How does compulsory citizenship behavior disturb police employees' psychological health? The roles of work–family conflict and putting family first

PurposeThis study investigates how compulsory citizenship behavior (CCB) restricts police employees from fulfilling their family responsibilities [i.e. work–family conflict (WFC)] and affects their psychological health. The authors also examined putting family first (PFF) as a conditional variable on the association between CCB and WFC.Design/methodology/approachThis quantitative study collected data from 341 police employees on convenience basis. Further, the authors tackled the issue of common method bias (CMB) by collecting data in two waves.FindingsThe data were analyzed through structural equation modeling (SEM), and the result revealed that WFC mediates the association between CCB and police employees' psychological health. In addition, the authors noted that individuals high in PFF were less likely to experience WFC in the presence of CCB.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the scant literature on police employees' psychological health. Specifically, this study is the first to investigate the mediating role of WFC between CCB and psychological health with the boundary condition of PFF.