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The purpose and approaches of this article differ from those of prior research in several ways. First, while existing leadership meta-analytic research has focused on the relationship between specific types of leadership and organizational correlates, this study is a comprehensive and systematic meta-study of overall leadership types and organizational effectiveness. Second, while most of the aforementioned previous leadership meta-analysis studies target various countries and organizations, this study focuses on the leadership of the police, especially the South Korean police, and organizational effectiveness. In particular, this study is necessary because leadership meta-analysis studies of police organizations are rare. Third, this study can contribute to the accumulation of leadership knowledge in the context of contingency theory. According to contingency theory, no form of leadership is effective in all situations. Both the environment and organizational factors of leadership have a significant impact on the effectiveness of leadership. In this regard, it is very meaningful to meta-analyze the studies on leadership and organizational effectiveness of the Korean police and interpret the results in conjunction with the Korean national context and the characteristics of the police.

In this study, the authors conduct a meta-analysis of the studies on the leadership and organizational effectiveness of the South Korean police. To select the literature for the meta-analysis, the authors used the Preferred Items for Systematic Views and Meta-analysis procedure. First, 254 papers were searched, of which 133 were published in academic journals and 121 were dissertations. Second, 84 studies were selected, excluding 135 double-discovered studies, 30 studies unrelated to police leadership and 5 undisclosed studies. Finally, the authors checked the abstract and content of the literature. The authors evaluated the quality of the 36 studies that were selected through the above process. The authors estimate the sample size–weighted mean correlation by reflecting the sample size of each study in the converted Fisher's z-value. The final result is presented by reverting to the correlation coefficient for convenience of interpretation. Through this meta-analytic process, the authors estimated the mean effect size of whole leadership on the organizational effectiveness of the Korean police by integrating the effect size of each study.

The findings of this study have the following theoretical and practical implications. First, the results of this study indicate that the above trends in international leadership research have been applied to the Korean police as well and that the above trends in international leadership research have been applied equally to research into the South Korean police. The authors argue that more servant leadership studies are needed on the South Korean police. Second, the results of this study demonstrate that leadership is strongly correlated with organizational effectiveness among the South Korean police as well. Leadership is also found to be significantly positively related to attitude, behavior and satisfaction among the South Korean police. These results suggest that the leadership of police managers is very important for effective organizational management and improved police performance. Third, the results indicate significant differences in the effect sizes of each type of leadership. The largest effect size is the empowering leadership (EML), almost double the smallest effect size, authentic leadership. The results of the current study also indicate that transactional leadership (TSL) has a strong correlation with organizational effectiveness. Advanced research shows a significantly smaller effect than the magnitude of the effect size in this study. The authors examine the powerful effect of EML among the South Korean police from the perspective of organizational culture and the characteristics of the South Korean police. Influenced by social culture, the South Korean police also have hierarchical characteristics and a rigid organizational culture. In addition, although the police have strong discretion due to the nature of policing, individual police officers often have to take responsibility for the consequences of police discretion.

The most significant limitation of the current study is the lack of research using meta-analysis. The meta-analysis of the study was conducted on the police leadership and organizational effectiveness of one country, Korea. This is both a strong and weak point of the study. The lack of effect size on other leadership styles except transformational leadership and TSL can make it difficult to generalize the study results. There are only four samples of effect size, so careful interpretation is needed. This is also the inherent limitation of meta-analysis. After sufficient research is accumulated, it is necessary to re-estimate the effect size in future studies. In this study, the authors found differences in the effect sizes on organizational effectiveness by leadership types among the South Korean police, but more research is needed to determine the cause of the difference. In addition, this meta-analysis has a very high level of heterogeneity. This implies the possibility of various moderators, but the current study does not consider moderators. The authors recommend a continuous study on moderators that play a role in the relationship between police leadership and leadership outcomes.

