Influence of Supervisor Support on Job Satisfaction Levels: An Evaluation of Turkish National Police (TNP) Officers in the Istanbul Police Department

The present study examines whether, and to what degree, supervisor support in law enforcement is associated with job satisfaction, holding the effects of age, rank, education, gender, and working unit as constant in the analysis. A total of 216 Turkish National Police (TNP) employees working in Istanbul Police Department, comprising 185 regular police officers and 31 ranked police officers, completed the study survey. The influence of supervisor support on the job satisfaction levels of TNP employees was analyzed by structural equation modeling (SEM) under the theoretical framework of Frederick Herzberg's two-factor theory. The results of the study indicate that TNP employees' perceived supervisor support has a statistically significant positive effect on their job satisfaction levels. The more TNP employees perceive their supervisors as supportive, the higher their job satisfaction levels. Among the five demographic variables, only working unit of TNP employees makes statistically significant contribution to their job satisfaction levels. The predictor variable of supervisor support along with working unit collectively, explain 45 % of the total variation in job satisfaction.