Linking Leadership Style and Ethical Climate to Democratic Policing Among Taiwanese Police Officers

• In Event: Policing in Asia (Organized and Sponsored by Korean Society of Criminology in America (KoSCA), Association of Chinese Criminology and Criminal Justice in the United States (ACCCJ), and Division of International Criminology (DIC))

Abstract

Recent studies have revealed the importance of the organizational environment in shaping police officers’ occupational outlooks and operational styles. This study extends this line of inquiry by assessing the linkage between organizational democracy within police departments and democratic policing on the street. Based on officer survey data collected from 270 Taiwanese police officers in 2021, the study uses structural equation modeling to investigate the direct connections between leadership style and ethical climate and officers’ orientations toward external democratic policing and their indirect relationships through officer self-legitimacy. The findings of this study are likely to advance our understanding of the association between internal organizational climate and external treatment of the public.

Authors

• Ivan Sun, University of Delaware

• Yuning Lu Wu, Wayne State University

• Fei-Lin Chen, Taiwan Police College