Leadership matters to the police: Managing emotional labour through authentic leadership

IMPACTPolicing is stressful, and this stress is amplified as a result of chronic under-resourcing and escalatingred tape. Frontline managers of police play a crucial role in mitigating police stress, and improvingtheir wellbeing. The research in this article highlights that police managers also shape theturnover intentions of officers. The implication is that policing organizations need to support theirmanagers and leaders to develop qualities that advance the wellbeing of their staff, in order toaddress workplace stress and turnover.ABSTRACTThis article examines the impact of leadership on the behaviour of one type of street level bureaucrat(SLB): police officers’ wellbeing and turnover intentions. The findings address a gap in understandinghow authentic leadership practices affect SLBs who undertake emotional labour. The methodsinvolved analysing 220 surveys from Italian police officers using structural equation modelling. Thefindings show moderate-to-low mean scores for authentic leadership and police officers’relationship with their supervisor, and that these variables were significant in explaining wellbeingand turnover intention outcomes. The implication of the research is that continual subjection topoor levels of leadership and management support will erode wellbeing, placing police officersare at a higher risk of negative mental health outcomes over time.