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Police chief leadership: styles and effectiveness

Mary B. Sarver (Department of Sociology, Criminal Justice, and Women's Studies, University of South Carolina Upstate, Spartanburg, South Carolina, USA)
Holly Miller (College of Criminal Justice, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas, USA)

Policing: An International Journal

ISSN: 1363-951X

Article publication date: 11 March 2014

8960

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the leadership styles of police chiefs and how these styles related to demographic, personality, and effectiveness.

Design/methodology/approach

Participants included 161 police chiefs in Texas who completed the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ 5X-Short) leader form, the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI), and a background characteristics form.

Findings

Results indicate that the police chiefs were fairly evenly classified across leadership styles with the Transformational leaders rated as most effective. Transformational leaders are characterized as confident, energetic, and open-minded. Although few of the demographic variables predicted leadership styles, several of the personality characteristics were significant predictors.

Originality/value

Few previous studies have reported the relationship between police leadership style, personality, and effectiveness. This study adds to the body of knowledge regarding the relationship between these variables by specifically targeting police chiefs.

Keywords

Citation

B. Sarver, M. and Miller, H. (2014), "Police chief leadership: styles and effectiveness", Policing: An International Journal, Vol. 37 No. 1, pp. 126-143. https://doi.org/10.1108/PIJPSM-03-2013-0028

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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