THE MODERATING EFFECT OF SELF - REGULATION ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PUBLIC SERVICE MOTIVATION AND WELL - BEING OF PHILIPPINE NATIONAL POLICE PERSONNEL

The purpose of this study was to determine the moderating effect of self-regulation on the relationship between public service motivation and well-being of Philippine National Police Personnel among the three major cities in DavaoProvince situated at Region XI. A validated questionnaire was used in gathering the data from the 400 police personnel in the region. Correlational research design was employed using hierarchical regression and modgraph. The result of this study revealed that self-regulation has no significant moderating effect on the relationship between public service motivation and well-being of police personnel involved in this study. Police personnel who have higher and lower level of self-regulation demonstrated the same degree of well-being as being influenced by public service motivation. Although the significant moderating effect of self-regulation on the relationship between public service motivation and well-being was not proven, result revealed that separately public service motivation and self-regulation are important contributors to well-being.

The purpose of this study was to determine the moderating effect of self-regulation on the relationship between public service motivation and well-being of Philippine National Police Personnel among the three major cities in DavaoProvince situated at Region XI. A validated questionnaire was used in gathering the data from the 400 police personnel in the region. Correlational research design was employed using hierarchical regression and modgraph. The result of this study revealed that self-regulation has no significant moderating effect on the relationship between public service motivation and well-being of police personnel involved in this study. Police personnel who have higher and lower level of self-regulation demonstrated the same degree of wellbeing as being influenced by public service motivation. Although the significant moderating effect of self-regulation on the relationship between public service motivation and well-being was not proven, result revealed that separately public service motivation and selfregulation are important contributors to well-being.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………….... Introduction:-
An article written by Gonzalez (2020) claimed that 15,768 Philippine National Police (PNP) personnel have been penalized for administrative offenses and criminal activities since 2016. This indicates a decline in the well-being of those involved. Commission of crime has negative impact on the well-being of a person (Cooper et al., 2008). In response to the alarming statistics, the PNP has implemented policies to discipline its members who have engaged in crimes and administrative offences. The commission of crimes and violence involving policemen are usually treated by the agency involved as individual acts and violations revealing the "bad apples" or bad policemen within their ranks (Gamassou, 2013). The term "scalawags" or undesirable law enforcers are commonly used to describe cops who have broken the law. The importance of research on well-being among enforcers is an important action that can guide future policies on policing. Conducting a study on this area may help in providing relevant data to improve the performance among police ranks and enhance their well-being (Yildiz, 2008). This is to help provide a comprehensive data regarding police related works and likewise initiate an impact on their general well-being. It is also necessary to check if there are current positive and negative perceptions on well-being among police officers in relation to their work.

ISSN: 2320-5407
Int. J. Adv. Res. 9(04), 837-842 838 Cognizant of the importance of well-being, the researchers conducted an extensive review of related literature for possible variables associated with well-being. It was found out that motivation to serve the public and regulating oneself are the two variables associated with well-being that sparked the interest of the researchers. Public service motivation as mentioned by Perry and Wise (1990) refers to a person's inclination to react to situations based on motives that are basically socially acceptable. Many practitioners and writers even consider serving the public as unique and special vocation.
The other variable covered in this study is self-regulation. According to Vohs and Baumeister (2004) self-regulation indicates all types of controlling oneself personally on situations involving human psychology. This control has been documented in a number of studies (Brewer &Grabosky, 2014;Fox et al., 2016;Gempes, 2008) as the ability to cope with mounting emotions and adapt appropriately to one's environment. In particular, these situations may include one's motivation or attention to any given desirable human situations which include the exercise of controlling actions such as suppressing emotions and imaginations (Russell & Brickell, 2015). Further, selfregulation may also involve controlling attention in some situations involving a person's ability to focus regardless of the presence of uncontrolled distracters (Diehl et al., 2006;Gempes, 2014).
The need to address the above context prompted the researcher to conduct a study with the goal of determining whether self-regulation has direct or moderating effect on the association between public service motivation and well-being of PNP personnel. Although some researches claimed the significant association between public service motivation and well-being and the connection between self-regulation and well-being, those studies dealt only with bi-variate relationships and did not cover the three variables in a single study. To add, the participants in most of those bivariate relationship studies were not police personnel but mostly coming from the academe. These distinct features , therefore, make this study as a contribution to new knowledge.

