Influence of Perceived Organisational Support on the Dimensions of Psychological Well-being of Police Personnel in Nigeria

Psychological well-being of police personnel may be dependent on the kind of support they received in the organisation, especially in the heat of challenges and stress encountered in the course of performing their duties. Against this backdrop, this study investigated how the levels of perceived organisational support (low, moderate and high) influence the dimensions (control of self and events, happiness, social involvement, self-esteem, mental balance and sociability) and overall psychological well-being of police personnel in Nigeria. Purposive, proportionate, and accidental sampling techniques were used to select 1193 police personnel (652 males; 541 females) from two states in Nigeria. Their ages ranged from 24 to 59 years with a mean age of 38.08 years (SD = 8.27). They responded to measures of perceived organisational support and psychological well-being. Results of the One-way ANOVA and Bonferroni’s post hoc analyses showed that perceived organisational support significantly influenced all the dimensions of psychological well-being, except mental balance, such that police personnel who had high level of perceived organisational support had higher control of self and events, happier, socially more involving, had higher positive evaluation of themselves, more sociable, and higher overall psychological well-being than those who had moderate or low level of perceived organisational support. This study recommends that police organisations and the supervisory agencies should institute psychological programs that target and improve the dimensions, with special focus on mental balance, and overall psychological well-being of police personnel.


