Relationship Between Motivation to Lead, Mental Health Status, and Job Satisfaction of Male and Female Civil Police Constables Mahesh Kumar Maurya 1 & Manisha Agarwal 1 Published online: 27 February 2017 # Society for Police and Criminal Psychology 2017 Abstract The purpose of the study was to examine the dif- ferences in perceptions of motivation to lead, mental health, and job satisfaction of male and female police constables. Police constables (N = 203, male = 144, female = 59) were surveyed at four districts (Varanasi, Mirzapur, Allahabad and Lucknow) in the state of Uttar Pradesh, Republic of India. Participants’ responses were obtained on questionnaires which measured demographic characteristics, motivation to lead (Dubrin, 1998), psychological well-being, psychological distress (Heubeck & Neill Psychological Reports, 87:431– 440, 2000), and job satisfaction (Dantzker ’s Journal of Crime and Justice 16:171–181, 1993). Results of t test analy- sis indicated that job experience, salary, education, motivation to lead, and psychological well-being were significantly dif- ferent among the male and female police constables. Motivation to lead was a significantly positive correlate of job satisfaction among male participants only while psycho- logical well-being was significantly, positively correlated with job satisfaction of both male and female participants. Psychological well-being also exercised partial mediator ef- fects on the positive relationship between Bmotivation to lead^ and job satisfaction in male police constables only. However, psychological distress was negatively correlated with job sat- isfaction of male police constables. The findings have signif- icant implications for increasing job satisfaction in the police department. Findings indicate that the government should concentrate on removing anomalies in the job conditions of the female police constables so as to promote psychological well-being. Simultaneously, the police department should also pay attention to conditions which can increase motivation to lead among its female police constables. Keywords Motivation to lead . Psychological wellbeing . Psychological distress . Job satisfaction Introduction Motivation to Lead The present study has examined motivation to lead of police personnel at the constable’ s level among male and female civil police. Leadership is an important factor which influences the work environment of police organizations. Most police de- partments have adopted the quasi-military organization model characterized by a rigid rank hierarchy of authority, imperson- ality, and an authoritarian command system. This model is intended to foster strict and unquestioned discipline for rapid mobilization in emergency and crisis situations (Sandier et al., 1974). This encourages Bkeep your mouth shut and listen^ and Bconformance to authority.^ It involved taking a closer look at the military ideology which has shaped police organi- zations and guided administrative behaviors by assessing the validity of the Bleader as commander^ image. This image implies that police prefer an impersonal, highly directive, au- thoritative leader and routine tasks. The duty of police leaders has often been described as a duty to evoke Ba spirit of performance^ (Whisenand & Rush, 1998). Building such a performance culture rests on an understanding of the motiva- tional factors. Police leaders must know their subordinates in order to motivate them. Police leaders with an awareness of * Mahesh Kumar Maurya mahesh.psy.au@gmail.com Manisha Agarwal manisha12529@gmail.com 1 Department of Psychology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, UP, India J Police Crim Psych (2018) 33:9–20 DOI 10.1007/s11896-017-9230-4