Cross-lagged effects of resilience and indicators of sustainable employability: A study among Dutch police officers

Purpose Sustainable employability is an important goal for individuals and organizations alike. However, scarce knowledge is available on possible cross-lagged relations of resilience among police officers and different aspects of their sustainable employability over time. Based on assumptions of COR theory, the purpose of this paper is to test these relations in a two-wave design. Design/methodology/approach A total of 532 police officers participated in a time-lagged survey design (time interval of six months) concerning their resilience and relevant aspects, i.e., self-reported vitality, workability and organization-reported individual absenteeism rates. Data were analyzed with structural equation modeling. Findings Results indicate cross-lagged effects between resilience and vitality with an acceptable model fit. Thus, the level of resilience at T1 affected the level of vitality at T2 and vice versa. In addition, a nearly significant negative effect of vitality on T1 was found on absenteeism on T2.

Originality/value This study is the first to test the cross-lagged relations between resilience and indicators of sustainable employability among police officers. It is important to further study this for the sake of both police officers, as well as society as a whole.