Transformational leadership in police sergeants and burnout in subordinate officers

Burnout among police officers has been recognized as a problem by organizational psychologists, other social scientists and practitioners. In one analysis, policing represented 2% of the occupations that were researched to establish a relationship with burnout. New lines of research are being developed to examine the contribution of management and supervisory behaviors to stress and burnout. This study investigates the relationship between transformational leadership styles of police sergeants and burnout in their subordinate officers. Burnout was measured across three dimensions: Emotional exhaustion, Depersonalization, and Diminished Personal Accomplishment using the Maslach Burnout Inventory - Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS, 1991). Transformational leadership was measured using the Transformational Leadership Questionnaire, Public Sector Research Version (TLQ-PSRV, 2001). This instrument assesses leadership using 6 scales: Showing Genuine Concern, Networking and Achieving, Enabling, Being Honest and Consistent, Being Accessible, and Being Decisive. Leadership scores were correlated with the dimensions of burnout and Networking and Achieving as well as Being Honest and Consistent were found to be significantly related to Diminished Feelings of Accomplishment at the p = .05 level