Work overload, role conflict and emotional distress as predictors of burnout among police cadets in Nigeria
| Published date | 01 December 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/14613557231178509 |
| Author | Adeola Samuel Adebusuyi |
| Date | 01 December 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Original Research Articles |
Work overload, role conflict and emotional
distress as predictors of burnout among
police cadets in Nigeria
Adeola Samuel Adebusuyi
Department of Psychology, Nigeria Police Academy, Nigeria
Abstract
Burnout has been investigated among different categories of human service professionals and students. However, it has
not been investigated among police cadets simultaneously combining university education and police training. Hence, this
study investigated the causes of burnout among the Nigeria Police Academy (POLAC) cadets in Nigeria. Specifically, using
Frone et al.’s integrative model of the work–family interface, I investigated the antecedent influence of work overload
(academic and police), role conflict (academic and police) and emotional distress (academic and police) on burnout
among cadets [Frone MR, Yardley JK and Markel KS (1997) Developing and testing an integrative model of the work–fam-
ily interface. Journal of Vocational Behavior 50(2): 145–167]. The study is cross-sectional, with a sample size of 300, and the
data were analysed using regression path analysis. The result showed that academic and police work overload led directly
to burnout. In addition, academic work overload led indirectly to burnout through academic role conflict and emotional
distress, whereas police work overload led to burnout through police-emotional distress. Furthermore, academic-to-
police role conflict led indirectly to burnout through academic-emotional distress. This study extends extant literature
on the antecedents of burnout in police organizations. It also suggests important implications such as revising the curricula
to make them more manageable for the cadets and the need to be stringent with the admission process into the academy.
Keywords
Burnout, role conflict, emotional distress, work overload
Submitted 09 Nov 2022, Revise received 21 Apr 2023, accepted 11 May 2023
Introduction
Burnout is a word used to convey the human experience of
having spent or used up one’s sense and experience of vital-
ity. It was introduced by Freudenberger (1974), who
defined it as a state of wear out, exhaustion and stress
arising from excessive demands on a person’s physical
and mental resources. Several negative outcomes such as
employee turnover intention and behaviour (Houdmont
et al. 2012), drug abuse (Vuorensyrja and Malkia, 2011),
lower job performance (Bakker and Heuven, 2006), phys-
ical and mental health problems (Vuorensyrja and Malkia,
2011) have been associated with burnout among workers
in human service professions. Examples of workers suscep-
tible to burnout include physicians, nurses, teachers and
police officers, among others.
Burnout in police academy cadets has not been studied
even though various other types of students have been
shown to experience it (Asikainen et al., 2022; Barratt
and Duran, 2021; Maricut
̦oiu and Sulea, 2019; Portoghese
et al., 2018; Yang, 2004). For instance, burnout has been
investigated among secondary school students (Farina
et al., 2020; Salmela-Aro et al., 2016; Walburg, 2014),
undergraduate students (Asikainen et al., 2022; Jagodics
and Szabó, 2022; Kuittinen and Meriläinen 2011;
Maricut
̦oiu and Sulea, 2019), medical students (Kirwin
Corresponding author:
Adeola Samuel Adebusuyi, Department of Psychology, Nigeria Police
Academy, Wudil Kano, Nigeria.
Email: adedejiadebusuyi@gmail.com
Original Research Article
International Journal of
Police Science & Management
2023, Vol. 25(4) 407–421
© The Author(s) 2023
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DOI: 10.1177/14613557231178509
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