Research indicates that women are still underrepresented in policing and that police culture is not fully accepting of its sisters in blue. As police organizations strive toward building an inclusive workforce, we must understand how women, already in the field, view their place and experiences within their jobs, organizations, and workgroups. Thus, in the current research, we use a comparative sample (n = 832) of male and female officers to examine perceptions of fit in the job, organization, and workgroup, and how these perceptions relate to reports of workplace incivilities. Findings indicate that women "fit in"with the job and the broader agency, but they are less likely than men to feel they belong within their workgroup. This relationship was partially mediated by workplace incivilities, indicating that women’s experience of subtle forms of discrimination partially explains their lower levels of fit in their workgroup.
AckerJ. (1990).
Hierarchies, jobs, bodies: A theory of gendered organizations. Gender & Society,
4(2), 139–158.
2.
AckerJ. (1992).
From sex roles to gendered institutions. Contemporary Sociology,
21(5), 565–569.
3.
AckerJ. (2006).
Inequality regimes: Gender, class, and race in organizations. Gender & Society,
20(4), 441–464.
4.
AdamsG. A.BuckJ. (2010).
Social stressors and strain among police officers: It’s not just the bad guys. Criminal Justice and Behavior,
37(9), 1030–1040.
5.
AnderssonL. M.PearsonC. M. (1999).
Tit for tat? The spiraling effect of incivility in the workplace. The Academy of Management Review,
24(3), 452.
6.
ArchboldC. A.HassellK. D.StichmanA. J. (2010).
Comparing promotion aspirations among female and male police officers. International Journal of Police Science & Management,
12(2), 287–303.
7.
ArchboldC. A.SchulzD. M. (2008).
Making rank: The lingering effects of tokenism on female police officers’ promotion aspirations. Police Quarterly,
11(1), 50–73.
8.
ArchboldC. A.SchulzD. M. (2012).
Research on women in policing: A look at the past, present, and future. Sociology Compass,
6(9), 694–706.
9.
Bretz, J., & Judge, T. A. (1994). Person–organization fit and the theory of work adjustment: Implications for satisfaction, tenure, and career success. Journal of Vocational behavior, 44(1), 32-54.
10.
BrownJ. (2007).
From cult of masculinity to smart macho: Gender perspectives on police occupational culture. Sociology of Crime, Law & Deviance,
8, 205–226.
11.
BrownJ.FieldingJ. (1993).
Qualitative differences in men and women police officers’ experience of occupational stress. Work & Stress,
7(4), 327–340.
12.
BrownJ.FlemingJ.SilvestriM.LintonK.GousetiI. (2019).
Implications of police occupational culture in discriminatory experiences of senior women in police forces in England and Wales. Policing and Society,
29(2), 121–136.
13.
BrownJ.SilvestriM. (2019).
A police service in transformation: Implications for women police officers. Police Practice and Research,
0(0), 1–17.
14.
BrownT. C.BaldwinJ. M.DierenfeldtR.McCainS. (2019). Playing the game: A qualitative exploration of the female experience in a hypermasculine policing environment. Police Quarterly. 23(2), 143–173.
15.
CableD. M.JudgeT. A. (1996).
Person–organization fit, job choice decisions, and organizational entry. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes,
67(3), 294–311.
16.
ChatmanJ. A. (1989).
Improving interactional organizational research: A model of person-organization fit. The Academy of Management Review,
14(3), 333–349.
17.
CordnerG.CordnerA. (2011).
Stuck on a plateau?: Obstacles to recruitment, selection, and retention of women police. Police Quarterly,
14(3), 207–226.
18.
CorsianosM. (2009). Policing and gendered justice: Examining the possibilities.
University of Toronto Press.
19.
CortinaL. M.MagleyV. J.WilliamsJ. H.LanghoutR. D. (2001).
Incivility in the workplace: Incidence and impact. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology,
6(1), 64–80.
20.
DawleyD.HoughtonJ. D.BucklewN. S. (2010).