Objectives of the Study:-
The study aimed to investigate the moderating effect of self-regulation on the relationship between public service motivation and well-being of the Philippine National Police personnel in Region XI. Specifically, it sought to determine 1. the level of public service motivation among Philippine National Police personnel in Region XI in terms of a)policymaking attraction, b)commitment to public interest, c) collective justice, d) duty to the public, e) empathy; and f) sacrificing oneself; 2. the level of well-being of the Philippine National Police Personnel in Region XI in terms ofa) vigor, b) dedication , and c) absorption; 3. the level of self-regulation of the Philippine National Police Personnel in Region XI; 3. the significance of the connections between a) public service motivation and wellbeing; and b) self-regulation and well-being; 4. the significance of the moderating effect of self-regulation on the relations between public service motivation and well-being. The main hypothesis for analysis in this study is that self-regulation has no significant moderating effect on the relationship between public service motivation and wellbeing of Philippine National Police personnel in Region XI.

Methodology:-
This is a correlational study employing moderation analysis to test under what conditions can the effect of selfregulation occur, whether it can strengthen, weaken, or reverse the nature of the relationship between public service motivation and well-being of 400 police personnel in Region XI. Those who were in the Philippine National Police but are not directly involved in policing, like office personnel, were intentionally not included. The respondents were recruited through simple random sampling adopting the maximum number of 400 samples in Slovin's formula.
The instrument used was adapted from peer reviewed international journals but contextualized to the local setting and obtained a Cronbach alpha of .91 after it was pilot tested. The survey was done after undertaking the necessary research protocols foremost of which was asking permission from the heads of the police offices in the region.
Hierarchical regression analysis and modgraph were the statistical tools employed in this study. Research ethics is part and parcel of this study as this gained approval from the University's ethics committee.

Results and Discussion:-
The mean (M) and standard deviation (SD) of the three variables in this study are shown in Table 1. As shown in the table the standard deviation of the three variables are less than 1.0, the typical standard deviation for a 5 point Likert scale implying consistency of responses among the respondents. The level of public service motivation of Philippine National Police personnel in Region XI with an overall mean of 4.43 is described as very high indicating that the respondents' public service motivation is manifested at all items. This is due to the very high rating given by the respondents to the following indicators; policymaking attraction, commitment to public interest, collective justice, duty to the public, empathy, and sacrificing oneself. This implies that regardless of the income of the police personnel in Region XI, their commitment to serve and protect the public is in place. This is related to what van Gelderen and Bik (2016) cited that committed police men are fully aware of their service to the public.

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The very high rating of the PNP personnel in Region XI on the aspect of their public service motivation is an articulation of the pronouncement of Papazoglou and Blumberg, 2019, that elected or appointed officials serving the public are bound by law to observe the highest standards while serving the public as manifested ideally by the discharge of their official functions and personal conduct. This shows that observing ethical standards while serving the public remain to be a basic requisite in the government at present. As such, police personnel who manifest a higher motivation to serve the public is a good indication that they can also provide good public services.

Well-being
The very high level (M=4.46) of well-being of PNP personnel in Region XI is attributed to the very high rating they gave to the following indicators: vigor, dedication and absorption. This means that they manifest these behavior at all times. The dedication they performed as police officers indicate that they fit best to the profession they have chosen. This is congruent with the declaration of Todak ( 2017) who declared that since policing is a demanding work, only those who are dedicated and prefer challenging ventures which they can be proud of should choose a career in law enforcement. The very high level obtained by this variable seems to contest the news article pointed out at the introductory part of this study relative to well-being.

Self-Regulation
The responses revealed that the respondents have very high level (M=4.34) of self-regulation particularly in terms of receiving track of progress towards one's goals, and usually being cautious in not exceeding to work, eat, and drink.
As law enforcers, they usually do and judge things by the consequence of one's actions, without paying attention to what one is doing most of the time. It is also expected of them to learn from every experience especially improving from their mistakes and keeping track of their progress towards their goals. Berking and Wupperman (2010) asserted that since police officers are regularly exposed to stressful situations, they have the urgent need for methods of adopting self-regulation. The fact that the respondents of this study have very high level of self-regulation, it shows that they have adopted for themselves effective methods on self-regulation as pointed out in the specific survey items of the questionnaire for this variable. The result of this study is parallel to the research results of Carlan and Lewis (2009) who found greatest support for self-regulation among police officers.

