Swedish student police officers’ job values and relationships with gender and educational background

This study examined student police officers’ job values and differences in job values with respect to gender and educational background. Three hundred fifty-two Swedish first-year police students responded to a job value questionnaire. Psychometric analyses indicated that there are three dimensions of job values: intrinsic, altruistic, and extrinsic. In general, students rated altruistic values as more important than intrinsic/leisure and extrinsic values. Females valued intrinsic and altruistic aspects of a job as more important than males did. In conclusion, the three dimensions of job values, as well as the differences found between males and females are supported by previous research on job values. Future studies should be directed on examining whether police students’ job values change during education and in the transition to work.