The Efficacy of Expectancy Disconfirmation in Explaining Crime Victim Satisfaction With the Police

Abstract

In the current era of community policing, it may be argued that the police have come to be seen as having a "business orientation" (Ericson and Haggerty 1997). In this respect, the police are viewed as service providers and their clientele (the public) are seen as consumers of that service. One important subgroup of this consumer population are crime victims. Tra ditional approaches to the study of crime victim satisfaction with the po lice have examined the roles played by victim demographic characteristics, police behavior or conduct, police activities and case status variables in determining satisfaction with the police (Brandl and Horvath 1991; Percy 1980; Poister and McDavid 1978; Shapland 1983). Prior research, how ever, has failed to acknowledge the central role that crime victim expecta tions, in relation to police activities, may play in determining overall satisfaction with the police. Expectancy Disconfirmation theory provides a promising framework for filling this gap. This study provides the first attempt to specifically study the role that expectations play in determining satisfaction with the police. Results of ANOVA and Binary Probit analy ses provide compelling evidence that crime victim expectations and their subsequent confirmation are effective predictors of victim satisfaction.