Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online 2025-6
Turnover Intentions of Police Officers when Facing Discretionary Ethical Dilemmas: The Explanatory Roles of Professional Disillusionment and Job Stress
The present research investigates the impact of discretionary ethical dilemmas encountered by police officers in the workplace on their intentions to leave the profession. Doing so, it distinguishes three types of discretionary ethical dilemmas faced by police officers (professional, individual, and conflicting ethical dilemmas). Findings suggest that two out of the three types of dilemmas, namely professional and individual dilemmas, increase police officers’ turnover intentions. In addition, the study shows that the effect on turnover intentions is mediated by an increase in professional disillusionment and job stress, with professional disillusionment playing a stronger role. This emphasizes the importance of exploring professional disillusionment in understanding police turnover. We discuss the implications of our findings at two levels, that of ethical dilemma prevention and that of the measures that should be taken to help police officer face the inevitable discretionary ethical dilemmas they will encounter on the field.
AlainM.BarilC. (2005). Crime prevention, crime repression, and policing: Attitudes of police recruits towards their role in crime control. International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, 29(2), 123–148. https://doi.org/10.1080/01924036.2005.9678737
2.
AlainM.GrégoireM. (2008). Can ethics survive the shock of the job? Quebec’s police recruits confront reality. Policing and Society, 18(2), 169–189. https://doi.org/10.1080/10439460802008702
3.
AngehrnA.KrakauerR. L.CarletonR. N. (2020). The impact of intolerance of uncertainty and anxiety sensitivity on mental health among public safety personnel: When the uncertain is unavoidable. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 44(5), 919–930. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-020-10107-2
4.
BackholmK.IdasT. (2015). Ethical dilemmas, work-related guilt, and posttraumatic stress reactions of news journalists covering the terror attack in Norway in 2011. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 28(2), 142–148. https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.22001
5.
BanduraA. (1999). Moral disengagement in the perpetration of inhumanities. Personality and Social Psychology Review: An Official Journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc, 3(3), 193–209. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327957pspr0303_3
6.
BeckerT. E.AtincG.BreaughJ. A.CarlsonK. D.EdwardsJ. R.SpectorP. E. (2016). Statistical control in correlational studies: 10 essential recommendations for organizational researchers. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 37(2), 157–167. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2053
BjerneldM.LindmarkG.DiskettP.GarrettM. J. (2004). Perceptions of work in humanitarian assistance: Interviews with returning Swedish health professionals. Disaster Management and Response: DMR: an official publication of the Emergency Nurses Association, 2(4), 101–108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dmr.2004.08.009
9.
BurstonA. S.TuckettA. G. (2013). Moral distress in nursing: Contributing factors, outcomes and interventions. Nursing Ethics, 20(3), 312–324. https://doi.org/10.1177/0969733012462049
10.
CebulakW. (2001). Fairness, job frustration, and moral dilemmas in policing that impact police effectiveness. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 16(2), 48–57. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02805180
11.
CorleyM. C.ElswickR. K.GormanM.ClorT. (2001). Development and evaluation of a moral distress scale. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 33(2), 250–256. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2648.2001.01658.x
CullenF. T.LinkB. G.WolfeN. T.FrankJ. (1985). The social dimensions of correctional officer stress. Justice Quarterly, 2(4), 505–533. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418828500088711
14.
DeCroonE. M.SluiterJ. K.BlonkR. W.BroersenJ. P.Frings-DresenM. H. (2004). Stressful work, psychological job strain, and turnover: A 2-year prospective cohort study of truck drivers. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89(3), 442–454. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.89.3.442
15.
DempseyR. P.EskanderE. E.DubljevićV. (2023). Ethical decision-making in law enforcement: A scoping review. Psych, 5(2), 576–601. https://doi.org/10.3390/psych5020037
16.
DempsterN.MahonyP. (1998). Ethical challenges in school leadership. In MacBeathJ. (Ed.), Effective school leadership: Responding to change (pp. 125–139). Sage Publications Ltd.
17.
De SchrijverA.MaesschalckJ. (2015). The development of moral reasoning skills in police recruits. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management, 38(1), 102–116. https://doi.org/10.1108/PIJPSM-09-2014-0091
18.
DeTienneK. B.AgleB. R.PhillipsJ. C.IngersonM. C. (2012). The impact of moral stress compared to other stressors on employee fatigue, job satisfaction, and turnover: An empirical investigation. Journal of Business Ethics, 110(3), 377–391. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-011-1197-y
19.
DevroeE.PonsaersP. (2021). The power context of police reform in Belgium—the Brussels case: A shift in the style of policing after the terrorist attacks. Policing: Journal of Policy Practice, 15(1), 299–313. https://doi.org/10.1093/police/pay038
20.
De Wilde d’EstmaelM. (2023). Procedures of investigation around online child abuse: Comparison between Belgian and Swedish Police. (Master dissertation. Halmstad University. Retrieved from. https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1771676/FULLTEXT02
21.
