Personal perceptions and organizational factors influencing police discretion: evidence from the Turkish National Police

    Authors

    H. Tasdoven;N. Kapucu

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Int. Rev. Adm. Sci.

    Keywords

    administrative responsiveness; motivation; police decision-making; police discretion; PUBLIC-SERVICE MOTIVATION; EXPECTANCY-THEORY; INTRINSIC MOTIVATION; ARREST DECISIONS; JOB-SATISFACTION; PERFORMANCE; DETERMINANTS; ENFORCEMENT; BEHAVIOR; VIOLENCE; Public Administration

    Abstract

    Unsupervised police decisions taken under stress inherently involve the exercise of discretion and remain questionable when considering the legitimacy of police behavior. Law enforcement agencies seek ways to control discretion to avoid the undesirable consequences of police discretion and maintain organizational legitimacy. Drawing on expectancy and value-based approaches, this study examines the role of extrinsic motivation, intrinsic value orientation and selective enforcement attitudes on the responsiveness of Turkish patrol officers. The findings of the study suggest that reward expectancy which represents the extrinsic motivational perspective, did not have a statistically significant relationship to responsiveness. Public service motivation representing the intrinsic motives of respondents, on the other hand, indicated a strong, positive, and statistically significant relationship with responsiveness. Officer attitudes toward selective enforcement negatively influenced officer responsiveness. Points for practitioners Unlike research that emphasizes the role of contingent incentives on controlling discretion, this study empirically reported that intrinsic rewards have an even stronger effect on officer behavior. The leader's role is essential in making followers work towards the interests of the public and the well-being of society. Ill-designed extrinsic reward systems may crowd out intrinsic motives of employees and cause a decrease in work-related outcomes. This is especially true in hierarchical organizations where reward policies are more likely to be perceived as unfair.

    Journal Title

    International Review of Administrative Sciences

    Volume

    79

    Issue/Number

    3

    Publication Date

    1-1-2013

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    523

    Last Page

    543

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000324038600011

    ISSN

    0020-8523

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