Search results
1 – 10 of 45Brianna Camero, Karen Cano-Rodriguez, Takudzwa Chawota, Kayon Morgan, Alicen Potts, Monserrat Solorzano-Franco, Charles Klahm IV and Yuning Wu
This study seeks to answer (1) how perceived neighborhood collective efficacy and disorder affect residents' cooperation with the police, both directly and indirectly through…
Abstract
Purpose
This study seeks to answer (1) how perceived neighborhood collective efficacy and disorder affect residents' cooperation with the police, both directly and indirectly through perceptions of the police and (2) how Arab American ethnicity moderates the linkages between perceived collective efficacy, disorder and cooperation.
Design/methodology/approach
Relying on survey interview data from a probability sample of 414 residents in Dearborn and Dearborn Heights, MI and path model analysis, this study tests an explanatory model of public cooperation with the police that integrates both neighborhood and policing factors.
Findings
Perceived neighborhood disorder undermines residents' desires to cooperate, and this influence is chiefly direct. Meanwhile, although no significant total effect, perception of neighborhood collective efficacy does have a positive effect on cooperation through the mediator of positive assessment of police effectiveness. Further, collective efficacy has a direct, positive effect on cooperation among Arab Americans only. Finally, perceptions of police equal treatment and effectiveness, rather than procedural justice, are significant correlates of public cooperation.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the extremely limited literature on policing and Arab American communities. The findings can deepen the understanding on why and for which groups neighborhood context is related to cooperation with the police. Findings can also add to the knowledge base for designing policies and practices that help secure and promote public support and cooperation in both Arab and non-Arab communities.
Details
Keywords
Ivan Y. Sun, Yuning Wu, Ruth Triplett and Shun-Yung Kevin Wang
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of media exposure and political party orientation on public satisfaction with and trust in the police in Taiwan.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of media exposure and political party orientation on public satisfaction with and trust in the police in Taiwan.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data were collected from more than 2,000 respondents in three large metropolises and two rural counties in Taiwan in 2011. Multivariate regression was used to assess the effects of media exposure and political party affiliation on public satisfaction with and trust in the police, controlling for crime experience, neighborhood conditions, background characteristics, and locality.
Findings
Taiwanese who were exposed to media reports of police misconduct and believed in the authenticity of such reports were more likely to have lower levels of satisfaction with national police and trust in the police. Though it varied somewhat by whether it was satisfaction with national or local police, the Taiwanese respondents who identified themselves as supporters of the opposition party, or politically neutral, showed lower levels of satisfaction with and trust in the police than supporters for the ruling party. Respondents who shared the same political party orientation expressed higher levels of satisfaction with local police.
Research limitations/implications
The measures of media influence, while classic and straightforward, were relatively simple and future research should not only quantify the links between media use and public trust, but also develop a qualitative cultural understanding of the communicative roles that the media play in shaping public perceptions of the police. In addition, while this study relied on a scientific sampling procedure, the sample cannot completely represent the general population in Taiwan.
Practical implications
It is important for police departments to cultivate good relations with the news media and to adopt a balanced role between law enforcers who are capable of curbing crime and reducing fear of crime, and moral guardians who are willing to uphold community social cohesion and value structures.
Originality/value
Despite a growing number of studies on public assessments in the police in Taiwan, empirical research on the impact of media and political orientation on satisfaction with and trust in the police remains very limited. This study represents one of the first attempts to assess factors related to media and political party orientation in Taiwan.
Details
Keywords
Yunan Chen, Ivan Sun, Yuning Wu and Ziqiang Han
The purpose of this paper is to assesses whether supervisor justice is linked to COVID-19 negative and positive impacts directly and indirectly through the mechanisms of stress…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assesses whether supervisor justice is linked to COVID-19 negative and positive impacts directly and indirectly through the mechanisms of stress and resiliency among auxiliary police in China.
Design/methodology/approach
This study utilized survey data from more than 300 auxiliary police in a large Chinese provincial capital city in 2020. Structural equation modeling was conducted to analyze the direct and indirect relationships between supervisor justice and COIVD-19 impacts.
