Are the Effects of Legitimacy and Its Components Invariant? Operationalization and the Generality of Sunshine and Tyler’s Empowerment Hypothesis

• DOI: 10.1177/0022427820926228
• Published date: 01 February 2021
• Date: 01 February 2021
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Are the Effects of

Legitimacy and Its

Components Invariant?

Operationalization and

the Generality of

Sunshine and Tyler’s

Empowerment

Hypothesis

Bryanna Fox

1

, Richard K. Moule, Jr.

1

,

Chae M. Jaynes

1

, and Megan M. Parry

2

Abstract

Objectives: To assess whether the relationship between legitimacy and police

empowerment is sensitive to the operationalization of legitimacy, and

whether the effects of legitimacy and its components on empowerment

are invariant. Empowerment is examined in the context of police militariza-

tion—public support for the discretionary use of surplus military equipment

by law enforcement. Method: Using a national sample of 702 American

adults and a series of ordinary least squares regressions, the direct and

interactive effects of legitimacy and its components on empowerment are

1

University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA

2

University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI, USA

Corresponding Author:

Bryanna Fox, Department of Criminology, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Ave.,

SOC 327, Tampa, FL 33620, USA.

Email: bhfox@usf.edu

Journal of Research in Crime and

Delinquency

2021, Vol. 58(1) 3-40

ªThe Author(s) 2020

Article reuse guidelines:

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DOI: 10.1177/0022427820926228

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examined. Results: The composite measure of legitimacy, as well as its

individual components, each exert direct effects on police empowerment.

Instrumental factors have persisting, albeit weaker, effects relative to

normative factors. Interaction terms between the composite legitimacy

measure or its components and sociodemographic characteristics were

not statistically significant. In short, the effects of legitimacy and its com-

ponents on empowerment appear invariant. Conclusions: Findings provide

additional evidence of the generality of Tyler’s process–based model and

extend these considerations to the burgeoning literature on public empow-

erment of police.

Keywords

empowerment, obligation to obey, police legitimacy, police militarization,

process-based model, trust in police

In democratic societies, institutional authorities derive their authority from

the public (Locke 1988; Sabine 1937). These authorities must work to

achieve and maintain legitimacy among those they serve, as it allows for

effective governance. This is especially true for the police (Tyle 2006).

Over the past two decades, a sizable body of research has explored the

process-based model, or the antecedents and consequences of police legiti-

macy. This research has focused primarily on the relationship between

procedural justice and legitimacy (Mazerolle, Antrobus et al. 2013; Tyler

2017; Wolfe et al. 2016) or two main consequences of legitimacy, compli-

ance with the law, and cooperation with police (Tyler and Jackson 2014;

Walters and Bolger 2018). Beyond compliance and cooperation, however,

Sunshine and Tyler (2003) identified a third possible consequence of legiti-

macy: empowerment. When the police are seen as more legit imate, the

public is suggested to be more willing to empower them or grant them

greater discretion, autonomy, and support in the furtherance of their duties.

A growing literature has begun to elaborate on the linkages between legiti-

macy and empowerment, with preliminary evidence indicating that greater

legitimacy increases public willingness to empower the police (see Moule,

Burruss, Parry, et al. 2019).

Despite evidence supporting the legitimacy–empowerment link, issues

remain in this literature. The current study focuses on two specific issues.

First, debates about the appropriate opera tionalization of legitimacy are

ongoing (Huq, Jackson, and Trinkner 2017; Jackson and Bradford 2019;

4Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 58(1)

Jackson and Gau 2016; Tankeb 2009), and the operationalization of legiti-

macy in empowerment research varie s considerably. Assessing whethe r

the legitimacy–empowerment relationship is sensitive to differences in the

measurement of legitimacy is thus necessary. Second, research finds the

effect of procedural justice on the components of legitimacy (trust in police

and obligation to obey) to be largely invariant across many sociodemo-

graphic characteristics (e .g., age, sex, and race; Wolf e et al. 2016). As

Sunshine and Tyler (2003:522, emphasis added) noted, it is “important to

consider whether the models being evaluated apply equally well to every-

one in a community. In particular, do the members of majority and minority

groups consider the same issues when evaluating the police?” Whether the

effects of legitimacy or its components have invariant effects on empower-

ment is unknown. Addressing the issues of operationalization and invar-

iance on the “back end” of the process-based model is necessary for further

establishing the generality of the theory (Aiello 2019; Jackson 2018; Wolfe

et al. 2016).

The process-based model is a pillar of police–community relations (Pre-

sident’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 2015). Empowerment gets at

the heart of these relations as it recognizes the public’s ability to grant

police greater latitude to execute their duties. In the past few years, tensions

between the police and the public, particularly among minority community

members, have escalated into protests and civil unrest. The current study

focuses on one issue that emerged during this time: the acquisition and use

of surplus military weapons and equipment by police (Balko 2013; Kraska

2007). This topic is well-suited for examining empowerment, as it involves

discretionary police practices which may harm police–community relations

and civil liberties (President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing 2015).

Recent research has examined public support for police militarization (e.g.,

Lockwood, Doyle, and Comiskey 2018) but not whether legitimacy corre-

sponds with greater willingness to empower police for the members of

minority and majority groups. Overal l, evidence linking legitimacy and

empowerment, and of the generality of the process-based model, coupled

with Sunshine and Tyler’s explicit suggestion to test the applicability of the

theory across social groups, reinforces the importance of examining invar-

iance. Likewise, the potential harm that militarization may do to police–

community relations justifies a more in-depth assessment of public support

for this behavior.

To that end, the current study assesses whether legitimacy and its com-

ponents influence public empowerment of police, and whether these effects

are invariant across a variety of sociodemographic characteristics. Using a

Fox et al. 5