Milan Pagon

Social Undermining in the Workplace

An interactive model of social undermining and social support in the workplace was developed and tested among police officers in the Republic of Slovenia. As predicted, social undermining was signi...

Locus of Control and Well-Being at Work: How Generalizable are Western Findings?

Managers from 24 geopolitical entities provided data on work locus of control, job satisfaction, psychological strain, physical strain, and individualism/collectivism. The hypothesis that the salut...

Managers in suits and managers in uniforms: Sources and outcomes of occupational stress

Sources and outcomes of occupational stress among police managers are examined on a sample of 267 senior police officers in one of the Central European countries, using the Occupational Stress Indicator 2 (OSI 2), the Work Locus of Control Scale, the Hofstedes Scale of Work-Related Values, as well as several demographic variables. The results are then contrasted with those of 232 managers in private industry in the same country. Managers in the private sector work longer hours, report higher impatience (one component of a Type A behaviour pattern), are more internal in locus of control, rely less on social support as a means of coping with stress, and perceive more masculinity, less uncertainty avoidance, and less long-term orientation in their culture than do their police counterparts. Police managers, on the other hand, perceive more pressures related to their workload, relationships, work hassles, recognition and organisational climate. As a consequence, they are less satisfied with the job itself and with their organisation, and more frequently consider an option of quitting their job. At the same time, police managers report better physical wellbeing and higher mental contentment than their colleagues in private industry. The results are discussed in terms of their practical value for police administrators.

Reasons for Joining and Beliefs about the Police and Police Work among Slovenian Female Police Rookies

The paper reports a study of the reasons for joining and beliefs about the police and police work among the Slovenian female police rookies. Fifty-five female police trainees participated in a survey at the end of their basic police training. It was hypothesised that their beliefs about police and police work were the result of their experience during training, their level of cynicism, support and encouragement from their relatives and friends, as well as their femininity, self-esteem, and doubt about trustworthiness of people. The majority of the hypotheses were confirmed. The results were compared with the results obtained from a sample of 22 male police trainees. The comparison revealed different dynamics of male and female beliefs about police and police work, as well as some differences in reasons for joining the police. The results are discussed in terms of their practical value for police recruitment and training.

Measurement Invariance of the Satisfaction With Life Scale Across 26 Countries

The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) is a commonly used life satisfaction scale. Cross-cultural researchers use SWLS to compare mean scores of life satisfaction across countries. Despite the wide use of SWLS in cross-cultural studies, measurement invariance of SWLS has rarely been investigated, and previous studies showed inconsistent findings. Therefore, we examined the measurement invariance of SWLS with samples collected from 26 countries. To test measurement invariance, we utilized three measurement invariance techniques: (a) multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (MG-CFA), (b) multilevel confirmatory factor analysis (ML-CFA), and (c) alignment optimization methods. The three methods demonstrated that configural and metric invariances of life satisfaction held across 26 countries, whereas scalar invariance did not. With partial invariance testing, we identified that the intercepts of Items 2, 4, and 5 were noninvariant. Based on two invariant intercepts, factor means of countries were compared. Chile showed the highest factor mean; Spain and Bulgaria showed the lowest. The findings enhance our understanding of life satisfaction across countries, and they provide researchers and practitioners with practical guidance on how to conduct measurement invariance testing across countries.

Slovenian State Officials. Slovenian Citizens, and Refugees in Slovenia: How They Perceive Each Other

In September 1991, Slovenia faced the first wave of approximately 50,000 refugees from Croatia. The second wave of Bosnian refugees followed in the beginning of 1992. In total, there were approximately 170,000 refugees in Slovenia between 1992 and 1996. In 1994, the majority of Croatian refugees returned to Croatia, and after the Dayton agreement some 19,000 refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina returned to their country of origin, as well. A smaller number of refugees from Kosovo came to Slovenia in 1998. Currently, there are approximately 7,000 refugees still in Slovenia, the majority of them from Bosnia and Herzegovina. In every country, the presence of the refugees induces a host of different issues, determined largely by attitudes and perceptions, both of the domestic population and the refugees themselves. In this paper, we would like to present some results of different studies on refugees-related attitudes and perceptions, which were conducted at the College of Police and Security Studies, Ljubljana, Slovenia.