Findings
Results indicate that supervisor justice connects to COVID-19 negative impacts indirectly through stress. Supervisor justice is also indirectly related to positive impact through resiliency.
Research limitations/implications
The findings' generalizability is limited due to using a nonrandom sample of officers. Officers' emotional states in the forms of stress and resiliency are important in mediating the association between supervisory justice and COVID-19 impacts.
Originality/value
The present study represents one of the first attempts to empirically investigate the occupational experiences of a vital group of frontline workers in Chinese policing. This study also generates evidence to support the importance of officers' emotional conditions in reducing negative COVID-19 impacts in an authoritarian country.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to propose and test a conceptual model that explains racially/ethnically differential confidence in order institutions through a mediating mechanism…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose and test a conceptual model that explains racially/ethnically differential confidence in order institutions through a mediating mechanism of perception of discrimination.
Design/methodology/approach
This study relies on a nationally representative sample of 1,001 respondents and path analysis to test the relationships between race/ethnicity, multiple mediating factors, and confidence in order institutions.
Findings
Both African and Latino Americans reported significantly lower levels of confidence compared to White Americans. People who have stronger senses of being discriminated against, regardless of their races, have reduced confidence. A range of other cognitive/evaluative variables have promoted or inhibited people’s confidence in order institutions.
Research limitations/implications
This study relies on cross-sectional data which preclude definite inferences regarding causal relationships among the variables. Some measures are limited due to constraint of data.
Practical implications
To lessen discrimination, both actual and perceived, officials from order institutions should act fairly and impartially, recognize citizen rights, and treat people with respect and dignity. In addition, comprehensive measures involving interventions throughout the entire criminal justice system to reduce racial inequalities should be in place.
Social implications
Equal protection and application of the law by order institutions are imperative, so are social policies that aim to close the structural gaps among all races and ethnicities.
Originality/value
This paper takes an innovative effort of incorporating the currently dominant group position perspective and the injustice perspective into an integrated account of the process by which race and ethnicity affect the perception of discrimination, which, in turn, links to confidence in order institutions.
Details
Keywords
Yuning Wu, Ivan Sun, Tzu-Ying Lo and Jianhong Liu
This paper comparatively assesses the connections between individual demographic traits, occupational characteristics, and organizational factors and officers' attitudes toward…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper comparatively assesses the connections between individual demographic traits, occupational characteristics, and organizational factors and officers' attitudes toward important groups in China and Taiwan.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data used in this study were collected from 722 police officers from mainland China and 531 officers from Taiwan. Multivariate regression analyses were conducted to assess the correlates of police attitudes toward peers, supervisors, and citizens.
Findings
The Chinese and Taiwanese officers do not differ in their trust in peers, but the Chinese officers hold significantly more positive views on the trustworthiness of supervisors and citizens compared to the Taiwanese officers. Supervisor justice and organizational identification are significant predictors of officers' attitudes toward all three groups in both countries.
Research limitations/implications
A major limitation revolves around the inability to test and explain exactly why findings from the two groups vary in their ways. Future research should include specific social, political, and cultural predictors.
Originality/value
This study represents one of the few studies that compare police attitudes toward important groups of peers, supervisors, and citizens across nations/cultures.
Details
Keywords
Fei-Lin Chen, Ivan Sun, Yuning Wu and Shun-Yung Kevin Wang
This paper aims to assess whether internal procedural justice is directly and indirectly through self-legitimacy connected to external procedural justice among Taiwanese police…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to assess whether internal procedural justice is directly and indirectly through self-legitimacy connected to external procedural justice among Taiwanese police officers.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data used in this study were collected from 316 Taiwanese police officers in 2019. Structural equation modeling was performed to examine the direct and indirect relationships between internal and external procedural justice.
Findings
Supervisors' internal procedural justice is directly related to the external procedural justice rendered to the public by police officers. Internal procedural justice also directly enhances officers' perceptions of internal legitimacy and external legitimacy. Greater senses of internal legitimacy are then accompanied by higher external procedural justice.