Introduction
Psychological well-being (PWB), conceptualised as the totality of the mental, physical, and social well-being of individuals (Ryff, 1989), has received research attention because it has been associated with positive state of mind and functionality of individuals (Masse et al., 1998).For example, psychological well-being has been associated with high job performance in police personnel (Karimu, 2015).Therefore, low job performance and effectiveness among police personnel in developing countries such as Nigeria may result from inadequate organisational resources and high job demands (Adegoke, 2014;Odedokun, 2015;Ogungbamila, 2017).In the midst of high job demands, police personnel may experience high level of psychological well-being, if the organisation provides the needed type and required level of support.Liu et al. (2013) and Shane (2010) submitted that the provision of physical and psychological support can effectively douse the negative backlash of job demands on employees; and indirectly enhance their levels of psychological balance, functionality, and productivity.Most studies (e.g., Ojo, 2014;Okeshola & Mudiare, 2013) on psychological well-being of police personnel, especially in Nigeria, focus the overall level of psychological well-being and psycho-demographic variables associated with it.specific aspects of psychological well-being.Such informed intervention may thereby improve the performance of and enhance public confidence in police personnel in Nigeria.
The positive psychological functioning approach of Masse et al. (1998), which the current study sought to project, identified six dimensions of psychological well-being.The first dimension is control of self and events, which refers to the ability to direct and take charge of self and the environment.Happiness, which is the second dimension, covers the positive affective state that is associate with and enhances the functionality of individuals.The level at which individuals partake in a wide range of interpersonal activities and relationship, also known as social involvement, is the third dimension of psychological well-being.According to Masse et al. (1998), self-esteem, which is the fourth dimension of psychological well-being, refers to individuals' overall positive evaluation of their self, work and value.Mental balance, as the fifth dimension, covers the outcomes of individuals' self-evaluation of their overall functioning and response to social, emotional, and physical demands of the environment.The sixth dimension (sociability), which refers to the ability to seek and bond with others, is an important factor in overall level of psychological well-being (Masse et al., 1998).
Due to high job demands without commensurate job resources (represented in perceived organisational support), police personnel may experience psychological ill-being (Karimu, 2015;Odedokun, 2015;Ogungbamila, 2017), which may lead to depletion of energy and negative work-life balance as well as low levels of physical, mental and social being.Low level of psychological well-being may be more pronounced among police personnel in developing countries such as Nigeria, because of inadequate security facilities that have been exacerbated by the increasing levels of security challenges, socio-economic hardship, and socio-political tension.However, police personnel may be able to cope with the task of policing despite the challenges associated with poor and inadequate security facilities if they feel that the organisation and its agents are genuinely concerned and sufficiently cared about their well-being (Karimu, 2015;Odedokun, 2015;Okeshola & Mudiare, 2013).
Therefore, perceived organisational support (POS) could engender a sense of importance, worth, and well-being of police personnel.Eisenberger et al. (1990) defined perceived organisational support as employees' feelings that the organisation and its agents truly appreciate their being and contribution and, therefore, show the needed concern for their well-being.Consequently, POS may provide the psychological and environmental buffers that could help police personnel stabilize and navigate negative work conditions (Liu et al., 2013;Shane, 2010).Under this condition, as the social exchange theory (Blau, 1964;Homans, 1961) submitted, police personnel may feel obliged to reciprocate the supportive gestures of the organisation and its agents with higher performance, dedication to duty and be more concern about the well-being of the organization.This may explain why POS has been associated with positive work attitudes and work outcomes.For example, Ogunyemi et al. (2020) tested the degree to which the job involvement of 200 police personnel was determined by some human activator factors (perceived organisational injustice, organisational support and group efficacy) in Nigeria.They found that all the three human activator factors positively correlated with job involvement.Similarly, Rauschmayr et al. (2023) reported that social and organisational resources/support were significantly related with increased level of psychological well-being of 493 German police personnel.
Previous studies have identified demographic differences and psychological variables underlining psychological well-being.Some of these factors include perceived social support, psychological capital, organisational stress, and job demands (Adegoke, 2014;Jackman, et al., 2020;Lasisi, 2016;Oguegbe, et al., 2015;Ogungbamila, 2017).In an academic setting, Kenku et al. (2023), based on data from 90 academic staff in Nigeria, reported that psychological variables such as occupational stress and perceived organisational support were better and stronger predictors of psychological well-being than demographic factors.Other studies (e.g., Nwachukwu & Omofowa, 2022;Onuoha & Akintola, 2018;Onyedibe et al., 2015) found that perceived social support significantly increased psychological well-being of undergraduates in Nigeria.
Psychological well-being has also been studied beyond academic settings.For example, among 285 career women in Lagos metropolis, Egene, et al. (2022) found that psychological well-being significantly increased as career women felt supported by their organisation.In South Korea, Nalla and Kang (2011) studied 406 police officers and found that organisational support and good communication between employer and employee significantly led to higher level of psychological well-being.Among 640 police personnel in Australia, Noblet et al. (2012) reported that psychological well-being and work performance increased significantly as police personnel felt justly treated and supported by the organisation.Similarly, Allisey et al. (2012) in a study of 879 police officers in Australia, found that work performance and psychological well-being strongly dependent on the extent to which police officers experienced congruence between efforts and rewards.Parson and Kautt (2011) reported that senior police officers in Australia who felt valued by the organisation were more committed to the organisation and reported higher levels of psychological well-being than those who felt otherwise.In Netherlands, Jacobs et al. (2014) investigated psychological well-being and ethical behavior in 332 police personnel and found that as police personnel felt supported and fairly treated by their organisation, their levels of psychological well-being and ethical behaviour increased.
Generally, literature has shown that psychological well-being of police personnel was strongly and positively related with perceived organisational support and fair treatment.However, most of the studies focused the overall psychological well-being of police personnel.As stated earlier, one is not sure how the type of support police personnel received in the organisation affect different aspects of their psychological well-being.Consequently, one does not know how the different levels of perceived organisational support (low, moderate, and high) influence the six dimensions and overall psychological well-being of police personnel with the attendant policy implications and focus of interventions.However, based on the positions of literature, the following hypotheses were tested.
(1) Police personnel with high level of POS will significantly have the highest level of control of self and events than those with low and moderate levels of POS.
(2) Police personnel with high level of POS will report significantly the highest level of happiness compared with those in the low and moderate levels of POS.
(3) Police personnel in the high POS group will have significantly the highest score in the measure of social involvement than those in low and moderate groups of POS.
(4) Police personnel with high level of POS will report significantly the highest level of self-esteem compared with those in the low and moderate levels of POS.
(5) Police personnel with high level of POS will significantly have the highest level of mental balance than those with low and moderate levels of POS.
(6) Police personnel in the high POS group will have significantly the highest score in the measure of sociability than those in low and moderate groups of POS.
(7) Police personnel in the high POS group will have significantly the highest level of overall psychological well-being than those in other categories.

Participants
This cross-sectional survey studies 1193 police personnel (541 or 45.3% females; 652 or 54.7% males).They were sampled from two states (Lagos and Ogun) in southwestern Nigeria.The ages of the participants ranged from 24 to 59 years with a mean age of 38.08years (SD = 8.27).Three hundred and ten of the participants (26%) were single; 865 (72.5%) were married; and 18 (1.5%)were divorced or widowed.In terms of their job status, 570 (47.8%) were at the junior level, 371(31.1%)were at the intermediate level, and 252 (21.1%) were in the senior category.Nine hundred and forty-four of the participants (79.1%) were selected from Lagos State while 249 (20.9%) of the participants were from Ogun State.The participants had spent between 2 and 33 years on the job (M job tenure = 13.35;SD = 8.45).They had different academic qualifications; as 574 (48.1%) had School Certificate; 328(27.5%)possessed National Diploma (ND); 240(20.1%)obtained either first degree or Higher National Diploma (HND); and 51(4.3%) had Master's Degree.