In this study, the authors found differences in the effect sizes on organizational effectiveness by leadership types among the South Korean police, but more research is needed to determine the cause of the difference. In addition, this meta-analysis has a very high level of heterogeneity. This implies the possibility of various moderators, but the current study does not consider moderators. The authors recommend a continuous study on moderators that play a role in the relationship between police leadership and leadership outcomes.

The authors’ empirical evidence once again supports the claim of leadership contingency theory that leadership is the result of the interaction of factors such as followers, leaders and organizational environments. It is difficult to conclude that the most effective leadership style among the South Korean police is EML. However, the authors’ findings can raise reasonable questions about generalized leadership effects and serve as evidence that the effects of leadership can vary across national and organizational contexts. Nevertheless, the authors can ask reasonable questions about the existence of generalized leadership effects. Furthermore, the authors’ findings can serve as evidence that the effectiveness of leadership can vary depending on cultural and organizational contexts.

Numerous studies have been conducted on leadership and organizational effectiveness. However, meta-analysis studies on the relationship between leadership and organizational effectiveness focusing on certain national police forces have been limited. In this regard, the current study conducted a meta-analysis on the correlation between leadership and organizational effectiveness for South Korean police. While existing leadership meta-analytic research has focused on the relationship between specific types of leadership and organizational correlates, this study is a comprehensive and systematic meta-study of overall leadership types and organizational effectiveness. While most of the aforementioned previous leadership meta-analysis studies target various countries and organizations, this study focuses on the leadership of the police, especially the South Korean police, and organizational effectiveness. Previous research studies on the leadership of the Korean police have not properly considered national and cultural contexts. Most of them have the same limitations, that is, they applied each leadership theories that were developed in foreign countries (especially transformative leadership and transactional leadership) to the Korean police to explain whether each leadership type has a significant relationship with organizational effectiveness. The meta-analysis of this study can contribute to existing literature by overcoming this limitation. In addition, if the authors’ results match the cultural and historical characteristics of Korean police, they can provide evidence of the potential for effective police leadership in each country. The authors can also argue that meta-analysis of police leadership in other countries is necessary.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the roots of police corruption, evaluate the effectiveness of anti-corruption measures, and suggest recommendations to prevent and control police corruption in South Korea.

This paper adopts a qualitative approach to identify the key causes and to assess the reform agenda of police corruption in South Korea. In doing so, it introduces a brief history and profile of the police force, explores changes in police corruption, identifies the roots of police corruption, assesses the effectiveness of anti-corruption measures and offers policy recommendations to curb corruption in the South Korean police.

This paper claims that conventional and current anti-corruption measures have not been effective in minimizing police corruption in South Korea. It identifies the scope of police work and duties without proper accountability, a code of silence in police organizations, the low ethical standards of police officers and weak punitive measures against corrupt police officers as the main causes of corruption. Strenuous reform efforts that directly target these causes are needed to reduce corruption in the South Korean police.

This paper will be a useful reference for readers who are interested in why corruption has not been effectively prevented and controlled in the South Korean police.

This study explores the applicability of Anderson's (1999) code of the street framework to an Asian context by examining the relationship between residents' perceptions of police ineffectiveness, nationality, and street codes in foreigner-concentrated areas in South Korea.

The authors used survey data from 1,865 residents of diverse nationalities living in 20 foreigner-concentrated areas in South Korea. Mixed-effects ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and moderation analysis were used to examine (1) the association between residents' perceptions of police ineffectiveness and their street codes and (2) how this association varies across nationality groups.

The study findings overall indicated that higher resident perceptions of police as ineffective tended to correspond with greater levels of street codes. However, the interaction analysis results found that this relationship was conditioned by nationality. Specifically, perceptions of police ineffectiveness were associated with greater levels of street codes among foreign residents, particularly Korean-Chinese residents, whereas this was not the case among Korean residents.

The relationship between perceptions of the police and street codes described by Anderson (1999) has primarily been examined in the context of the U.S. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study represents the first attempt to explore the link between residents' perceptions of the police and street codes by different nationality groups within an Asian setting.

