Off-campus South Dakota State University users: To download campus access theses, please use the following link to log into our proxy server with your South Dakota State University ID and password.
Non-South Dakota State University users: Please talk to your librarian about requesting this thesis through interlibrary loan.
Document Type
Dissertation - University Access Only
Award Date
2003
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department / School
Rural Sociology
First Advisor
Donald Arwood
Abstract
This study is an examination of volunteer police reserve officers from an identity theory perspective. Data was collected via a cross-sectional survey of 194 reserve officers affiliated with a reserve association in Minnesota to determine factors associated with reserve officers’ identity salience, identity prominence, and role performances. Identity salience and identity prominence were treated as the main independent variables and role performances were treated as the main dependent variable. Results of statistical tests indicated the following: (1) one variable, role conflict, was associated with identity salience; (2) two variables, affective commitment and interactional commitment were associated with identity prominence; (3) two variables, identity prominence and number of hours volunteered per month were associated with role performances; and (4) three variables, number of months as a reserve officer, reflected appraisals, and social integration, may enhance the associations with identity salience and/or identity prominence and/or role performances. This study contributes to the sociological literature by examining the police volunteer identity as the consequence of relationships to the social structure and others. It also makes a contribution to the largely atheoretical police literature because it goes beyond descriptive characteristics of police volunteers and provides a theoretical explanation of why reserve officers engage in particular types of role performances.
Library of Congress Subject Headings
Volunteer workers in law enforcement - Psychology
Identity (Psychology)
Format
application/pdf
Publisher
South Dakota State University
Recommended Citation
Hilal, Susan M., "Volunteer Police Reserve Officers: An Identity Theory Perspective" (2003). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 5972.
https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/etd/5972