Research limitations/implications
Survey data collected from a non-random sample of officers limit the study findings' generalizability. Organizational justice in the form of supervisory justice is instrumental in promoting officers' perception of self-legitimacy and their delivery of fair treatment to the public.
Originality/value
The present study represents a first attempt to link two important veins of studies in recent policing literature, organizational justice and officer self-legitimacy. This study provides needed evidence to support the value of supervisory justice in policing in a non-Western democracy.
Details
Keywords
Abstract
Purpose
Police procedural justice is essential in shaping police legitimacy and public willingness to cooperate, yet factors that affect police fair treatment of citizens are not fully understood. Using the data of the National Police Research Platform (NPRP), Phase II, this study examines the effects of three key organizational factors (i.e. effective leadership, supervisory justice and department process fairness) on officers’ procedural justice in police stops.
Design/methodology/approach
Innovatively, this study links police data with citizens’ data and conducts multilevel analyses on the effects of a host of citizen, officer, incident, and, importantly, agency characteristics on officer behaviors during over 5,000 police stops nested within 48 police agencies.
Findings
The results showed that the fairness of the departmental process had a positive effect on officer procedural justice, while the fairness of the supervisor was inversely associated with procedural justice on the street.
Originality/value
The linked data demonstrated that organizational fairness affected street procedure justice.
Details
Keywords
Hailey Khatchatourian, Grace MacFarland, Mindy Thai, Danika Hickling, Brad Smith and Yuning Wu
While public support for and cooperation with the police has been deemed vital for police effectiveness, what shapes such support and cooperation has not been fully examined. The…
Abstract
Purpose
While public support for and cooperation with the police has been deemed vital for police effectiveness, what shapes such support and cooperation has not been fully examined. The purpose of this study is to explore three perspectives on public cooperation with police simultaneously: (1) police legitimacy, (2) legal cynicism, and (3) neighborhood norms.
Design/methodology/approach
The data used in this study came from a survey conducted with 408 residents across three neighborhoods in Detroit, Michigan, in 2009. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression was used to assess the relationship between the three groups of theory-based predictors, representing police legitimacy, legal cynicism, and neighborhood norms, and the dependent variable of cooperation.
Findings
The findings partially support the legitimacy model, as trust in police, but not perceived obligation to obey, predicts cooperation with police. This study provides strong support for the legal cynicism and neighborhood norms perspectives. Specifically, residents who have higher levels of legal cynicism and who report a stronger anti-snitch neighborhood subculture report being less inclined to cooperate with the police.
Originality/value
This study is the first to compare the relative influences of three major perspectives on public cooperation. Future studies should continue to analyze competing theories in explaining public cooperation with the police and determine if findings from this study are applicable to locations outside Detroit.
Details
Keywords
Yuning Wu, Kai Lin, Luye Li and Xiying Wang
The purpose of this paper is to examine Chinese police officers’ general support for police intervention into domestic violence, emphasizing adequate protection of the victims…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine Chinese police officers’ general support for police intervention into domestic violence, emphasizing adequate protection of the victims, and specific support for utilizing arrests to deal with the offenders.
Design/methodology/approach
This study relies on survey data collected from 1,064 police officers who worked in multiple areas in two provinces of China between June and July of 2019. OLS models were used to test whether organizational variables are significant predictors of officer attitudes toward domestic violence intervention.
Findings
Both agency endorsement and supervisory support are positively related to officers’ favorable attitudes toward police intervention into domestic violence and using arrests to handle offenders. The amount of training received from the agency on the recently promulgated Anti-Domestic Violence Law, however, has a negative influence on officer support for general intervention into domestic violence and no influence on officer attitudes toward arrests.
Originality/value
This study represents one of the first attempts to investigate the connections between organizational and managerial factors and Chinese officers’ support for both general and specific interventions into domestic violence. It contributes to the current literature that only included police cadets in the analysis of Chinese police attitudes toward domestic violence despite the fundamental differences between cadets and active-duty officers.
Details
Keywords
Yunan Chen, Ivan Sun, Yuning Wu, Zhe Chao and Yuping Liu
The main purpose of this study is to examine the direct relationship between police officers' perceived technology utilization and their perception of external procedural…
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.
Details