DodekP. M.NorenaM.AyasN.WongH. (2019). Moral distress is associated with general workplace distress in intensive care unit personnel. Journal of Critical Care, 50(April), 122–125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrc.2018.11.030
22.
DuchscherJ. (2009). Transition shock: The initial stage of role adaptation for newly graduated registered nurses. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 65(5), 1103–1113. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2648.2008.04898.x
23.
EisenbeißS. A.GiessnerS. R. (2012). The emergence and maintenance of ethical leadership in organizations: A question of embeddedness?Journal of Personnel Psychology, 11(1), 7–19. https://doi.org/10.1027/1866-5888/a000055
24.
FeysY.VerhageA. (2019). Morele dilemma’s binnen de politie : legitimiteit onder druk? In NoppeJ.VerhageA.Van der VijverK.KolthoffE. (Eds.), Politie en legitimiteit (53, pp. 31–58). Gompel and Svacina.
25.
FoliK. J.ForsterA.ChengC.ZhangL.ChiuY. C. (2021). Voices from the COVID-19 frontline: Nurses’ trauma and coping. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 77(9), 3853–3866. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.14988
26.
HarrisL. M.BaldwinJ. M. (1999). Voluntary turnover of field operations officers: A test of confluency theory. Journal of Criminal Justice, 6(6), 483–493. https://doi.org/10.1016/s00472352(99)00019-7
27.
HeikkiläM.MaunoS.HerttalampiM.MinkkinenJ.MuotkaJ.FeldtT. (2023). Ethical dilemmas and well-being in teachers’ work: A three-wave, two-year longitudinal study. Teaching and Teacher Education, 125(April), Article 104049. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2023.104049
28.
HilalS.LitseyB. (2020). Reducing police turnover: Recommendations for the law enforcement agency. International Journal of Police Science and Management, 22(1), 73–83. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461355719882443
29.
Hognestad HaalandG.OlsenE.MikkelsenA. (2021). The association between supervisor support and ethical dilemmas on nurses' intention to leave: The mediating role of the meaning of work. Journal of Nursing Management, 29(2), 286–293. https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.13153
30.
HomP. W.MitchellT. R.LeeT. W.GriffethR. W. (2012). Reviewing employee turnover: Focusing on proximal withdrawal states and an expanded criterion. Psychological Bulletin, 138(5), 831–858. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0027983
31.
HouseR. J.RizzoJ. R. (1972). Toward the measurement of organizational practices: Scale development and validation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 56(5), 388–396. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0033444
32.
HulinC. L.RoznowskiM.HachiyaD. (1985). Alternative opportunities and withdrawal decisions: Empirical and theoretical discrepancies and an integration. Psychological Bulletin, 97(2), 233–250. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.97.2.233
33.
HuntM. R. (2008). Ethics beyond borders: How health professionals experience ethics in humanitarian assistance and development work. Developing World Bioethics, 8(2), 59–69. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-8847.2006.00153.x
34.
JametonA. (1993). Dilemmas of moral distress: Moral responsibility and nursing practice. AWHONNS Clinical Issues in Perinatal & Womens Health Nursing, 4(4), 542–551.
35.
JarosS. J. (1997). An assessment of Meyer and Allen's (1991) three-component model of organizational commitment and turnover intentions. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 51(3), 319–337. https://doi.org/10.1006/jvbe.1995.1553
36.
KälvemarkS.HöglundA. T.HanssonM. G.WesterholmP.ArnetzB. (2004). Living with conflicts-ethical dilemmas and moral distress in the health care system. Social Science and Medicine, 58(6), 1075–1084. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-9536(03)00279-X
KippermanB.MorrisP.RollinB. (2018). Ethical dilemmas encountered by small animal veterinarians: Characterisation, responses, consequences and beliefs regarding euthanasia. The Veterinary Record, 182(19), 548. https://doi.org/10.1136/vr.104619
39.
KleinigJ. (1993). Policing the homeless: An ethical dilemma. Journal of Social Distress and the Homeless, 2(4), 289–303. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01065524
40.
LeeK.CarswellJ. J.AllenN. J. (2000). A meta-analytic review of occupational commitment: Relations with person-and work-related variables. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85(5), 799–811. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.85.5.799
41.
LeeT. W.MitchellT. R. (1994). An alternative approach: The unfolding model of voluntary employee turnover. Academy of Management Review, 19(1), 51–89. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.1994.9410122008
42.
LentzL. M.Smith-MacDonaldL.MalloyD.CarletonR. N.Brémault-PhillipsS. (2021). Compromised conscience: A scoping review of moral injury among firefighters, paramedics, and police officers. Frontiers in Psychology, 12(March), Article 639781. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.639781
43.
LiJ. C. M.CheungC.SunI. Y.CheungY.ZhuS. (2022). Work–family conflicts, stress, and turnover intention among Hong Kong police officers amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Police Quarterly, 25(3), 281–309. https://doi.org/10.1177/10986111211034777
44.