Perceived organizational support and turnover intention: The mediating effects of personal sacrifice and job fit. The Journal of Social Psychology,
150(3), 238–257.
21.
DodgeM.ValcoreL.GomezF. (2011).
Women on SWAT teams: Separate but equal? Policing:An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management,
34(4), 699–712.
22.
Doerner, W. G. (1995). Officer retention patterns: An affirmative action concern for police agencies. American Journal of Police, 14, 197.
23.
EdwardsJ. R. (1991). Person-job fit: A conceptual integration, literature review, and methodological critique. In Cooper C. L. & Robertson I. T. (Eds.), International review of industrial and organizational psychology, 1991, Vol. 6 (pp. 283–357). John Wiley & Sons.
Felkenes, G. T., Peretz, P., & Schroedel, J. R. (1993). An analysis of the mandatory hiring of females: The Los Angeles Police Department experience. Women & Criminal Justice, 4(2), 31--63.
26.
GabrielA. S.DiefendorffJ. M.ChandlerM. M.MoranC. M.GregurasG. J. (2014).
The dynamic relationships of work affect and job satisfaction with perceptions of fit. Personnel Psychology,
67(2), 389–420.
27.
Gabriel, A. S., Diefendorff, J. M., Chandler, M. M., Moran, C. M., & Greguras, G. J. (2014). The dynamic relationships of work affect and job satisfaction with perceptions of fit. Personnel Psychology, 67(2), 389--420.
28.
GarciaV. (2003).
“Difference” in the police department: Women, policing, and “doing gender.” Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice,
19(3), 330–344.
29.
Hyland, S. S., & Davis, E. (2019, October). Local police departments, 2013: Personnel (NCJ 252835). Bureau of Justice Statistics.
30.
IngramJ. R.PaolineE. A.TerrillW. (2013).
A multilevel framework for understanding police culture: The role of the workgroup. Criminology,
51(2), 365–397.
31.
JordanJ. (2002).
Will any woman do? Police, gender and rape victims.Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management,
25(2), 319–44.
32.
KringenA. L. (2014).
Scholarship on women and policing: Trends and policy implications. Feminist Criminology,
9(4), 367–381.
33.
KringenA. L.NovichM. (2018).
Is it ‘just hair’ or is it ‘everything’? Embodiment and gender repression in policing.Gender, Work & Organization,
25(2), 195–213.
34.
KristofA. L. (1996).
Person-organization fit: An integrative review of its conceptualizations, measurement, and implications. Personnel Psychology,
49(1), 1–49.
35.
Kristof-BrownA. L.ZimmermanR. D.JohnsonE. C. (2005).
Consequences of individuals’ fit at work: A meta-analysis of person–job, person–organization, person–group, and person–supervisor fit. Personnel Psychology,
58(2), 281–342.
36.
LanganD.SandersC. B.GouweloosJ. (2019).
Policing women’s bodies: Pregnancy, embodiment, and gender relations in Canadian police work. Feminist Criminology,
14(4), 466–487.
37.
LauverK. J.Kristof-BrownA. (2001).
Distinguishing between employees’ perceptions of person-job and person-organization fit. Journal of Vocational Behavior,
59(3), 454–470.
38.
LonswayK. A.MooreM.HarringtonP.SmealE.SpillarK. (2003). Hiring & retaining women: The advantage to law enforcement agencies. A report for the National Center for Women & Policing, a division of the Feminist Majority Foundation. http://womenandpolicing.com/pdf/NewAdvantagesReport.pdf
39.
LonswayK. A.PaynichR.HallJ. N. (2013).
Sexual harassment in law enforcement: Incidence, impact, and perception. Police Quarterly,
16(2), 177–210.
40.
LyonsH. Z.BrennerB. R.FassingerR. E. (2005).
A multicultural test of the theory of work adjustment: Investigating the role of heterosexism and fit perceptions in the job satisfaction of lesbian, gay, and bisexual employees. Journal of Counseling Psychology,
52(4), 537–548.
41.