Perceived Organizational Support
Perceived Organizational Support (POS) scale, developed by Eisenberger et al. (1990), was used to assess the participants' level of perceived organisational support.POS was a 16-item scale designed to assess the degree to which employees believed that the organisation values their contributions to its well-being and reciprocate same by caring about the well-being of employees.The scale was rated on a 7-point (strongly disagree= 0; strongly agree=6).Sample item include: "My organisation values my contribution to its well-being".A reliability coefficient of .95 was obtained by Eisenberger et al. (1990).In the current study, POS had a Cronbach's alpha of .88.Participants' total score on this scale ranged between 0 and 96.Participants whose score fell at or above the mean had favourable perceptions of organisational support.Those who scored below the mean had low level of perceived organizational support.

Psychological Well-being
Psychological well-being was assessed using the Well-being Manifestation Measure Scale (WBMMS) developed by Masse et al. (1998).This scale was preferred to other psychological well-being scales, such as the Well-being Scale (Andrews & Crandall, 1976) and General Well-being Schedule (Depuy, 1977), because majority of the other scales were developed and standardized on the elderly and the health sector than the organisation.WBMMS was preferred to Ryff's (1989) Psychological Well-being Scale because WBMMS had 25 items that captured psychological well-being of employees better than Ryff's (1989) 44-item scale.WBMMS was designed to measure the wellness and stability of individuals in the organisation.The scale was rated on a 5-point (Never =1; Almost Always= 5).It had six subscales (control of self and events = 4 items; happiness = 5 items; social involvement = 4 items; self-esteem = 4 items; mental balance = 4 items; and sociability = 4 items).Samples items include: "I was able to face difficult situations in a positive way" (control of self and event), "I felt good, and at peace with myself" (happiness), "I had goals and ambitions" (social involvement), "I had self-confidence" (self-esteem), "I felt emotionally balanced" (mental balance), and "I had a good sense of humor, easily making my friends laugh" (sociability).Masse et al. (1998) reported a Cronbach's alpha of .93 for the overall scale.The present study obtained a Cronbach's alpha of .91 for the overall scale.A Cronbach's alphas of .82,.80,.88,.91,.73,and .89,were obtained for the control of self and events, happiness, social involvement, self-esteem, mental balance and sociability subscales, respectively.The scores on WBMMS were interpreted in such a way that control of self and event, happiness, social involvement, self-esteem, mental balance, sociability and overall psychological well-being increased as the scores increased.

Ethical Considerations
Permission to conduct the study was granted by the Department of Psychology, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko and the Commissioners of police of the states where the research was conducted.All the participants read and completed an Informed Consent Forms, which stated the purpose of the study and their rights as participants (e.g., voluntary participation and withdrawal from the study without negative consequences as well as confidentiality of their responses).The participants were also told that the research poses no physical, psychological, or emotional harms to their career and well-being.

Procedure
The study was conducted in two states (Lagos and Ogun) in Southwestern Nigeria.Permission to conduct the study was granted by the Commissioners of the states where the research was conducted.Purposive, proportionate and accidental sampling techniques were used to select the participants for the study.
Police personnel in Lagos and Ogun States were selected for the study because they are expected to experience more stress due to the cosmopolitan nature of the states than the other states in southwestern Nigeria.Apart from that, the two states had the largest number of police personnel in southwestern Nigeria.Based on the information obtained from the Department of Research and Planning of Nigeria Police Force and Chinwokwu (2017), the population of police personnel in southwestern Nigeria, as at January, 2017, stood at 53, 063 (21%) of the entire police personnel in Nigeria.Out of this number, Ekiti State had 3,259, Lagos State had 27, 129, Ogun State had 7, 017, Ondo State had 5, 589, Osun State had 4, 961, and Oyo State had 5,108 personnel.
Since the numbers of police personnel were not evenly distributed across the two selected states, proportionate sampling technique was used to select police personnel that participated in the study.After establishing a good rapport with the respondents, copies of questionnaires were administered to the participants who showed willingness to participate in the study.In addition, the respondents were told that there was no right or wrong answers and as such should be honest in their responses.
A total of 1500 questionnaires were distributed to the police personnel that participated in the study (Lagos State = 1100; Ogun State = 400).Out of the 1500 questionnaires, 1280 were retrieved but 1193 were duly completed and found usable for analysis.This yielded a response rate of 80%.Data collection took three weeks.Based on their scores on POS, the participants were divided into three groups: low, moderate, and high POS.

