1. Introduction

Background to the study

Job satisfaction is the pleasurable emotional state resulting from the appraisal of employee’s job as achieving or facilitating the achievement of one’s job values (Locke, 1976). It is the level of pleasure gained by an employee from his or her overall job. Job satisfaction is the key aim of every employee in the organization he or she belongs; hence, employees in all sectors and cadres within an organization tend to strive for being satisfied on their job. Job satisfaction is a very important attribute and ought to be frequently measured by organizations which are ready and striving for continual productivity. For instance, in an organization whereby the employees are not feeling satisfied on their job, there is tendency for some of those employees to quit and many could be working with no sense of commitment. Therefore, employees’ satisfaction on their job is essential not only to them (employees) but also to the organization and/or their employer because they are the most valuable asset among all, within every organization.

The most focal gain of every employee is the satisfaction derived from his/her job and it influences his/her attitude towards the organization. However, it is possible for different employee with the same qualification and placed in same position to perceive job satisfaction differently. For instance, if an employee is satisfied with the job only through his/her pay, another may be satisfied mainly through non-monetary value like respect, power and/or control. Also, some may be largely satisfied with their job due to the calibre of people they work with and the kind of environment or climate of the organization. It is not surprising that job satisfaction is literarily referred to as level of contentment employees feel regarding their job and this feeling is based on individual perception. Hence, there is a level of job satisfaction for each employee working within the organization.

Oshagbemi (1999) opines that employees spend a major part of their lives at the workplace, hence, the factors related to job satisfaction and employee behaviour and their implications are important to measure. It is no longer hidden that many employees in several organizations are not satisfied with their job especially the social, medical and security workers in recent times. Policing has been placed among the professions whereby the workers undergo serious stress (Chapman, 2009). Police officers are known to be in security setting and are expected to be friendly and reliable as far as security of the society or the community they are working is concerned. However, in Nigeria, the behaviour of police officers appears to be unappealing.

In recent time, there seems to be an increase in the rate of unemployment in our society; therefore most of the employees particularly police officers try to secure their job whether stressful or not. Griffin and Moorhead (2013: 181) defined stress as a person’s adaptive response to a stimulus that places excessive psychological or physical demands on the person. Perceived occupational stress among police officers has been a critical issue of concern to the government, people and the society at large. Waters and Ussery (2007) posit that stress is an adverse reaction people have to excessive pressure and other types of demands placed on them. An employee who experiences or perceives high level of occupational stress may not be able to perform effectively in his/her role at work (Nagar, 2012). Meanwhile service workers especially Police officers may feel dissatisfied on their job whenever they perceive occupational stress.

Shift work which is the second independent variable considered in this study, is an employment system designed to use, or provide service across all 24 hours of the clock each day of the week (often refer to as 24/7). The system typically sees the day divided into shifts, set periods of time during which different groups of employees perform their duties. The concept "shift work" involves work schedules in which employees change or rotate shifts. Shift work was taken into consideration in this study because of its propensity in affecting job satisfaction of service employees, most especially police officers.

Statement of the Problem

Considerable amount of research have been carried out on the various aspect of Job Satisfaction of employees in Nigeria. Some of these studies paid more attention to the factors that tend to affect Job Satisfaction of workers which may include being underpaid, limited career growth, lack of interest, poor management, serious injury, horrific crime scenes, and being ostracized by communities, friends and family (Smith, Rendall, & Hullin, 1969). Furthermore, previous studies have indicated that job satisfaction is affected by different aspect of job stressors that have either direct or indirect influence (Spector, 1997; Fisher, 1992). Yet, less research attention has been devoted to dynamic interaction between perceived occupational stress, shift work and employees’ job satisfaction most especially among Police officers in Osun Sate Commands of Nigeria.

This study, therefore, aim to fill the void by considering perceived occupational stress and shift work while examining job satisfaction among police officers in Osun State, Nigeria. These variables (perceived occupational stress and shift work) are of huge interest because they might tamper with the satisfaction and performance of the Osun State police officers on their job.

Research questions

Based on the problem highlighted above, this study seeks answers to the following questions:

a. what is the level of job satisfaction among police officers in Osun State Commands?

b. would perceived occupational stress influence job satisfaction among police officers in Osun State Commands?

c. would shift work influence job satisfaction among police officers in Osun State Commands?

Objectives of the study

The main objective of this study is to evaluate job satisfaction and identify the factors that could influence it. The specific objectives are to:

a. determine the level of job satisfaction among police in Osun State Commands.

b. determine the influence of perceived occupational stress on job satisfaction among police officers in Osun State Commands.

c. examine the influence of shift work on job satisfaction among police officers in Osun State Commands.

