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Psychological Empowerment of Frontline Police Officers in Response to Social Service Role Strain in China

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Abstract

Provision of social service is one of the most significant roles of the police. A review of the related literature in policing seems to reveal that empowerment holds significance for frontline officers who are largely responsible for social service delivery. This study examines the possible relationships between police social service role strain (PSSRS) and police social service psychological empowerment (PSSPE) among frontline police officers in China. This study adopts a two-phase (quantitative and qualitative approaches) sequential explanatory design. In the first phase, a questionnaire is used to collect data from a sample of 200 frontline community patrol officers in Shenzhen Public Security Bureau, China. After conducting the quantitative analysis, the author uses in-depth interviews to explore the nature of PSSRS and PSSPE from 12 selected interviewees’ insights. According to the results of the survey and in-depth interviews, the participants report a comparatively high level of PSSRS and a low level of PSSPE. It has been found that there are significantly negative correlations between PSSRS and PSSPE in the Chinese police organization. The Chinese police force is suggested to provide effective interventions for individual experience of psychological empowerment by continuously committing to the organizational philosophy of community policing in response to the PSSRS among frontline police officers.

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Acknowledgments

This research is supported by the Higher Education Innovation Team Building Project of Chongqing City (KJTD201301), China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Criminal Investigation, Research Institution of Security Governance and Social Order Maintenance, Southwest University of Political Science and Law, Chongqing, China

    Xiaohai Wang

  2. Chongqing Institutions of Higher Learning Center of Forensic Science Engineering and Research, Chongqing, China

    Xiaohai Wang

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  1. Xiaohai Wang
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Correspondence to Xiaohai Wang.

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Wang, X. Psychological Empowerment of Frontline Police Officers in Response to Social Service Role Strain in China. Asian Criminology 10, 209–229 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11417-015-9210-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11417-015-9210-5

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