Job Commitment, Job Satisfaction And Gender In The Nigeria Police

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Job commitment, job satisfaction and gender as predictors of mentoring in the Nigeria Police

Job commitment, job satisfaction and gender 377

A. Oyesoji Aremu Department of Guidance and Counselling, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria, and

C. Adeola Adeyoju Institute of Education, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria Keywords Job commitment, Job satisfaction, Gender, Mentoring, Nigeria, Police Abstract This study investigates the effect of mentoring on commitment to job, job satisfaction and gender in the Nigeria Police. The participants, numbering 592, were recruited for the study from three out of six geo-political zones in Nigeria using a cluster quota random sampling method. They comprised 396 (66.9 per cent) males and 196 (33.1 per cent) females, 179 (30.2 per cent) officers (senior officers) and 413 (69.8 per cent) junior staff. Two hypotheses and two research questions were tested and answered at 0.05 margin of error using Z score and analysis of variance statistics. Results showed that mentored male police are more committed to their job. The mentored female police showed more satisfaction with their job than the mentored male police. Mentoring was also found to predict commitment to job of the police. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Introduction The Nigeria Police was established by the British colonial rulers as a vital institution for propping up civil administration. Since then, the profession has witnessed remarkable transformation in terms of manpower, logistics, resources and organizational framework under successive governments in the country. Good as the police institution is, an emerging fact for its continuing relevance and effectiveness that is often overlooked is commitment to duty, and job satisfaction of the personnel. As the policing functions and roles have assumed rather radical approaches, it has been observed by Tamuno (1993) that the services performed by the police are so linked with various aspects of development that they cannot be easily ignored. This viewpoint encapsulates the vital role of the police in nation building. As in some professions, police duties are characterized by continual pressing and urgent demands. Consequently, one is confronted with an inquiry into profiles of commitment to job, and job satisfaction and gender of police personnel. The compelling interest for this study is therefore premised on whether or not mentoring has any correlation with a significant determinant of commitment to job and job satisfaction and gender in the police. As has been established in some studies (i.e. Scandura, 1992; Whitely et al., 1992) ``mentor

Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management Vol. 26 No. 3, 2003 pp. 377-385 # MCB UP Limited 1363-951X DOI 10.1108/13639510310489449

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image: has greatly influenced commitment, productivity and promotional profiles of police forces in certain countries.’’ In that circumstance, the effect of mentoring within the Nigeria Police can hardly be assumed to be non-existent and therefore ought to be evaluated. Literature review It is important to point out from the outset that empirical information in respect of mentoring effects on commitment to job, job satisfaction and gender within the Nigeria Police is virtually nil. Much of what is currently available is derived from foreign sources, in addition to a few local studies undertaken within the last six years which indeed did not strictly focus on the current topic. Therefore, we have attempted a somewhat rigorous review of existing empirical and theoretical literature in order to situate our current effort on a proper premise. Dreher and Cox (1996) define mentoring as a developmental relationship between two different ranks within the same organization. It is a situation in which a junior staff member is distinctly enchanted by the personality, status and record of achievement of a senior colleague in the same organization. In this regard, the junior colleague (mentoree) is a novice, while the senior colleague (mentor) is already well established in his/her profession and is highly regarded by his/her peers. By their nature, police personnel are charged with monitoring and controlling a variety of deviant behaviour of the civilian population. Specifically, the police are expected to be up-to-date in respect of existing laws of the land and when, for some reasons, their performance falls short of expectation, members of the public are eager to condemn them. More often than not, the reason for poor performance may be due to unfavourable work environment, poor conditions of service and, indeed, lack of mentoring. Thus Muller-Smith (1998) emphasizes that mentoring enhances work accomplishment and fulfillment. An organization such as the police which is prone to a great deal of violence and hazards has a lot to benefit form shining examples within its leadership. However, in our own postulation, we accept as noted in a previous study (Burke and Mckeen, 1995) that commitment to job and job satisfaction are major factors for workers’ advancement in an organization. Belcher and Sibbald (1998) confirm that mentoring promotes individuals’ professional growth, particularly knowledge and skill acquisition which are facilitated through interaction. Hence, availability and the quality of mentoring may be of significant importance to workers’ output and general prospects. For instance, Akinnawo (1994) stresses the fact that a significant percentage of the Nigerian police personnel is dissatisfied with their job because of poor conditions of service. In another study, Aremu (1998) notes that gender is an important factor in job satisfaction in the Nigeria Police. In the study he noted that junior female police staff members seem to be more satisfied with their job than their male counterparts are. Adeyemo (2001) noted that most of the research works treat job satisfaction, organizational commitment, career commitment and job