The purpose of this study is to examine the contours of police integrity among Korean police officers a decade after police reform was started.

The data were collected in 2009 at the Korean National Police University (KNPU) and the Police Comprehensive Academy (PCA). The questionnaires distributed to police officers contained 14 vignettes describing various forms of police misconduct. The sample consists of 329 police officers, mostly non‐supervisors, attending courses at the KNPU and PCA.

Results indicate that the contours of police integrity vary across different forms of misconduct. Regardless of whether the respondents' views were measured through questions about misconduct seriousness, appropriate discipline, willingness to report, or knowledge about official rules, the findings suggest that Korean police officers perceived corruption as a serious form of police misconduct, while they considered the use of excessive force to be substantially less serious. In addition, a strong code of silence among the police was detected.

The study examines the contours of police integrity among a convenience sample of police officers from South Korea.

The Korean police administrators interested in controlling police misconduct could utilize this methodology to explore the contours of the code of silence among the Korean police. The results of the study indicate that substantial focus should be put on changing police officer views about the use of excessive force and narrowing the code of silence in general.

The results show that the contours of police integrity among South Korean police officers clearly reflect the attitudes and views of the society at large toward corruption and use of excessive force. The lenient attitudes that South Korean police officers have expressed regarding the use of excessive force reflect both the historical attitudes and the lack of clarity of official rules. The strong code of silence is related to the insufficient protection for whistleblowers and the adherence to Confucianism among Korean citizens.

Prior research predominantly measured police integrity as the opposite of police corruption in Western democracies and East European countries in transition. This research expands this by focusing on different forms of police misconduct. In addition, it explores integrity in an Asian democracy with the police agency undergoing extensive reform.

Prior studies examining the relationship between organizational commitment and organizational behavior contain several limitations, such as mixed levels of measurement and lack of empirical study in different social contexts. Using Mowday, Porter, and Steers's approach, this study aims to investigate individual demographic, personal, departmental and community characteristics as factors affecting police officers' levels of strategy commitment.

Using attitudinal measures of individual, departmental, and community traits, which were developed by Michigan Regional Community Policing Institute, the current study collected data from 206 randomly selected South Korean police officers who were designated as community‐oriented policing (COP) officers or who were under COP training at the time of the survey.

The current study found that officers' creativity and community ownership were significantly related to strategy commitment to COP. In addition, it was found that officers' demographic characteristics were not significantly related to the levels of commitment to COP. Regarding departmental characteristics, supportive climate among officers was significantly and positively related to officers' levels of commitment to COP. Finally, officers in rural agencies were more likely to have higher levels of commitment to COP in South Korea.

Although the current study utilized random samples for data collection, the size of the data set was relatively small. Thus, generalization of the findings from this study should be cautiously carried out. Based on the findings, policy implications are suggested.

The current study attempts to identify factors affecting commitment to COP at multiple levels (individual, organizational and community levels) using attitudinal measures of various aspects of policing in South Korea. The findings will add to the comparative understanding on officers' commitment to COP.

The purpose of this paper is to test the dual frames of reference theory. For the test, the reference point hypothesis examines whether the difference in the quality of social conditions between the home and host countries determines the variations of immigrants’ trust in the institutions of their host country.

By using hierarchical linear modeling analysis, the current study examines whether “difference of homicide rate from South Korea” or “difference of level of democracy from South Korea” influences immigrants’ confidence in the police. Using data collected from nine different immigrant groups in South Korea, the current study examined both country-level factors as well as individual-level factors.

According to the analysis results, the difference of level of democracy from South Korea significantly influenced immigrants’ confidence in the South Korean police. Specifically, when immigrants came from democratically under-developed countries, they showed a relatively high level of confidence in the South Korean police.

