Conference Agenda

Abstract: This article examines the importance of leader team composition in the context of the 2015 Norwegian police reform, more specifically how the characteristics of leaders affect coordination within the police organization. The article is based on panel data of 1,010 employees in the Norwegian police carried out before and after the reform. The data shows that heterogeneous work experience of leaders correlates positively with leader support for cooperation. However, this support neither translates into more frequent contacts within the police nor to increased satisfaction with cooperation. We discuss the theoretical and empirical implications of these findings, drawing on theoretical insights from the Upper Echelons Perspective.

Research Question: Despite extensive research on public leaders’ behavior and coordination strategies, it is striking how little attention has been given to the effect of individual and collective leadership characteristics on coordination processes. We address this gap by analyzing how leaders’ experience and team diversity shape contact patterns and consequently, coordination in the police. Our research question is as follows: To what extent do leaders’ backgrounds and the composition of leadership teams influence contact frequency and coordination within the police?

Theoretical approach: The theoretical framework of the study is based on Upper Echelons Theory (UET). In light of UET, the experience of leaders and the composition of leadership teams will also shape strategic choices related to collaboration and coordination, in that the characteristics of leaders affect how they prioritize and facilitate coordination. The public sector is often characterized by strict sector boundaries and complex hierarchies, some of which can inhibit coordination. Leaders will, through their position and mandate, play a central role in breaking down such silos and in facilitating a good culture of collaboration. The police reform had the explicit goal of improving coordination between different units and districts. Different leadership team compositions can either facilitate or hinder the implementation of these stated reform goals. Through the perspective of UET, we gain insight into how the composition of leadership teams affects coordination, which can inform recruitment and leadership development in the public sector in general.

Methods and Data: This study is based on panel data of 1,010 employees in the Norwegian police collected at two points in time, before and after the reform. We employ regression models to analyze the relationship between leader team composition and coordination outcomes, focusing on leader experience heterogeneity and its association with cooperation support, contact frequency, and satisfaction with coordination.

Expected Contribution: By analyzing the influence of leaders’ experiences and group diversity on contact patterns and interaction in the police, we aim to uncover how these factors contribute to better coordination or alternatively pose challenges to collaborative processes.

INTRODUCTION

The study argues that understanding public employees` use of performance information is an important challenge for scholarship on performance management. Consequently, the use of performance information has been well-explored (e. g. Melkers & Willoughby, 2005 etc), but insights from police institutions are quite rare. However, much about police officers’ usage of performance information and the factors associated with its use remains unknown.

The use of performance information in public organizations is controversially discussed (e. g. Van Dooren, Bouckaert & Halligan 2010). Within the police context, there are several specific challenges regarding the use of performance information (Collier 2001; Charbonneau & Riccucci 2008). Performance information may be used with reservations if it conflicts with a police force’s existing traditions, procedures, and processes. Furthermore, there is some indication that dysfunctional behavior by police officers could lead to distortion of performance information through manipulation, intentional misrepresentation, or, in extreme instances, unlawful conduct (e. g. Guilfoyle 2012).

Police authorities have devoted extraordinary effort to creating performance data, believing that such information will facilitate accomplishment of the mission. Since 2019 the police of Bavaria has run a statewide application, named COVER. The initiators are interested in whether and how the provided data are used. In line with previous research, the study investigates two research questions:

RQ1: How do police officers use performance information?

RQ2: What factors affect police officers’ information usage?

DIFFERENTIATION OF USER BEHAVIOR AND INFLUENCING FACTORS

In examining how police officers actually employ the performance information supplied to them, this study classifies their behavior into four usage categories:

• frequency

• instrumental or purposeful

• conceptual (knowledge acquisition, and comprehension)

• legitimating

Considering previous studies, the analysis here tests six factors as possible explanations for the four categories of user behavior. These factors are:

• user knowledge

• perceived quality of performance information

• acceptance by police officers

• superior’s/agency leadership’s attitude

• user’s age

• and agency size

DATA COLLECTION

Target population: 237 senior police officers (four Bavarian police agencies)

Data collection: standardized online questionnaire

Survey period: April 22, 2021 to May 10, 2021.

Sample composition: 139 completed and evaluable questionnaires (response rate: 58.64 %)

MAIN FINDINGS

• Ca. 70 % of the respondents use performance information 1-3 hours a week, 2.9 % do not use performance information at all.

• The usage of performance information varies across the different types of German police forces.

• Respondents use performance information mostly conceptually, and subsequently instrumentally or for legitimization.

• Acceptance of performance information proves to be the most important explanatory variable. It has a strong, statistically significant impact on all four kinds of performance information usage. Individual factors such as user´s age, and user’s knowledge have no statistically significant influence on performance information usage.

CONCLUSION

• The amount of variance in usage of performance information is explained by the six factors under investigation (with R2 varying from 24 % - 41 %).

• The type of usage under investigation is relevant when examining factors influencing the use of performance information. Thus, future studies should take usage type into consideration.