involvement as dependent variables. Also, this study treats job commitment, Job commitment, job satisfaction as well as gender as dependent variables, while mentoring is job satisfaction treated as an dependent variable. and gender Meyer (1993) defines career commitment as the degree of commitment to one’s profession or occupation while Ellemer et al. (1998) define it as individuals’ motivation to work towards personal advancement in their 379 profession. In a study of police leadership and professionalism, Tamuno (1993) notes that the Nigeria Police is generally inefficient and ineffective partly due to lack of resources and partly to paucity of shining examples within the organization. Furthermore, Ebo (1993) attributes the poor image and low performance of the police to a variety of factors but ignores the impact of image-setting of the leaders. Ebo (1993) then concludes that there is a general lack of job commitment and job satisfaction among the officers due to unguarded imposition of the federal recruitment policy, unfriendliness of officers, poor working conditions and job insecurity resulting from gross abuse of establishment rules, punitive postings, nepotism and ethnicity. Aremu and Idowu (2001) reported in their study that Nigeria women police are generally satisfied with their job. They observed that even though there is no policy limiting the number of women police, few women show interest during recruitment because they see a police career as good for men and not for women. This stand of some women may be due to the hazardous nature of policing and what they view as indiscriminate; frequent transfers which may affect their marriage. It is thus obvious that the average police man needs encouragement as well as a good role model for him to attain a high grade performance level. This view is further reinforced by Meck et al. (1995) that mentoring adolescents serves as a resource for transitional problem solving. Also, in their study of cross-cultural mentor effectiveness and African American male students, Grant and Atkinson (1997) report that an interaction between mentor, ethnicity and participant level of cultural mistrust are related to perception of mentor credibility and effectiveness. Again in a study of the effects of mentoring on employees’ career success, Orpen (1995) reports that vocational mentoring is much more associated with career success than with personal mentoring. This argument may seem not to be true in that it is difficult to divorce personality attributes from success (career success inclusive). Furthermore, Baugh et al. (1996) investigate the effects of proteÂgeÂs and gender status responses to mentoring and observe that both male and female non-proteÂgeÂs have lower expectations in respect of advancement opportunities within and outside the organization. They also note that both male and female proteÂgeÂs seemed to have been equally influenced by their respective mentors. Thus, mentoring is crucial to the level of workers’ commitment to job, career development and job satisfaction. In another development, Aremu and Oluwole (2000) contend that there is a seeming convergence of ideas and perception as regards the self-image of the Nigeria Police, which surreptitiously gave the police in Nigeria a very poor image. The researchers then observed that the police in Nigeria have low

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self-esteem. Consequently, they urge that the police in Nigeria should be more proactive and sensitive in the course of their duties.

