Technology utilization, self-legitimacy, and external procedural injustice: a study of Chinese police officers

Abstract

Purpose

The main purpose of this study is to examine the direct relationship between police officers' perceived technology utilization and their perception of external procedural injustice, as well as the indirect relationship through perceived self-legitimacy.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used survey data collected from 1,944 police officers in a northern Chinese province. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was performed to assess the direct and indirect associations between technology utilization and external procedural injustice.

Findings

Technology efficacy was negatively associated with external procedural injustice and positively associated with both self-legitimacy and public-defined legitimacy. Furthermore, officers’ self-perceived legitimacy is negatively associated with their support for procedurally unjust behaviors, while officers’ perception of public-defined legitimacy, unexpectedly, is positively related to their endorsement of procedural injustice. Conversely, technology difficulty was positively related to external procedural injustice and negatively associated with public-defined legitimacy.

Originality/value

The present study represents a first attempt to link technology utilization to external procedural injustice in the policing literature. This study provides needed evidence to support the importance role of technology utilization in shaping police officers’ occupational attitudes toward themselves and the public in an authoritarian country.

Citation

Chen, Y., Sun, I., Wu, Y., Chao, Z. and Liu, Y. (2025), "Technology utilization, self-legitimacy, and external procedural injustice: a study of Chinese police officers", Policing: An International Journal, Vol. 48 No. 1, pp. 194-212. https://doi.org/10.1108/PIJPSM-07-2024-0112