Review of Relevant Theories

The Dual-Structure Theory

This theory was developed by Frederick Herzberg in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Generally, the dual-structure theory identifies motivation factors, which affect satisfaction, and hygiene factors, which determine dissatisfaction. It is a need-based theory of motivation which was originally called the “two-factor theory”. This theory has played a major role in managerial thinking about motivation, and though few researchers today accept the theory, it is nevertheless widely known and accepted among practicing managers. Herzberg began by interviewing approximately 200 accountants and engineers in Pittsburgh. He asked them to recall times when they felt especially satisfied and motivated by their jobs and times when they felt particularly dissatisfied and unmotivated. He then asked them to describe what caused the good and bad feelings. The responses to the questions were recorded by the interviewers and later subjected to content analysis. Herzberg found that entirely different sets of factors were associated with the two kinds of feelings about work. For example, a person who indicated “low pay” as a source of dissatisfaction would not necessarily identify “high pay” as a source of satisfaction and motivation. Instead, people associated entirely different causes, such as recognition or achievement, with satisfaction and motivation. The findings led Herzberg to conclude that the prevailing thinking about satisfaction and motivation was incorrect. If job satisfaction is viewed as a single construct ranging from satisfaction to dissatisfaction, Herzberg reasoned that, one set of factors should therefore influence movement back and forth along the continuum. But because his research had identified differential influences from two different sets of factors, Herzberg argued that two different dimensions must be involved. Thus, he saw motivation as a dual-structured phenomenon. The two dimensions must presumably be associated with the two sets of factors identified in the initial interviews.

Thus, this theory proposed, employees might be either satisfied or not satisfied and, at the same time, dissatisfied or not dissatisfied. Herzberg lists the primary factors identified in his interviews;

i. Motivation factors such as achievement and recognition which were often cited by people as primary causes of satisfaction and motivation. When present in a job, these factors apparently could cause satisfaction and motivation; when they were absent, the result was feelings of no satisfaction rather than dissatisfaction.

ii. Hygiene factors, this came out in response to the questions about dissatisfaction and lack of motivation. The respondents suggested that pay, job security, supervisors, and working conditions, if seen as inadequate, could lead to feelings of dissatisfaction. When these factors were considered acceptable, however, the person still was not necessarily satisfied; rather, he or she was simply not dissatisfied.

In order to use the dual-structure theory in the workplace, Herzberg recommended a two stage process. First, the manager should try to eliminate situations that cause dissatisfaction, which Herzberg assumed to be the more basic of the two dimensions. According to the theory, once a state of no dissatisfaction exists, trying to improve motivation further through hygiene factors is a waste of time. At that point, the motivation factors enter the picture. Thus, when the manager is sure that hygiene issues have been adequately dealt, he/she should try to increase opportunities for achievement, recognition, responsibility, advancement, and growth. As a result, the employees would feel satisfied and motivated. This theory offered a good explanation and view on the source of Job Satisfaction in employees (Griffin & Moorhead, 2013: 95-98).

Review of Empirical Studies

Perceived Occupational Stress and Job Satisfaction

Gibbons and Gibbons (2007) carried out a research on occupational stress and concluded that, stress is associated with how an individual appraises situations and the copying strategies adopted. Malach-pines and Keinan (2007) on their study “stress and burnout in Israeli police officers during a Palestinian uprising (intifada)”, argued that police officers are exposed to various stressful situations which impact negatively on the health and the performance of the individual officer. It was also revealed that 36% of police officers reported high or very high levels of stress (Malach-pines & Keinan, 2007). Waters and Ussery (2007) explained in their study that stress result from a negative workplace environment and interaction at work has been recognised as a major problem for police officers. Ongori & Agolla (2008) emphasized on the suggestion of Murphy (1995) that occupational stress contributes to inter alia, low motivation and low job satisfaction.

Some researchers such as Jaramillo (2005); Kirkcaldy, Cooper & Ruffalo (1995) as well as Waters and Ussery (2007) argued that many pressures experienced by the officers are a product of environmental factors alone and that all are combination of psychological and environmental variable related to occupational issues. Moreover, Cropanzano, Rupp and Bryne (2003) posited that prolonged exposure to occupational stress affect the employee’s “health as well as their attitudes towards the organisation that employ them.

Shift Work and Job Satisfaction

Jamal (1989) in his study highlighted that workers on fixed work schedules are better off in terms of Job satisfaction and mental health than workers on rotatory schedules. Moreover, it has been deduced that there is an inverse significant relationship between satisfaction with shift work and undesirable effects of shift work on the nurses’ personal, family and social life (Moradi et al., 2014). According to Manshor, Rodrigue, and Chong (2003), age is correlated to stress in particular with workload and may be due to inter alia, changes in circadian rhythms. Tyler (1999) emphasized that shift workers experience a feeling of dissatisfaction due to lack of opportunity for inclusion which in turn affect their performance. Nnadiukwu (2009), in his study, reported that workers on day shift compared to workers on other shift would indicate more formal social or community involvement, in the form of participation in voluntary organizations and would report greater overall adjustment as reflected in self – reports of psychological and emotional well-being.