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Objective of the study Our objective in the current study is to evaluate the effect of mentoring on commitment to job, job satisfaction and gender in the Nigeria Police. And from the foregoing, to infer some empirical implications on police and how this could affect their policing responsibilities. With the above in mind, we proposed a research question and two hypotheses answered and tested at the 0.05 margin of error. Research question RQ1. What is the impact of the independent variable (mentoring) on the dependent variables (commitment to job, job satisfaction and gender of the police)? Hypotheses H1. There is no significant difference in the job commitment of mentored male and female police. H2. There is no significant difference in the job satisfaction of mentored male and female police. Method Participants and sampling process The study adopted an ex-post-facto survey approach. In this, the manifestation of the independent and dependent variables had occurred prior to the current investigation. The participants sampled numbered 1,600 officers and men, using a cluster quota sampling method. Out of this questionnaires, only 1,297 were properly completed and eventually collated for the study. The quota sampling was from the federal territory capital (FTC) and from another three zones out of the six geo-political zones in Nigeria. Thereafter, 200 participants were randomly selected from each of the selected areas (Table I). The administration of the questionnaire was facilitated through the use of proctors. The participants comprised 899 males (69.3 per cent) and 398 females (30.7 per cent), Their mean age was 35.7 years. A further breakdown of the participants revealed that (64.8 per cent) were officers from the rank of Assistant Superintendent and above, while 816 (62.9 per cent) of them were junior ranks (otherwise referred to as men). It is of interest to note that 592 (45.6 per cent) of the participants indicated that they have mentors. Of this category, 396 (66.9 per cent) were males, while 196 (33.1 per cent) were females. Of the mentored participants, 179 (30.2 per cent) were officers (from the rank of Assistant Superintendent of police and above) while 413 (69.8 per cent) were junior staff members (from Constable to Inspector).

In carrying out this study, we encountered some constraints especially Job commitment, limited budget, field administrative hindrances and poor co-operation from job satisfaction some of the subjects. and gender Instruments Police Mentoring Scale (PMS). The PMS is a self-reporting instrument. It consists of two main sections. Section A taps the demographic information of the respondents (e.g. sex, career status, marital status, etc.), Section B consists of ten structured items on mentoring. Two examples of items in the Section B of PMS are:

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I would had faired better if I had had a mentor. Mentoring has no place in the police.

Police Job Commitment Scale (PJCS). This instrument contains ten structured items. It is all about job commitment in the police. Two good examples of items in the scale are: Even though the environment I work in is not conducive, I love my job and so I hate to complain. I am prepared to do additional assignments if they benefit my career.

Police Job Satisfaction Scale (PJSS). This instrument also contains ten structured items. The items in the instrument were designed in such a way that the police responded to the satisfaction (if any) they enjoyed on their job. Two examples of items in the PJSS are: I could not think of other job except policing. I enjoy regular promotion since I joined the police, due to my mentor.

The participants’ responses were structured on a five-point Likert scale. The three instruments had a split-half reliability co-efficient alpha values of 0.69, 0.73 and 0.71 respectively using Rulon’s alternate method for finding split-half reliability:

Police commands Federal capital territory (Abuja) Cross river Edo Kaduna Kwara Lagos Ondo Plateau Total

Number of questionnaires distributed

Number of properly completed and used questionnaires

Percentage

200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 1,600

187 163 167 150 162 170 163 155 1,297

83.6 81.5 83.5 75 81 85 81.5 77.5 81

Table I. Distribution of questionnaires and response rates among the police commands sampled

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382

rtt ˆ 1 ¡

SD 2 d : SD 2 x

Data collected were analyzed for significance at 0.05 margin of error using multiple regression analysis and its derivatives (analysis of variance and t-test) and Z-score statistics. Results The results of the data analysis obtained in testing the research question and the two null hypotheses are presented in Tables II and III. In Table II the multivariate statistic was used to analyze the effect of the independent variable (mentoring) on the dependent variables of commitment, gender and satisfaction. It is evident from the above result that mentoring made an impact on commitment to job and job and gender of the Nigerian police. Mentoring was however found not to be significant on the job satisfaction of the police in Nigeria. In Table III, the mean and the standard deviation values of mentored male and female Nigerian police were computed using the Z-score statistics. The results in the table showed that a statistical significant difference was found to have existed between the mentored male and female police commitment to job. The null hypothesis is therefore rejected with the mentored male police showing more commitment to their job when compared with the mentored female police. The results in Table IV also revealed the computed mean and standard deviation values of the two groups when being measured along their job satisfaction. The results showed that there was a statistically significant difference between the mentored male and female police job satisfaction with

Table II. Multivariate test of mentoring on commitment, gender and job satisfaction of the Nigerian Police

Table III. Z-score comparison of mentored male and female Nigeria Police commitment to job

Independent variable

Dependent variables

Sum of squares

Df

Mean square

F

Sig.

