Police Chiefs' Use and Executive Subordinates' Perceived Use of Non-Performance and Performance Based Criteria in Promotional Decisions: Organizational Mobility Channels

Author

Bill D. Press, Lynn University

Date of Award

8-2008

Document Type

Dissertation

Granting Institution

Lynn University

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PHD)

Degree Program

Global Leadership - with a specialization in Corporate and Organizational Management

Department

College of Business and Management

First Advisor

Adam Kosnitzky

Second Advisor

Patrick Halperin

Third Advisor

Ernest Vendrell

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate police promotion and channels of mobility from an "appointed perspective" by those who do the appointments, as well as those chosen for the appointment. There were two ultimate goals of this study. The first was to describe the characteristics of police chiefs and subordinate police executives, and the importance of non-performance based criteria and performance based criteria used in promotion decision making by police chiefs and perceptions of use by subordinate police executives. The second was to extend the intra-organizational mobility model developed by Beehr and Taber (1993), with four additional non-performance based criteria of office politics, trust, personality, and physical attractiveness, to examine its explanatory power, and the reliability and validity of the new factors in the context of the original model.

This study used a quantitative, non-experimental, descriptive, exploratory (comparative), and correlation (explanatory) survey research design to examine the relationships between variables. The study compared the criteria used for promotion; performance and/or non-performance criteria, by surveying selected chiefs, sheriffs, and directors, identified as the agency head, and the perceptions of those who were appointed to upper command level positions by their respective agency head.

The sampling plan involved obtaining an active member list from the IACP of Chiefs and Subordinate Police Executives. Twelve thousand-seven hundred-seventy (12,770) Chiefs and Subordinate Police Executives in the United States that are active members of the IACP were invited to participate in the one month survey. Those members of the accessible population that submitted the survey constituted the final data producing sample.

Five different scales were used in this study, measuring reliable and exceptional performance, luck and favoritism, office politics, demographics, trust, personality, and physical attractiveness. Findings indicated that all scales were valid and reliable instruments, including the 38-Item Intra-Organizational Mobility Channels Questionnaire (IMCQ), which was modified by the researcher from Beer and Taber's (1993) original Four Factor IMCQ.

Findings also identified that chiefs rate reliable performance, personality, and trust criteria significantly more important than subordinate police executives in promotion decisions. Subordinate police executives rated exceptional performance, demographic, luck and favoritism, and office politics criteria significantly more important than police chiefs in promotion decisions.

Recommended Citation

Press, B. D. (2008). Police Chiefs' Use and Executive Subordinates' Perceived Use of Non-Performance and Performance Based Criteria in Promotional Decisions: Organizational Mobility Channels [Doctoral dissertation, Lynn University]. SPIRAL. https://spiral.lynn.edu/etds/180