Mänttäri-van der KuipM. (2016). Moral distress among social workers: The role of insufficient resources. International Journal of Social Welfare, 25(1), 86–97. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijsw.12163
45.
MazerolleL.BennettS.DavisJ.SargeantE.ManningM. (2013). Procedural justice and police legitimacy: A systematic review of the research evidence. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 9(3), 245–274. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-013-9175-2
46.
McAuliffeD. (2005). I’m still standing: Impacts and consequences of ethical dilemmas for social workers in direct practice. Journal of Social Work Values and Ethics, 2(1), 1–10.
47.
MobleyW. H. (1977). Intermediate linkages in the relationship between job satisfaction and employee turnover. Journal of Applied Psychology, 62(2), 237–240. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.62.2.237
48.
MullenP. R.MorrisC.LordM. (2017). The experience of ethical dilemmas, burnout, and stress among practicing counselors. Counseling and Values, 62(1), 37–56. https://doi.org/10.1002/cvj.12048
NowellL. (2022). Helping nurses shift from the great resignation to the great reimagination. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 78(10), e115–e117. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.15403
51.
PalanskiM.AveyJ. B.JirapornN. (2014). The effects of ethical leadership and abusive supervision on job search behaviors in the turnover process. Journal of Business Ethics, 121(1), 135–146. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1690-6
52.
ParkB.StecklerN.EyS.WiserA.DeVoeJ. (2020). Co-creating a thriving human-centered health system in the post-COVID-19 era. NEJM Catalyst Innovations in Care Delivery, 1(3), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.5090/kjtcs.2020.53.1.1
53.
PodsakoffN. P.LePineJ. A.LePineM. A. (2007). Differential challenge stressor-hindrance stressor relationships with job attitudes, turnover intentions, turnover, and withdrawal behavior: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(2), 438–454. https://doi.org/10.1037/00219010.92.2.438
PollockJ. M.BeckerR. (2005). Ethical dilemmas in police work. In BraswellM. C.McCarthyB. R.McCarthyB. J. (Eds.), Justice, crime, and ethics (6th ed., pp. 105–122).
56.
PollockJ. M.IshoyG. A.WilliamsH. E. (2023). Using ethical dilemmas in training Police 1. In BraswellM. C.EdwardsB. D.McCarthyB. R.McCarthyB. J. (Eds.), Justice, crime, and ethics (11th ed., pp. 77–95). Routledge.
57.
RainesM. L. (2000). Ethical decision making in nurses: Relationships among moral reasoning, coping style, and ethics stress. JONA's Healthcare Law, Ethics, and Regulation, 2(1), 29–41. https://doi.org/10.1097/00128488-200002010-00006
58.
SablynskiC. J.LeeT. W.MitchellT. R.BurtonJ. P.HoltomB. C. (2002). Turnover: An integration of Lee and Mitchell's unfolding model and job embeddedness construct with Hulin's withdrawal construct. In BrettJ. M.DrascowF. (Eds.), The psychology of work (pp. 189–204). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
59.
SantinelloM. (2007). Link Burnout questionnaire, manuale (pp. 1–39). Organizzazioni Speciali.
60.
SchaubroeckJ.CottonJ. L.JenningsK. R. (1989). Antecedents and consequences of role stress: A covariance structure analysis. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 10(1), 35–58. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.4030100104
61.
SchrepelC.JaureguiJ.BrownA.ShandroJ.StroteJ. (2019). Navigating cognitive dissonance: A qualitative content analysis exploring medical students’ experiences of moral distress in the emergency department. AEM Education and Training, 3(4), 331–339. https://doi.org/10.1002/aet2.10380
62.
SheridanJ. E.AbelsonM. A. (1983). Cusp catastrophe model of employee turnover. Academy of Management journal. Academy of Management, 26(3), 418–436. https://doi.org/10.5465/256254
SilvermanH. J.KheirbekR. E.Moscou-JacksonG.DayJ. (2021). Moral distress in nurses caring for patients with Covid-19. Nursing Ethics, 28(7-8), 1137–1164. https://doi.org/10.1177/09697330211003217
65.
SnellmanC. L. (2015). Ethics management: How to achieve ethical organizations and management?Business, Management and Education, 13(2), 336–357. https://doi.org/10.3846/bme.2015.244
66.
UlrichC.O’donnellP.TaylorC.FarrarA.DanisM.GradyC. (2007). Ethical climate, ethics stress, and the job satisfaction of nurses and social workers in the United States. Social Science and Medicine, 65(8), 1708–1719. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2007.05.050
67.
WarehamJ.SmithB. W.LambertE. G. (2015). Rates and patterns of law enforcement turnover: A research note. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 26(4), 345–370. https://doi.org/10.1177/0887403413514439
68.
WolfL. A.PerhatsC.DelaoA. M.MoonM. D.ClarkP. R.ZavotskyK. E. (2016). “It’s a burden you carry”: Describing moral distress in emergency nursing. Journal of Emergency Nursing, 42(1), 37–46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jen.2015.08.008