Mentoring

Commitment Gender Satisfaction

3,840.470 10.730 2,908.909

32 32 32

120.015 0.335 90.903

1.562 1.560 0.680

0.027* 0.027* 0.910

Note: * Significant

Male police Female police Note: * Significant

n

x

SD

Z-calculated

Decision

396 196

35.2 33.42

9.03 10.5

6 6

S* S*

the mentored female police showing more satisfaction than their mentored male Job commitment, counterparts. job satisfaction Discussion It is apparent form the results that mentoring made a significant impact on the commitment to job and gender of the Nigerian police. The results in Table II revealed the observed F-ratio values of 1.562 and 1.560 respectively for commitment and gender. These values were found to be significant at 0.027. However, mentoring was found not to have any impact on job satisfaction of the Nigerian police. The F-ratio value of 0.680 was found to be insignificant. These findings demonstrate the potential effect that mentoring could have on commitment to job and gender of the Nigerian police. It can then be concluded form these findings that if the police are properly mentored, their devotion to work, otherwise referred to as commitment, will be beneficial to the police organization. It is, however, interesting that mentoring did not have any significant impact on the job satisfaction of the police. This means that other factors, which this study did not look into, might be responsible for this. This then calls for further investigations. Be that as it may, interested researchers could throw more light on this in the future. The finding from the first hypothesis (Table III) tested show that mentored male police are more committed to their job than the mentored female police. Although this finding appear to be very significant going by the fact that the police profession is male dominant, this notwithstanding, mentored female police showed some significant measure of commitment to their job. In the same vein, findings from the second hypothesis as shown in Table IV, reveal that mentored female police are more satisfied with their job than their male counterparts who are equally mentored. This finding portends that mentored female police are much more at home with their policing job. This implies that they would not carry out their duty as disgruntled and unhappy police. As revealed, in this finding, mentored male police are dissatisfied with their job. This has some implications for the overall security of the country. The above findings are not only revealing, they are quite interesting. These are in line with the assertion of Meck et al. (1995) that mentoring is highly beneficial to an individual’s advancement in an organization. In the same vein, Bennetts (2000) notes that mentoring promotes psychological wellbeing, selfimage and self-worth.

Male police Female police Note: * Significant

n

x

SD

Z-calculated

Decision

396 196

47.21 54.63

3.01 2.31

33.2 33.2

S* S*

and gender 383

Table IV. Z-score comparison of mentored male and female Nigeria Police job satisfaction

