Police recruitment through an intergroup communication lens: a randomized experiment

Abstract

Objectives

Many police agencies now find it difficult to recruit and retain officers. To learn more about these issues, we used a factorial survey experiment to test whether recruitment materials inspired by the intergroup communication literature are more effective than standard police recruitment materials.

Methods

We showed vignettes to a sample of 378 communication students. Within the vignettes, we varied how a policewoman described her career and her life. We then measured the extent to which the treatment conditions influenced participants’ general attitudes toward police and specific attitudes toward working in policing.

Results

The treatment did not have significant effects on the two general attitudinal outcomes, but did have significant effects on respondents’ interest in working in policing.

Conclusions

Incorporating principles from the study of intergroup communication can help police agencies attract a larger and more potentially diverse pool of candidates.