Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Research on workforce diversity and minority integration in police agencies has focused primarily on the extent to which these agencies have hired men and women of different ethnic and racial backgrounds. Some studies have examined the impact of minority integration on police management and operations. However, the research has neglected to examine whether the integration of ethnic and racial minorities has an impact on intra-workgroup interactions in which White and minority police officers and civilians communicate and interact among each other. This study undertook a casual (or path) analysis of contextual organisational factors and their impact on intra-workgroup interaction. The findings show that contextual organisational factors have direct and indirect effects on the extent to which White and minorities within a workgroup are likely to interact.

Keywords

disparity index path analysis Simpson index social interaction workforce diversity

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Blau

P. M.

(1977). Inequality and heterogeneity. New York, NY: Free Press.

Choi

(2010). Diversity in the U.S. federal government: Antecedents and correlates of diversity in federal agencies. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 30, 301–321.

Fridell

L. A.

(2004). By the numbers: A guide for analyzing race data from vehicle stops. Washington, DC: Police Executive Research Forum.

Guajardo

S. A.

(1999). Workforce diversity: Monitoring employment trends in public organizations. Public Personnel Management, 28, 63–85.

Harrington

Lonsway

K. A.

(2004). Current barriers and future promise for women in policing. In Price

B. R.

Sokoloff

N. J.

(Eds.), The criminal justice system and women (pp. 495–510). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Hochstedler

Regoli

R. M.

Poole

E. D.

(1984). Changing of the guard in American cities: A current empirical assessment of integration in twenty municipal police departments. Criminal Justice Review, 9, 8–14.

Kellough

J. E.

(1990). Integration in the public workplace: Determinants of minority and female employment in federal agencies. Public Administration Review, 50, 557–564.

Kim

P. S.

(1993). Racial integration in the American federal government with special reference to Asian Americans. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 13, 52–66.

Lieberson

(1969). Measuring population diversity. American Sociological Review, 34, 850–862.

10.

Martin

S. E.

(2004). The interactive effects of race and sex on women police officers. In Price

B. R.

Sokoloff

N. J.

(Eds.), The criminal justice system and women (pp. 527–542). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

11.

McClauley

Plummer

Moskalenko

Mordkoff

J. T.

(2001). The exposure index: A measure of intergroup contact. Journal of Peace Psychology, 7, 321–336.

12.

McCluskey

C. P.

McCluskey

J. D.

(2004). Diversity in policing: Latino representation in law enforcement. Journal of Ethnicity and Criminal Justice, 2 (3), 67–81.

13.

Pitts

D. W.

(2005). Diversity, representation, and performance: Evidence about race and ethnicity in public organizations. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 15, 615–631.

14.

Pitts

D. W.

(2009). Diversity management, job satisfaction, and performance: Evidence from U.S. federal agencies. Public Administration Review, 62, 328–338.

15.

Schulz

D. M.

(2004). Invisible no more: A social history of women in U.S. policing. In Price

B. R.

Sokoloff

N. J.

(Eds.), The criminal justice system and women (pp. 483–494). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

16.

Simpson

E. H.

(1949). Measuring diversity. Nature, 163.

17.

Smith

B. W.

(2003). The impact of police officer diversity on police-caused homicides. Policy Studies Journal, 31, 147–162.

18.

Starks

G. L.

(2009). Minority representation in senior positions in U.S. federal agencies: A paradox of underrepresentation. Public Personnel Management, 38, 79–90.

19.

Stokes

L. D.

Scott

J. F.

(1996). Affirmative action and selected minority groups in law enforcement. Journal of Criminal Justice, 24, 29–38.

20.

Walker

(1983). Employment of Black and Hispanic police officers. Review of Applied Urban Research, 5, 1–6.

21.

Walker

(1989). Employment of Black and Hispanic police officers, 1983–1988: A follow-up study. Omaha: University of Nebraska at Omaha.

22.

Walker

Turner

K. B.

(1992). A decade of modest progress: Employment of Black and Hispanic police employment in the 50 largest cities, 1983–1992. Omaha: University of Nebraska at Omaha.

23.

Winters

C. A.

(1991). Hispanics and policing in Chicago and Cook County, Illinois. The Police Journal, 64, 71–76.

Workforce Diversity: Assessing the Impact of Minority Integration on Intra-Workgroup Interaction

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References