Data Analysis
Gender and state of work were coded as dummy variables.Gender was coded male 0; female 1.State of work was coded Lagos 0; Ogun 1.All other socio-demographic variables were treated and coded as categorical variables.Marital status was coded single 0; married 1; divorced 2; separated or widowed 3. Job status was coded junior 0; intermediary 1; senior level 2. Academic qualification was coded as School Certificate 1; National Diploma 2; Higher National Diploma or first degree 3; postgraduate degree 4. The extent and direction of relationships among the variables in the study were determined with Pearson Product Moment Correlation.Seven sets of One-way ANOVA and Bonferroni's post hoc tests were conducted to test hypotheses 1 to 7. All analyses were conducted with SPSS 25.0.

Relationships among Study Variables
Pearson Product Moment Correlation Statistics was used to evaluate the extent and direction of relationships among the study variable.The result is presented in Table 1.Gender was coded male 0; female 1.Marital status was coded single 0; married 1; divorced 2; separated or widowed 3. Job status was coded junior 0; intermediary 1; senior level 2. State of work was coded Lagos 0; Ogun 1. Academic qualification was coded as School Certificate 1; National Diploma 2; Higher National Diploma or first degree 3; postgraduate degree 4.
As Table 1 shows, control of self and event [r (1191) = .20,p < .001],happiness [r (1191) = .09,p < .01],social involvement [r (1191) = .16,p < .001],self-esteem [r (1191) = .14,p < .001],sociability [r (1191) = .12,p < .01],and overall psychological well-being [r (1191) = .19,p < .001] of police personnel significantly increased with their level of POS.This implied that the more police personnel felt supported and cared for in the organisation, the more they had control over themselves and their environment, remained happy, engaged in social activities, know their worth, sought for friendship and companion, and had positive feelings about their well-being.However, POS was not significantly related with mental balance [r (1191) = .04,p > .05].The interpretation of this result is that the kind of support rendered by the police organisation did not enhance the mental stability of its personnel.

Preliminary Analysis
Some preliminary analyses, which focused the mean and standard deviation scores of the participants on the measure of perceived organisational support, were calculated to categorize the participants into three groups of low, moderate, high POS.The participants had a mean score of 56.67 and standard deviation score of 10.87.One standard deviation score; below and above the mean score, as a rule of the thumb, was adopted as the cut-off point to determine those with low and high levels of perceived organisational support, respectively.Those whose scores fall around the mean, therefore, represented individuals with moderate level of perceived organisational support.Consequently, those who scored between 20 and 46 had low level of POS; those with scores in the range of 68 to 91 had high level of POS; and those who scored between 47 and 67 had moderate level of POS. Figure 1 reflects the distribution of the participants in line with the categorization criterion.
Figure 1.Distribution of the participants Based on their Level of Perceived Organizational Support Figure 1 indicates that majority of the participants 802 (67.2%) had moderate level of perceived organisational support.One hundred and ninety-nine (16.7%) were in the low POS group while 192 (16.1%) were in the high category of POS.

Test of Hypotheses 1 to 7
Seven sets of One-way ANOVA (one for each hypothesis) were conducted.Table 2 shows the summary of the results.The above results implied that the level of support received from the organisation enhanced the levels at which police personnel were able to direct themselves and the environment, stayed happy, took part in a number of social-related activities, had a positive evaluation of themselves, sought out companions and relationships, and had good overall psychological wellness.However, the appropriate emotional, behavioural adjustment and effective functioning of police personnel did not significantly depend on their level of POS.
The results in Table 2 did not provide adequate support of the hypotheses; as the significant F did not indicate the direction of the influence of POS on psychological well-being.Against this background, six sets of Bonferroni's post hoc test (one for each of the five dimensions of and overall PWB with significant F) were further performed on the data.Table 3 has the results.The results in Tables 2 and 3 as well as Figures 2 to 7 confirmed hypotheses 1 to 4 as well as 6 and 7. Hypothesis 5 was not supported by the results in Table 2.