2. Methodology

Research Design

The study adopted a descriptive survey design. Therefore, primary data was collected through the use of questionnaire in this study. This research design is considered appropriate because it helped to establish a pattern of interaction between the variables of interest and provided numeric description of the sample of the population. Accordingly, none of the variables was manipulated. The independent variables are perceived occupational stress and shift work, while job satisfaction is the dependent variable.

Study Population

The study population consisted of police officers who are on different shift work schedules at the police station in Osun State Command, Nigeria. It has been reported that there are 5,584 Police Officers in Osun State (NPF, 2011).

Sample and Sampling procedure

A sample size of 200 was employed which represent 3.5% of the population. The study adopted multi-stage sampling technique in the process of the selection and collection of data. Firstly, the purposive sampling technique was used in the selection of three Area Commands in Osun State, which are: Ilesha Command, Oshogbo Command and Ife Command. Secondly, respondents were selected from the total number of police officers across all the departments in each command using convenience sampling technique.

Participants

Two hundred (200) copies of questionnaire were administered on the participants in the Commands of Ilesha, Oshogbo and Ile – Ife in a proportion of 30% (60), 35% (70) and 35% (70) respectively. However, one hundred and ninety two (192) participants (police officers) responded to the research questionnaire while one hundred eighty five (185) copies of questionnaire were completely filled and found usable for analysis. Participants comprise males and females, singles, married and divorced with mean age of 35.61 years and 9.03 as standard deviation.

Table 1. Descriptive Analysis of Demographic Characteristics

As presented in the table 1, regarding the gender distribution, it is observed that majority 108 (58.4%) of the participants were males, while 77 (41.6%) were females. Marital status of the participants indicated that 49 (26.5%) were Singles, majority 134 (72.4%) were married while 2 (1.1%) were Divorced. In terms of participants’ religion affiliation, majority 140 (75.7%) were Christian, 38 (20.5%) were Muslim, 5(2.7%) were Traditional worshippers while 2 (1.1%) chose other religion. Ethnicity group showed that majority 141 (76.2%) of the participants were Yoruba, 19 (10.3%) were Igbo, 13 (7.0%) were Hausa, and others were 12 (16.5%). The length of service indicated that 75 (40.5%) participants have spent 1-10 years at work, majority 77 (41.6%) have spent 11-20 years in service, 29 (15.7%) have used 21-30 years at work while only 4 (2.2%) have spent 31-40 years in service. Finally, in terms of participants shift work, majority 122 (65.9%) of the participants reported morning shift, 49 (26.5%) reported afternoon while 14 (7.6%) reported night shift.

Research Instrument

The research instrument consisted of a paper-and-pencil questionnaire. The questionnaire was divided into three sections. The first section contains socio-demographic variables such as marital status, age, gender and length of service as well as duty and preferred shift. The second section is Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) which consists of 20 items. The third section is Karasek Job Stress Scale which consists of 15 items that seek information on occupational stress of police officers.

Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ): This is a standardized psychological scale developed by Weiss, Dawis, England and Lofquist (1967). It is designed to measure an employee satisfaction with his or her job. It consists 20 items which measure general satisfaction. The general satisfaction scale assesses overall job satisfaction, which is a combination of the intrinsic satisfaction and extrinsic satisfaction scales. Items 1,2,3,4,7,8,9,10,11,15,16 and 20 measures intrinsic satisfaction and items 5,6,12,13,14 and 19 measures extrinsic satisfaction. The MSQ-SF requires the respondent to rate each item on a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (very dissatisfied) to 5 (very satisfied). The mean score was reported as 68.03 and the standard deviation of 9.00, while the coefficient alpha reliability reported for the overall scale was .72.

Karasek Job Stress Scale: This is a standardized psychological instrument developed by Karasek (1985). It was designed to measure the dimensions of demand-control model: a model meant to assess job stress and its effects on health and wellbeing of workers. It consists of 15 items and response to each item is rated using 4-point Likert Scale with anchors labelled 1-Strongly Disagree, 2-Disagree, 3-Agree, 4-Strongly agree. The mean score was reported as 47.38 and the standard deviation of 8.78, while the coefficient alpha reliability reported for the overall scale was .77.

3. Results

Research Question One: What is the level of Job Satisfaction among police officers in Osun State Command?

The respondents’ score of job satisfaction ranges from 0 – 82 and the categories were gotten by the statistics of one standard deviation (9.00) above or below the mean (68.03) → (Mean±1SD), which was used to categorize respondents into groups according to their score on the job satisfaction scale.

