A quantitative approach to police cynicism in South Africa: comparative notes with policing in Serbia and its relationship with career options and job satisfaction
Cynicism is often viewed as a ‘cancer’ in policing. The present research inquiry revolves around a comparison of a two-sample empirical investigation of police cynicism in South Africa and Serbia. Cynicism is broadly defined as a negative attitude characterised either by confusion, frustration, alie...
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| Contributors: | ; ; |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2017
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| In: |
Acta criminologica
Year: 2017, Volume: 30, Issue: 2, Pages: 96-115 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Summary: | Cynicism is often viewed as a ‘cancer’ in policing. The present research inquiry revolves around a comparison of a two-sample empirical investigation of police cynicism in South Africa and Serbia. Cynicism is broadly defined as a negative attitude characterised either by confusion, frustration, alienation and feelings of jealousy, hatred or total powerlessness to express him/herself against those apparently responsible for such feelings. The present study entails a two-dimensional approach towards the prevalence, nature and correlates of police cynicism and possible associations with career motivations and job satisfaction. Broadly speaking, structural (organisational) cynicism relates to internal matters of police institutions with a negative attitude towards typical bureaucratic practices: formal prescriptions, administrative processes and management practices. Operational (functional) cynicism refers to the external occupational milieu that directly or indirectly relates to the role fulfillers’ work situation which apparently manifests itself in a lack of enthusiasm, a lack of pride in the process of rendering a service to the public and a latent reluctance to conform to standards. Cynicism has been statistically measured using a new developed 24-item, two-cluster measuring scales, one containing 12 structural and another 12 operational cynicism items. Another variable cluster relating to motivations for career choice and job satisfaction contains ten independent variables and also includes crucial dependent variables relating to the work situation of police officers, like: police patrol, impunity, community involvement in democratic policing, police use of force, etc. Cynicism appears to be normally distributed based on fairly strong convergence on all 24 cynicism scale items. Cynicism scores varied significantly across police stations/departments. Reliability (Cronbach’s Alpha) and validity (Factor Analyses) of the measuring instrument proved to be at acceptable levels in both countries. Research results are indicative that police cynicism should be treated as a multidimensional concept and more research is required to unveil conditions that impinge on police professionalism (and leadership) and productivity among police ranks. |
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| ISSN: | 1012-8093 |