Organizational Behavior Research Seminar: Rodrigo Canales

Rodrigo Canales

Boston University

Shaping Police Officer Mindsets and Behaviors: Experimental
Evidence of Procedural Justice Training

Date: Friday April 26, 2024
Time:10:30 AM -12:00 PM
Location: Armstrong Building, Room 155A

Abstract:

Research on organizational justice shows that perceptions of justice by internal and external agents are reliable predictors of key organizational outcomes. But how can we promote the enactment of fair behavior by those with decision-making authority within organizations? This is particularly important for complex situations, where individual discretion is required and “necessary evils” are unavoidable. Few organizations face this challenge as intensely as police forces, where misconduct and bad decisions by their street-level bureaucrats can have large negative consequences. This paper treats justice as a dependent variable to investigate if police officers can be trained to effectively incorporate the principles of procedural justice in their interactions with citizens. In collaboration with the Mexico City police, we implemented a randomized controlled trial with 1,854 officers to measure whether procedural justice training changed their perceptions of policing and actual behavior on the field. We find significant and positive effects of the training across all measures of the procedural justice model. Our research yields insights into critical elements to consider in organizational training programs, including managerial alignment with the objectives of the training and a consideration of employees’ perceptions of the extent to which their work is understood by others.