Measuring Police Climate: The development and evaluation of an instrument measuring police organizational climate.

Abstract

The following study developed and evaluated a new instrument for measuring police climate. The instrument was based on the Competing Values Framework (Quinn & Rohrbaugh, 1983), and measured global climate, external and internal integration, and individual readiness to organizational change. A sample of 188 police members from the 27 police districts in Norway completed the questionnaire. The data from the questionnaires was analyzed with exploratory factor analysis, assessment of internal reliability, and investigation of the inter-correlations between the construct measures. The results indicated preliminary support for the instrument, as a simple factorial solution consistent with theoretical assumptions was obtained, and acceptable internal reliability was found for all but one scale. However, there were some statistical and theoretical challenges with the instrument, as is expected in a scale developed phase. Specifically, global climate as measured though the Competing Values Framework had significant high inter-correlations, and indicated that the police climate types all coexist and work together. Interestingly, the results supported two police specific adjustments to the content and structure of the integrations scale. Overall the results indicate that the instrument is still in a development phase and future studies are needed to confirm and validate the instrument. Implications and future research are discussed.