, and disciplinary proceedings. Informal feedback is also received when subordinates, peers, or supervisors approach an employee for advice or suggestions on job-related matters. This is manifested in the form of frequent requests for inclusion in special assignments such as in teams for investigation of sensitive cases or other tasks of importance. The feedback process is a corrective mechanism that makes the employees aware of their strengths and weaknesses and how to improve. Positive feedback reassures the employee that the work was done correctly, was valued, useful for the organization, and contributes to the achievement of organizational goals. Such feedback enhances the self-esteem of the employee and raises their value and social position in the organization. If managed correctly by the organization and the employee, feedback could result in improvement of employee performance and greater job satisfaction.
Task significance is the extent to which the job impacts others' lives. Police work in India has a significant impact on the lives of people. Task significance has a low but statistically significant impact on job satisfaction (b ¼ .031, p < .01). People join the police because they feel that police have an important role to play in society, police officers have the capacity to do justice, and are respected in society. There is no doubt in the minds of the public and the officers that police is an important government agency, that the police station is an important institution in the community, and police have a role in maintaining peace and order in society. These are facts that are reflected in the routine public discourse and the media. Police personnel know it, and possibly because this is an accepted fact, it does not have a high impact on the dependent variable.
The variable of task identity did not have any impact on the dependent variable. Police work is large, having multiple parts, spread over a large area, and requires time. Investigation of challenging crime cases such as homicide or complex white-collar crimes requires large teams addressing different parts of the investigation, such as collecting evidence from the crime scene, questioning witnesses, interrogating suspects, writing case diaries, and filing reports in courts through prosecutors. The diverse tasks cannot be done by a single officer. Similarly, order maintenance during normal times or large-scale public disturbances requires coordinated work of patrol officers, individual officers engaged in public order control, and the police control room. The work requires the efforts of many personnel working in close coordination. It is due to these reasons that task identity or the extent to which the job requires completion of a whole identifiable piece of work has no significant impact on job satisfaction.

Conclusion
The study examined the impact of demographic factors, organizational, and job characteristics on job satisfaction. All three factors had an impact on job satisfaction, with organizational characteristics having the maximum impact followed by demographic factors and job characteristics. Of organizational characteristics, variables of supervisor support, formalization, and procedural justice in performance evaluation had the greatest impact. All demographic characteristics had a slight impact, and of job characteristics, the variables of autonomy, stress due to demands of work and disagreement at the workplace had the most significant effect on job satisfaction.
The large impact of organizational characteristics on job satisfaction is evidence of the overbearing influence of the work environment, processes, and organizational culture on the individual officer. Organizational characteristics of the police, such as the decision-making process, communication patterns, the importance of formal rules and regulations, organizational fairness, and organizational and supervisory support, have an influence on the job satisfaction of personnel. The impact of the work environment, which includes both the organizational and job characteristics, on the dependent variable is much higher than the impact of the demographic factors. This is useful for police managers as they can reduce negative factors such as stress and increase positive factors such as supervisor support, procedural justice, and autonomy to increase job satisfaction of police personnel.
The study has limitations in the sample selection not being reflective of the actual composition of the different ranks in the organization. The Cronbach a for some of the indices measuring job characteristics such as promotional opportunities, procedural justice, autonomy, and feedback were low. While these measures were adopted from existing studies, the low Cronbach a could be due to differences in organizational culture and employee perception in Indian police organizations, impacting the importance of the different items used in creating the indices. However, the factor scores for the items confirmed the convergent validity of the measures. The study analyzes cross-sectional data, which has limitations in explaining the causal relations between the independent and dependent variables. External factors such as pressures from clients, community, and political leaders have not been included in the model. These factors need to be accounted for in future studies to better explain the variance in the dependent variable. Future studies should also focus on understanding the causal mechanisms of how work environment impacts job satisfaction. In addition, more studies on factors impacting job satisfaction of police personnel need to be conducted in police organizations in different parts of India and other developing countries.
The research underlines the theoretical relevance of the impact of demographic factors and work environment on job satisfaction. While many studies have demonstrated the relationship in Western countries, the present study contributes to examining the impact of these factors in a non-Western country, establishing the universal relevance of the theory across cultures and nations and the need to study them on a global scale. The study has policy implications in underlining the importance of the organizational and job characteristics on job satisfaction and the necessity for taking steps for providing organizational support, formalization of processes, ensuring procedural justice, and reducing stress levels to enhance job satisfaction of employees. This would have positive outcomes of reducing attrition rates, improving organizational commitment and job performance.

Author's Note
This research paper was presented at the American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting at San Francisco in November 2019.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/ or publication of this article.

Funding
The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD
T. K. Vinod Kumar https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6356-4194 Notes 4. In Kerala state, police personnel are eligible for recruitment from the age of 21 and officers generally retire at the age of 56. However, few officers who reach the rank of superintendent of police and are promoted to the Indian Police Service retire at the age of 60. 5. The survey instrument was prepared using indices already developed in existing studies. The factor scores of the items were high, indicating the discriminant validity of the measure. Cronbach a less than .6 is not satisfactory. However, a low measure of internal consistency is consistent with the use of these measures (see Ercikti et al., 2011;Lambert et al., 2015). 6. Data on women in labor force were obtained from the fifth Annual Employment-Unemployment Survey (2015)(2016) conducted by the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India (http://labourbur eaunew.gov.in/UserContent/EUS_5th_1.pdf) on 05/23/2019. 7. There are legal restrictions on constitutional rights of police personnel imposed by the Police Forces (Restriction of Rights) Act, 1966. These restrictions include restriction of rights of police personnel to form associations, restriction on freedom of speech, and restriction to communicate with the press or publish material.