LyonsH. Z.MehtaM.VelezB. L.NeillN. (2014).
Tests of the theory of work adjustment with economically distressed African Americans. Journal of Counseling Psychology,
61(3), 473–483.
42.
MarshC. (2019).
It’s a man’s world, try to convince the men otherwise: The role of women in Irish policing. Women & Criminal Justice,
29(3), 148–162.
43.
MartinS. E. (1979).
Policewomen and policewomen: Occupational role dilemmas and choices of female officers. Journal of Police Science and Administration,
7(3), 314–323.
44.
MartinS. E. (1999).
Police force or police service? Gender and emotional labor. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science,
561(1), 111–126.
45.
MatusiakR. E.MatusiakM. C. (2018).
Structure and function: Impact on employment of women in law enforcement. Women & Criminal Justice,
28(4), 313–335.
46.
MehmetogluM. (2016). Applied statistics using Stata: A guide for the social sciences(1st ed.).
SAGE Publications Ltd.
47.
MillerS. L. (1999). Gender and community policing: Walking the talk.
UPNE.
48.
Morash, M., & Haarr, R. N. (2012). Doing, redoing, and undoing gender: Variation in gender identities of women working as police officers. Feminist criminology, 7(1), 3--23.
49.
NyeC. D.SuR.RoundsJ.DrasgowF. (2012).
Vocational interests and performance: A quantitative summary of over 60 years of research. Perspectives on Psychological Science,
7(4), 384–403.
50.
OswaldA.ProtoE.SgroiD. (2015).
Happiness and productivity. Journal of Labor Economics,
33(4), 789–822.
51.
Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2004). SPSS and SAS procedures for estimating indirect effects in simple mediation models. Behavior research methods, instruments, & computers, 36(4), 717--731.
52.
Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2008). Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior research methods, 40(3), 879--891.
53.
PrenzlerT.SinclairG. (2013).
The status of women police officers: An international review. International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice,
41(2), 115–131.
54.
President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. (2015). Final report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing.
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, U.S. Department of Justice.
55.
Rabe-HempC. (2008).
Survival in an “all boys club”: Policewomen and their fight for acceptance.Policing; Bradford,
31(2), 251–270.
56.
Rabe-HempC. E. (2009).
POLICEwomen or policeWOMEN?: Doing gender and police work. Feminist Criminology,
4(2), 114–129.
57.
Reuss-IanniE.IanniF. A. J. (1983). Street cops and management cops: The two cultures of policing (pp. 251-274). In NewburnT. (Ed.), Policing: Key readings.
Routledge.
58.
SaksA. M.AshforthB. E. (1997).
A longitudinal investigation of the relationships between job information sources, applicant perceptions of fit, and work outcomes. Personnel Psychology,
50(2), 395–426.
59.
SchuckA. M. (2019). Women policing in the United States: Post-gender institutions. In Rabe-HempC.GarciaV. (Eds.), Women policing across the globe: Shared challenges and successes in the integration of women police worldwide (pp. 31–47).
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
60.
SekleckiR.PaynichR. (2007).
A national survey of female police officers: An overview of findings. Police Practice and Research,
8(1), 17–30.
61.
ShelleyT. O.MorabitoM. S.Tobin-GurleyJ. (2011).
Gendered institutions and gender roles: Understanding the experiences of women in policing. Criminal Justice Studies,
24(4), 351–367.
62.
ShjarbackJ. A.TodakN. (2019).
The prevalence of female representation in supervisory and management positions in American law enforcement: An examination of organizational correlates. Women & Criminal Justice,
29(3), 129–147.
63.
SilvestriM. (2007).
“Doing” police leadership: Enter the “new smart macho.”Policing & Society,
17(1), 38–58.
64.
SilvestriM. (2017).
Police culture and gender: Revisiting the ‘cult of masculinity.’ Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice,
11(3), 289–300.
65.
SkolnickJ. (1994). A sketch of the policeman’s ‘working personality’. In NewburnT. (Ed.), Policing: Key readings (pp. 264–279).
Routledge.
