Emotional Labor, Role Characteristics, and Police Officer Burnout in South Korea: The Mediating Effect of Emotional Dissonance

• Author: Susan McNeeley,Hyounggon Kwak,Sung-Hwan Kim
• Published date: 01 June 2018
• Date: 01 June 2018
• DOI: 10.1177/1098611118757230
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Emotional Labor, Role

Characteristics, and

Police Officer Burnout

in South Korea: The

Mediating Effect of

Emotional Dissonance

Hyounggon Kwak

1

, Susan McNeeley

2

and Sung-Hwan Kim

3

Abstract

This study examines the extent to which emotional labor and role stressors (such as

role conflict and ambiguity) required of police officers contribute to police officer

burnout. In particular, it is hypothesized that these aspects of police work cause

officers to experience emotional dissonance, thereby leading to burnout. To test

these hypotheses, we conduct mediation analyses using survey data from 466 police

officers in Seoul, South Korea. Overall, emotional labor, role stressors, and

emotional dissonance are related to greater police officer burnout. In addition,

there were several significant indirect effects between emotional labor, role

stressors, and burnout, via emotional dissonance.

Keywords

burnout, emotional dissonance, police, role stressor

1

University of Arkansas at Little Rock, AR, USA

2

Minnesota Department of Corrections, Saint Paul, MN, USA

3

Dongguk University, Gyeongju, South Korea

Corresponding Author:

Hyounggon Kwak, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little Rock, AR, USA.

Email: hxkwak1@ualr.edu

Police Quarterly

2018, Vol. 21(2) 223–249

!The Author(s) 2018

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DOI: 10.1177/1098611118757230

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Introduction

A substantial body of literature has documented that police officers have a high

risk of suffering from job burnout, with symptoms such as job dissatisfaction,

psychological distress, suicidal ideation, alcohol abuse, physical health prob-

lems, and divorce (Bishopp & Boots, 2014; Brown, Fielding, & Grover, 1999;

Gershon, Barocas, Canton, Li, & Vlahov, 2009; He, Zhao, & Ren, 2005; Kop,

Euwema, & Schaufeli, 1999; Kurtz, Zavala, & Melander, 2015; Martinussen,

Richardsen, & Burke, 2007; Morash et al., 2008; Violanti, 1997). These prob-

lems result in mounting costs for police agencies due to the resulting health

issues and high turnover. In addition, burnout increases officers’ aggressive

attitudes and support for the use of force (Kop & Euwema, 2001; Queiros,

Kaiseler, & DaSilva, 2013). Due to the high risk of burnout among police

officers as well as its negative consequences, it is imperative to reduce burnout,

which requires scholars to identify factors that contribute to it.

Many scholars argue that burnout is common among the police because

officers work in unpredictable and dangerous circumstances (Adams & Buck,

2010; Anshel, 2000; Dowler, 2005; Manzoni & Eisner, 2006). In addition, police

departments have become more focused on community-oriented policing in

response to public demands for greater accountability and legitimacy (Kwak

& McNeeley, 2017), bringing police officers into frequent interaction with the

public, which can increase job stress (Bayley & Shearing, 1996; Paoline, Myers,

& Worden, 2000; Seron, Pereira, & Kovath, 2004).

Given these aspects of policing, officers are frequently required to inhibit

their true feelings and instead express a variety of emotions compatible with

the organization’s needs and expectations (McCarty & Skogan, 2013; Schaible &

Six, 2016). This seems to be consonant with emotional labor, or “the act of

displaying socially desirable emotions during interpersonal interactions or ser-

vice transactions” (Ashforth & Humphrey, 1993, pp. 88–89). As a consequence

of this emotional labor, police officers’ felt emotions may not match with the

emotional displays they must perform—a phenomenon known as emotional

dissonance—which can, in turn, contribute to burnout (Bakker & Heuven,

2006; Hochschild, 1983; Schaible & Gecas, 2010; Van Gelderen, Heuven, Van

Veldhoven, Zeelenberg, & Croon, 2007; Van Gelderen, Konijn, & Bakker, 2017;

Zapf, 2002). In addition, the police role is a complex interaction between an

individual’s interpretation of the role and the formal and informal interpreta-

tions held by the police organization (Violanti, 1997). This complexity, intensi-

fied by the competing philosophies in modern policing, can lead to stress

associated with the police officer’s work role, which is associated with burnout

(Lee & Ashforth, 1993).

The existing literature on police officer burnout has provided valuable

information; still, some limitations of prior work reduce our understanding of

this issue. First, past studies have examined the effects of emotional labor

224 Police Quarterly 21(2)