Content area
Full Text
Introduction
In recent years, interest in positive experiences and mental health within the working environment has increased. Work engagement is an indicator of work-related well-being and refers to a positive, fulfilling work-related state of mind characterized by vigor, dedication and absorption (Schaufeli et al., 2002). According to the job demands–resources (JD–R) model (Bakker and Demerouti, 2017; Demerouti et al., 2001), job resources and personal resources are mutually related predictors of work engagement (Bakker and Demerouti, 2008).
Social support by both supervisors and co-workers is an important job resource and is positively related to work engagement (Halbesleben, 2010; Christian et al., 2011). However, little is known about the underlying mechanisms of that positive relationship between social support and work engagement. Self-efficacy is a personal resource and has been found to predict work engagement (Bakker and Demerouti, 2008). Work–privacy conflict is a specific job demand and is negatively related to social support as well as work-related well-being (Burke, 1988).
In this study, we examine which processes may mediate the relationship between social support and work engagement in a sample of police officers. The role of self-efficacy and work–privacy conflict within that relationship is examined in order to contribute to the understanding of work engagement in police work.
Theoretical framework
Job resources and work engagement
The JD-R model (Demerouti et al., 2001; Bakker and Demerouti, 2017; Figure 1) is a well-established and widely applied theoretical framework in occupational and organizational (health) psychology. According to the model, job demands refer to those physical, psychological, social or organizational aspects of the job that require sustained physical and/or psychological effort and are thus associated with physiological and/or psychological costs (Demerouti et al., 2001). Job resources are defined as those physical, psychological, social or organizational aspects of the job that facilitate work-related goal achievement, reduce job demands and the associated physiological and psychological costs, or stimulate personal growth, learning and development (Bakker and Demerouti, 2007). The central assumption of the JD-R model posits a dual process, that is, a health impairment process and a motivational process. Within the health impairment process, high job demands drain employees’ physical and psychological resources leading to burnout and ill health, subsequently. According to the motivational process, job resources serve as crucial...