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Implications and recommendations The findings of the current study are a pointer to the fact that police personnel are desirous of good police organization. They yearn for good and effective leadership and motivation to be clearly exhibited through mentoring. Therefore, for an institutional rejuvenation of Nigeria Police that would be the pride of all, the senior personnel should be above board, humane, transparent and show exemplary leadership qualities to the young officers. For too long, promotional perspectives and morale of the police personnel have been at a low ebb. This recently transformed into a strike action of the junior officers and men. These ``frustrated’’ police under the aegis of the Nigerian Union of Policemen (NUP) could only vent their anger on the constituted authorities of the land by going on strike. Although it is impossible for every member of the Nigeria Police to be mentored, nevertheless, if properly motivated through regular payment of salaries, regular promotion, payment of enhanced allowances and provision of relevant facilities to work with, their morale would be enhanced. This would lead to further commitment to their organization. Allied to the findings of this study is the urgent need to improve the training scheme and organizational management of the Nigeria Police. It may well be that the reasons for the low performance of the police are traceable to some gaps in their training curriculum. It should be realized that mentoring is a management strategy which should commence from the recruitment stage, training programme and qualitatively improved upon throughout the management level. References Adeyemo, D.A. (2001), ``Teacher job satisfaction, job involvement and organizational commitment as correlates of student academic performance’’, Nigeria Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 6 No. 2, pp. 126-35. Akinnawo, E.O. (1994), ``Determinants of job and life satisfaction of Nigeria Police officers’’, Ife Psychologia: An International Journal, Vol. 2 No. 2, pp. 275-84. Aremu, O. (1998), ``Enhancing job satisfaction of Nigerian police’’, Nigerian Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 4 No. 1, pp. 44-8. Aremu, A.O. and Oluwole, D.A. (2000), ``The socio-psychological dimension of self esteem in Nigerian police interpersonal relationships’’, Ife Journal of Behavioural Research, Vol. 2 Nos 1, 2, pp. 30-6. Aremu, S. and Idowu, E. (2001), ``Impact of some demographic variables on job satisfaction of women police in Ibadan’’, Nigerian Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 6, Nos 1, 2, pp. 144-52. Baugh, S.G., Lankan, M.J. and Scandura, T.A. (1996), ``An investigation of the effects of proteÂge and gender on responses to mentoring’’, Journal of Vocational Behaviour, Vol. 49 No. 3, pp. 309-23. Belcher, A.E. and Sibbald R.G. (1998), ``Mentoring: the ultimate professional relationship’’, Review, Ostomy Wound Management, Vol. 44 No. 4, pp. 76-78, 80, 82, passim. Bennetts, C. (2000), ``The traditional mentor relationship and the well-being of creative individuals in school and work’’, International Journal of Health Promotion and Education, Vol. 38 No. 1, pp. 22-7.

Burke, R.J. and Mckeen, C.A. (1995), ``Do managerial women prefer women mentors?’’, Psychological Reports, Vol. 76 No. 2, pp. 658-90. Dreher, G.F. and Cox, T.H. (1996), ``Race, gender and opportunity: a study of compensation attainment and the establishment of mentoring relationships’’, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 8 No. 3, pp. 297-308. Ebo, O.H.P. (1993), ``Human resources management and policing’’, in Tamuno, T.N., Bashir, I.L., Alenika, E.E.O. and Akano, A.O. (Eds), Policing Nigeria: Past, Present and Future, Malthouse Press, Lagos. Ellemer, N., Gilder, D. and Heurel, H. (1998), ``Career oriented versus team oriented commitment and behavior at work’’, Journal of Applied Psycholgy, Vol. 85 No. 5, pp. 717-30. Grant, T.S.K. and Atkinson, D.R. (1997), ``Cross-cultural mentor effectiveness and African-American male students’’, Journal of Black Psychology, Vol. 23 No. 2, pp. 120-34. Meck, E.V., Pryde, J.A. and Rycraft, J.R. (1995), ``Mentors for adolescents in foster care’’, Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, Vol. 12 No. 4, pp. 317-28. Meyer, J.P., Allen, N.J. and Smith, C.A. (1993), ``Commitment to organization and occupations: extension and test of a three component model’’, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 78, pp. 538-51 Muller-Smith, P. (1998), ``Being the boss is not what it used to be’’, Review, Journal of Perianesthesia Nursing, Vol. 13 No. 5, pp. 317-19. Orpen, C. (1995), ``The effects of mentoring on employee’s career success’’, Journal of Social Psychology, Vol. 35 No. 5, pp. 667-8. Scandura, T.A. (1992), ``Mentorship and career mobility: an empirical investigation’’, Journal of Organizational Behaviour, Vol. 13, pp. 169-74. Tamuno, T.N. (1993), ``Policing Nigeria: themes, issues and the way ahead’’, in Tamuno, T.N., Bashir, I.L., Alemika, E.E.O. and Akan, A.O. (Eds), Policing Nigeria: Past, Present and Future, Malthouse Press, Lagos. Whitely, W., Dougherty, T.W. and Dreher, G.F. (1992), ``Correlates of career-oriented mentoring for early career managers and professionals’’, Journal of Organizational Behaviour, Vol. 13, pp. 141-54.

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