Correlation between Public Service Motivation and Well-Being
The result of the correlation (r=.206, p<0.05) between these measures indicates significant relationship between public service motivation and well-being of Philippine National Police personnel in Region XI. This implies that the different indicators of public service motivation among police personnel are significantly related to their well-being. This also implies that the higher is the motivation to serve the public , the higher is the police personnel's wellbeing. The findings cited above corroborates with the proposition of Potiproon (2017) who pointed out that persons with high level of public service motivation have also high perceptions about their well-being which makes them more committed to contribute and help to achieve the goals of their organizations. Another researcher ( Homberg , 2015) also agrees the findings above when he stated that the relations between public service motivation and wellbeing becomes increasingly apparent when the work itself demands the qualification and fit of individuals for the 840 position.

Correlation between Self-Regulation and Well-Being
The significant association (r=.512, p<0.05) between the two variables means that the higher is the self-regulation level of a police personnel the higher is the degree of his well-being. This result is congruent with the study of Padhy (2015) who concluded from the results of his investigation that affirmative relations was found in linking self-regulation with well-being among the participants.
Moderating Effect of Self-Regulation on the Relationship between Public Service Motivation and Well-Being To test the hypothesis on the significance of the moderating effect of self-regulation, the hierarchical regression analysis was used; the public service motivation being the independent variable was entered into hierarchical procedures as the first step. The result of the regression is presented in Table 3. When regressing public service motivation (B=0.202, p<0.05) and self-regulation (B=.422, p<0.05) in step 2, it can be seen that they are significant predictors of well-being of the Philippine National Police personnel in Region XI in their capacities as separate variables. The third step in the regression analysis is the interaction effect (B=0.128, p>0.05), which is the product of public service motivation and self-regulation. It is not significant as reflected in the table since the p value (0.331) is more than 0.05 level of significance set in this study, thus, the acceptance of the null hypothesis that self-regulation does not significantly moderate the relationship between public service motivation and well-being among police personnel in Region XI. This suggests that the interaction effect is not a contributor to the model variance in the study. The results also show the R-square change which tells how much variance in the dependent variable these predictors explained in each step.The R-square change of 0.0252 means an additional variance of 3 percent to the variance of 4.2 percent in step 1. This shows that 4.2 percent of the variance in the well-being of police personnel was due to respondent's public service motivation. The interaction (Public Service Motivation × Self-regulation) registered only 0.002 contributions to the dependent variable.
A mod graph was provided to visually verify the result of the regression. It indicates that there is no interaction effect of public service motivation and self-regulation. According to Jose (2013), a graph having three parallel lines does not exhibit significant moderation effect on the relationship of two variables. In this graph, the three parallel lines indicate that the level of self-regulation do not considerably influence the variation in public service 841 motivation in an attempt to influence well-being. Although significant moderating effect of self-regulation on the relationship between public service motivation and well-being was not proven, study result revealed that separately public service motivation and self-regulation are important contributors to well-being.

Conclusion:-
From the results of the study important conclusions are drawn. The three variables: public service motivation as independent variable, well-being as dependent variable and self-regulation as moderating variable with their indicators are all rated very high implying that the Philippine National Police personnel in Region XI are always manifesting these attributes.Significant relationships of well-being with motivation and self-regulation demonstrate that the higher is the police personnel's publicservice motivation and self-regulation, the higher is his well-being.
The moderating effect of self-regulation on the relationship between motivation and well-being is not significant. Although it is not significant, study result revealed that separately public service motivation and self-regulation are important contributors to well-being.

Recommendations:-
Basing from the findings of the study, the researchers formulated the following recommendations. The very high level of public service motivation , self-regulation and well-being of Philippine National Police personnel suggests that they have to sustain their noteworthy values in maintaining their excellent performance since it is the Region XI community that will greatly benefit from their services. The police performances in the region at present has also been recognized nationally for being highly commendable. The non-significance of the moderating effect of self-regulation denotes that another research may be initiated to triangulate the result of this study. It is also recommended that similar research be conducted in other regions to consolidate the results that may serve as one of the documents for policy enhancement in the Philippine National Police Offices.