Table 2. Respondents’ Level of Job Satisfaction

As presented in Table 2, the level of job satisfaction has been categorized into low, moderate and high, using the items that suit each subcategory. It is deduced from the table that the level of job satisfaction among this respondents is moderate because highest number of respondents (150) had moderate scores which ranges between 60 and 79.

Hypothesis One: “Perceived Occupational Stress will have no significant influence on Job Satisfaction of Police officers in Osun State Command”

Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance.

Table 3

As presented in Table 3 above, The result showed that perceived occupational stress have significant influence on job satisfaction [F (1,183) = 8.097; p < .05]. Thus, the hypothesis which stated that perceived occupational stress will have no significant influence on job satisfaction of police officers in Osun State command was rejected.

Hypothesis Two: “Shift Work will have no significant influence on Job Satisfaction among Police officers in Osun state command”

Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance.

Table 4

The result from the above table (Table 4) showed that shift work have significant influence on job satisfaction [F (2, 182) = 4.654; p < .05]. This finding shows that the joint influence of the three shift work schedules (~morning, afternoon and night shifts) on the job satisfaction of police officers is slight because of the low value of F. Hence, the hypothesis which stated that shift work will have no significant influence on job satisfaction of police officers in Osun State command was rejected.

4. Discussion

The study determined the level of job satisfaction and also contributes to knowledge on the factors that influence job satisfaction among Osun State police officers whereby perceived occupational stress and shift work were considered. There appears to be a fair level of Job satisfaction among Osun State police officers from the general picture of the descriptive analysis. This is evident in the number of police officers (150; 81.1%) who exhibit moderate job satisfaction on the score range. 24 (13%) police officers exhibit low job satisfaction, while only 11 (5.9%) of total the respondents report high job satisfaction. This finding is in line with the result of Yvonne, Rahman & Long (2014) that reported a moderate level of job satisfaction among the respondents (employees who work at the twenty-four stores within Kepong area, Wilayah Persekutuan, Kuala Lumpur). The rationale for this moderate display of job satisfaction may not be unconnected with the desire and enthusiasm of the police officers towards their work.

Pertaining to the hypotheses set up for guidance of this study, the following findings were revealed. The first hypothesis which states that perceived occupational stress will have no significant influence on job satisfaction of police officers in Osun State command showed that there was a significant influence of perceived occupational stress on job satisfaction of police officers in Osun State command. This is an indication that being having a perception of occupational stress, could reduce the level job satisfaction, that is, the higher the police officer perceive occupational stress, the greater the tendency of exhibiting a lower level of job satisfaction. This suggests that the police officers’ exhibitions of job satisfaction are influenced by their perception of occupational stress. The finding finds support in the work of Adenuga (2015) who opined that occupational stress has a significant influence on job satisfaction of bank employee. It was further explained that a stressed worker cannot contribute optimally and may not be satisfied with their job (Adenuga, 2015). This finding is also in line with the report of Ismail, Ghani, Subhan, Joarder, & Ridzuan (2015) who deduced that physiological and psychological stresses have been recognized as important determinants of job performance and job satisfaction. They posited further that majority of respondents feel that high levels of physiological and psychological stresses have reduced the ability of soldiers to improve job performance and job satisfaction in the peacekeeping mission. The plausible reason for this corroboration and confirmation might not be unconnected with the nature of the job which involves rendering of services and not manufacturing.

Secondly, the finding revealed that there was a significant influence of shift work on job satisfaction of police officers in Osun State command. This is an indication that being on shift working, there is tendency of experiencing low job satisfaction at workplace. Thus, police officers’ exhibitions of job satisfaction are influenced by their work schedule on shift. This finding is similar to the report of Moradi et al., (2014) who indicated an inverse significant relationship between satisfaction with shift work and undesirable effects of shift work on the nurses’ personal, family and social life. This conformity may be due to the job nature of police officers and nurses which is service rendering and the kind of work environment.

5. Recommendations

Steps like enhancing employees’ job satisfaction should be taken to limit and curb occupational stress in the police commands of Nigeria where it appears that stressed police officers are not feeling satisfied about their job in order to promote their interest to work and service to humanity. Government should employ more organizational/industrial psychologists in order to be giving adequate, suitable and optimal attention to job satisfaction, pay satisfaction and training of police officers. Occupational stress and shift work should not be overlooked, thus, employers should find a way of rehabilitating the police officers who exhibit high level of stress since it affects their services. In addition, this study should also be expanded to other establishment and also be carried out in all major regions of Nigeria to have a broader view of job satisfaction in Nigeria setting in order to be compared with findings from other countries. This might give more insight into the influence of perceived occupational stress and shift work on job satisfaction. Finally, some other factors especially the socio-demographic factors such as gender, age, economic status, religion, and education level should be considered in further studies. The reflection of the numerated limitations of this study primarily implores other researcher who wants to replicate this study to endeavour to use a large size of sample from all establishments in several regions of Nigeria.