Discussion
This study investigated the influence of perceived organisational support (low, medium and high) on the dimensions (control of self and event, happiness, social involvement, self-esteem, mental balance and sociability) and overall psychological well-being of police personnel in Nigeria.POS significantly influenced the dimensions and overall psychological well-being in such a way that police personnel in the high POS category had the highest levels of control of self and event, happiness, social involvement, self-esteem, and sociability as well overall psychological well-being compared with those in the moderate and low POS categories.
The results of the current study generally corroborated the findings of previous studies (e.g., Jackman, et al., 2020;Lasisi, 2016;Oguegbe, et al., 2015;Ogunyemi, 2020;Rauschmayr, et al., 2023).They found that psychological well-being was associated with high level of POS.This might be based on the fact that the organization recognized their efforts and cared about their well-being which might have given the employees some sense of worth and a source of happiness.
Apart from that, high POS showed that others were available and offered help when the employees needed social and psychological intervention at work, which might have encouraged them to seek and sustain social relationships and thereby became more sociable at work.This invariably made the police personnel happier about their lives and felt high sense of control over self, events around them, and the environment.These findings confirmed the results of Egene et al. (2022) and Kenku et al. (2023) that employees reported positive functioning at work due to perceived support from the organization and its agents.By implication, those who felt that organization and its agents did not provide the needed support and care as well as recognize the efforts of employees might have felt worthless, unhappy, and psychologically imbalance.This set of police personnel may be aggrieved with organization, others at work, and unwilling to provide the needed security services to the public.
Contrary to the postulations of hypothesis 5, POS did not significantly influence the mental balance of police personnel.This implied that police personnel were mentally unbalance irrespective of whether they felt lowly, moderately or highly supported by the organisation or its agents.One plausible reason for this result may be that the type of support that the police personnel received from the organization did not enhance or promote mental stability.Another plausible reason may be that such support could not neutralize the job demands and psychological hazards associated with the task of policing, especially when the needed physical and technological facilities were inadequate or unavailable.Therefore, the available support could not serve as buffers that could help neutralize the negative experiences and emotional pressure that adversely affected their mental stability and functionality.

Conclusion
This study found that high level of POS led to better psychological well-being.Specifically, police personnel with high level of perceived organisational support had significant control of their lives and environment; were happier; more sociable; had higher positive evaluation of themselves; and higher level of overall psychological well-being than those with moderate and low POS.

Implications of Study for Theory and Practice
The results of the present study extended the theory of POS (Eisenberger et al., 1990;Liu et al., 2013;Shane, 2010) that POS culminates in favourable feelings and work behaviours.When police personnel have high POS, which would enhance their psychological well-being, their level of functionality would be enhanced.However, the results of the current study have shown that POS, as measured in the current study does not guarantee mental balance in police personnel.This is an important area that the POS theory has not effectively captured.It is possible that the measure of POS did not effectively capture special activities of the organization and its agents that could help ignite, maintain, and promote mental stability in police personnel.
Practically, this study has implicated the need to develop scales that measure or expand the current POS to capture activities in the organization that promote mental balance.In addition to that, the organization and its supervisory agencies should formulate policies and training programs such as the Employee Assistance Programs that will help improve the mental balance of police personnel.

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. A Graphical Representation of the Influence of Perceived Organizational Support on Control of Self and EventAs shown in Figure2, control of self and event increased as police personnel level of perceived organisational support increased.

Figure 3 .
Figure 3.A Graphical Representation of the Influence of Perceived Organizational Support on Happiness Figure 3 indicated that happiness generally rise with perceived organisational support; with those who reported moderate level of POS being the least happy.

Figure 4 .
Figure 4.A Graphical Representation of the Influence of Perceived Organisational Support on Social InvolvementFigure4showed that social involvement rose as police personnel felt appreciated and supported in the workplace.

Figure 5 .
Figure 5.A Graphical Representation of the Influence of Perceived Organizational Support on Self-esteem

Figure 6 .
Figure 6.A Graphical Representation of the Influence of Perceived Organizational Support on Sociability Figure 6 indicated that the sociability level of police personnel rose with their level of perceived organizational support.

Figure 7 .
Figure 7.A Graphical Representation of the Influence of Perceived Organisational Support on Overall Psychological Well-beingAs shown in Figure7, overall psychological well-being of police personnel increased steadily with their level of perceived organizational support.

Table 2 .
Summary of One-way ANOVA on the Influence of Perceived Organisational Support on Psychological

Table 3 .
Summary of Bonferroni's Test on the Influence of Perceived Organisational Support on Psychological -being than those in the moderate POS group (Bonferroni = 2.97, p < .001).These results are presented graphically in Figures 2 to 7.