Environmental Predictors of Municipal Police Agency Goals

Abstract

Applications of organizational theory to police organizations frequently employ the framework of structural contingency or institutional theories. The current study seeks to evaluate the impact of both technical and institutional environmental aspects of policing on the goals of municipal police agencies. The influence of a combination of environmental contingencies and chiefs’ ratings of institutional sectors is explored to assess which theory better explains chiefs’ emphasis on police agency goals. Relying on ordinary least squares regression models, the impact of two competing theoretical frameworks is assessed. Findings suggest that chiefs’ demographics (control variables) and legitimacy (institutional) factors have a greater impact than technical (structural contingency theory) elements on the goals that chiefs emphasize within their agencies. Potential theoretical advancement employing public sector agencies is also presented.

Keywords

police chiefs institutional theory structural contingency theory organizational theory

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