Exploring the Direct and Indirect Linkages Between Supervisory Disrespect and Officer Cooperation and Disrespect in Policing

• Author: Cynthia-Lee Williams,Yuning Wu,Ivan Y. Sun,Marrten Van Craen
• Published date: 01 September 2022
• Date: 01 September 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/10986111211037878
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Exploring the Direct

and Indirect Linkages

Between Supervisory

Disrespect and Officer

Cooperation and

Disrespect in Policing

Cynthia-Lee Williams

1

,

Yuning Wu

2

, Ivan Y. Sun

3

, and

Marrten Van Craen

4

Abstract

Although recent studies have found that organizational justice is instrumental in

promoting beneficial outcomes within police agencies, relatively little is known

about how organizational injustice may be linked to police officers’ occupational

attitudes and behaviors. We propose a theoretical framework linking disrespectful

supervisors directly to officers’ willingness to cooperate with supervisors and treat

citizens with respect and indirectly through occupational stress, organizational com-

mitment, and organizational identification. Based on sur vey data collected from 584

police officers in Taiwan, we tested the proposed direct and indirect relationships

using structural equation modeling (SEM) approaches. We found that having disre-

spectful supervisors directly lowers officers’ willingness to work with supervisors.

The relationship between disrespectful supervisors and disrespectful officers is

1

Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, William Paterson University, Wayne, New Jersey, United

States

2

Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, United States

3

Department of Criminal Justice, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, United States

4

Post-doctoral Researcher, K.U. Leuven (University of Leuven), Belgium

Corresponding Author:

Cynthia-Lee Williams, William Paterson University, Wayne, NJ 07470, United States.

Email: Williamsc77@wpunj.edu

Police Quarterly

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DOI: 10.1177/10986111211037878

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2022, Vol. 25(3) 338–363

Williams et al. 339

largely indirect, mediated by occupational stress, organizational commitment, and

organizational identification. Implications for future research and policy are

discussed.

Keywords

supervisory disrespect, occupational stress, organizational commitment, coopera-

tion with supervisors, disrespect toward citizens, Taiwan police

Acts of police misconduct have recently dominated media outlets in Western

countries. There have been calls for police reform, which, in theory, would help

to build and maintain public trust in law enforcement. Police trustworthiness is

essential for improving police effectiveness, both in terms of order maintenance

and crime-fighting practices. For meaningful reforms to take place, where police

departments adopt democratic policing norms that focus on fair and respectful

policing, the organizational climate of police departments must be supportive to

officers in nature (Haas et al., 2015; Wolfe & Piquero, 2011). Supervisor treat-

ment of frontline officers affects their relationships with supervisors and atti-

tudes toward the citizenry. Positive supervisory treatment leads to more line

officers complying with their supervisors and endorsing a service-orientated

style of policing, an approach that benefits the public overall (Myhill &

Bradford, 2013).

Effective leadership is necessary for organizations to reach their objectives

(Pearson-Goff & Herrington, 2013). Police leadership research has been an area

of interest for social scientists for some time. Researchers have posited that

unlike the traditional authoritarian style of leadership, the transformational

style requires supervisors to be good communicators who shoulder the respon-

sibility of creating a shared cooperative vision with subordinate officers (Can et

al., 2017). Studies have shown that the type of supervisory treatment received by

police officers is linked to how they interact with civilians and their overall

health (Blum, 2000; Kouzes & Posner, 2008). For instance, a lack of support

from management generates stress among police officers (Blum, 2000; Webster,

2013). Consequently, work-related stress among officers leads to low produc-

tivity, defiance of police rules/orders, and police misconduct (Houdmont, 2016;

Shane, 2010).

This study contributes to the existing literature on policing by testing a con-

ceptual model (see Figure 1) that links negative treatment received from super-

visors to officer treatment of civilians and office compliance through the

mediating mechanisms of officer stress, commitment, and identification.

Specifically, this study seeks to uncover the direct effects of supervisory