Do Organizational Trust and Commitment Mediate the Linkage Between Psychological Contract and External Procedural Justice Among Taiwanese Police Officers?

• In Event: Policing and Procedural Justice in Greater China

Abstract

This study explores the predictors of Taiwanese police officers’ external procedural justice rendered to the public, which has drawn growing attention in the discussion of police reform. Two study purposes have been established: (1) To clarify whether organization-related and supervisor-related psychological contracts affect Taiwanese police officers’ external procedural justice, respectively. (2) To examine whether organizational trust and organizational commitment mediate the impact of psychological contract on the external procedural justice outcomes of Taiwanese police officers. The survey data were collected from 316 Taiwanese police officers in 2019. Structural equation modeling was performed to examine the relationship between psychological contract and external procedural justice. We found that both organization-related and supervisor-related psychological contracts directly affect external procedural justice. Also, both types of psychological contracts directly enhance officers’ organizational trust and organizational commitment. Most importantly, officers' organizational trust and organizational commitment mediate the impact of both types of psychological contracts on external procedural justice. This study represents the first attempt to examine the mediating effect of organizational trust and organizational commitment. The finding highlights the critical effect of organizational-level factors on external procedural justice among Asian police officers.

Authors

• Yi-Syuan Jian, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY

• Ivan Sun, University of Delaware

• Fei-Lin Chen, Taiwan Police College