Applying Social Exchange Theory to Police Deviance: Exploring Self-Protective Behaviors Among Police Officers

Abstract

Social exchange theory is one of the prominent paradigms used to explain the processes linking organizational treatment of employees to their job performance. However, the theoretical link between perceived organizational treatment and police deviance has not been fully explored. This research addresses this gap by analyzing the relationship between perceptions of organizational justice and the use of police self-protective behaviors (SPBs) using organizational support and organizational indifference as ad hoc indicators of the social exchange process. Data were collected using an online self-report survey distributed to police officers in a southern state who are members of a police officer association ( n = 1,861). Consistent with previous social exchange research, the findings generally support the idea that fairness is related to SPBs, but largely to the extent that it enhances the social exchange in terms of increasing perceptions of organizational support and reducing perceptions of organizational indifference, which both directly affect an officer’s use of SPBs, and are a type of police deviance. Specific findings, relevant policy implications, and directions for future research are discussed.