The relationship between individual values, psychological well‐being, and organizational commitment among Israeli police officers

Abstract

Purpose

There has been a growing trend recently to examine individual‐level values in order to better understand the attitudes and behaviors of employees in the workplace. This paper aims to continue this trend by examining the relationship between individual values, using Schwartz's basic human values theory, and psychological well‐being (PWB) and affective organizational commitment. It also seeks to examine whether demographic variables control the relationship between individual values and the two dependent variables.

Design/methodology/approach

The sample is comprised of 271 police officers enrolled in an undergraduate program in an Israeli university.

Findings

As expected, the regression analysis showed a positive relationship between PWB and the values of benevolence, self‐direction, and achievement, and a negative relationship between PWB and the values of power and tradition. Surprisingly, organizational commitment was negatively related to achievement and positively related to power – the reverse of their relationship with PWB. The results also revealed a negative correlation between PWB and commitment.

Originality/value

The findings encourage future research on the relationship between individual values, PWB, and organizational commitment among police officers.

Citation

Cohen, A. and Shamai, O. (2010), "The relationship between individual values, psychological well‐being, and organizational commitment among Israeli police officers", Policing: An International Journal, Vol. 33 No. 1, pp. 30-51. https://doi.org/10.1108/13639511011020584