Confidence in the police among the first generation of immigrants has recently attracted increasing attention. However, no previous studies have examined immigrants’ confidence in the police within an Asian country. Thus, the current study might contribute to generating better police performances toward first-generation immigrants who tend to be discriminated against and are also vulnerable to various forms of victimization because of their new status in a new society.

Using a sample of male police officers in South Korea, the purpose of this paper is to examine whether police stressors revealed in the western literature are also applicable in the South Korean context.

Officers stationed at 16 frontline substations in a large metropolitan city reported the frequency with which they had been exposed to seven classes of police stressors and perceived somatization symptoms.

Work-family conflict and victimization at the hands of citizens were revealed as the significant predictors of officers’ stress-related somatization symptoms. Unlike western studies, the present study did not reveal moderating effects of coping strategies and social support. Stressors’ effects on somatization symptoms, however, were mediated by destructive coping strategies.

This study contributes to the comparative literature on police stress.

This study aims to assess the direct and indirect impact of stress on police use of force among a sample of male South Korean frontline officers (n=574).

Largely drawing on a methodological approach adopted by Manzoni and Eisner the paper employs a structural equation modeling approach.

The study discovered a direct positive influence of operational stress on use of force frequency, even while controlling for police routine activities and police victimization.

The findings of this study and their implications are discussed in depth against the unique South Korean background where frontline officers are routinely victimized by suspects and citizens.

This study aimed to identify a model investigating effects of organizational characteristics on COP activity, and to compare the model in different social contexts to broaden the understanding of COP implementation. In addition, this study was intended to address an ecological fallacy committed in the prior studies so as to carry out a theoretically and methodologically rigorous comparative study of COP implementation between South Korea and the USA.

Unlike prior studies, which utilized direct measures of organizational characteristics, this study analyzed data on police officers' perceptions on organizational characteristics to investigate COP activities among police officers. For data collection, this study utilized an organizational survey developed by the School of Criminal Justice, Michigan State University and collected data from 206 police officers in South Korea and 231 police officers in the USA. Structural equation modeling was used to identify the best fitting model to the combined data set, and multiple group analysis was performed to compare the model in both countries. For direct comparison and test of comparability, this study used matching for sampling and multiple group analysis method of SEM.

Findings indicated that both organizational flexibility and decentralization were important factors influencing COP activity in the USA, but decentralization of authority was the only important factor affecting COP activity in South Korea. Also, it was found that organizational philosophy had greater influence on organizational structure in the USA than in South Korea. In both countries, decentralization influenced feedback mechanism, but feedback mechanism did not influence COP activity. Likewise, flexibility influenced reward system, but the system did not influence COP activity in both countries.

Although this study utilized matching and multiple group analysis for comparison between two countries, it may be possible that direct comparison regarding police organization would be difficult due to unmeasured aspects of organizational contexts.

Although many studies have been conducted to investigate effects of organizational factors on COP implementation, there has been a lack of study in South Korea. In addition, there is a vacuum of empirical study on comparison across different countries regarding the factors. In this sense, this study produced important comparative knowledge on COP implementation.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of police‐security relationships in three different continents that are unique in their economic, political, and social culture. These countries include a developed economy (USA), an emerging economy (South Korea), and a transitional economy (Slovenia). More specifically, it compares the views that private and public police personnel in a diverse set of countries hold about one another on various issues relating to their working relationships and their efforts to improve them.

Data for the paper came from 1,158 police and security officers from the USA, South Korea, and Slovenia. All three studies employed survey methodology. The English language instruments are translated into the Korean and Slovenian languages and both instruments are back translated from the respective languages into English to check for validity.

While the findings for all the three countries vary in terms of the degree of personnels' positive attitudes toward one another, the overall levels of support from security professionals toward police officers appear positive in all the three countries. Among the police, personnel from the USA relative to other countries appear to have the most progressive and accepting attitude toward security personnel's role as partners. The varying degree of differences between South Korea and Slovenia may be a reflection of the centralized police structures, cultural and historical characteristics, and variations in the levels of economic liberalization policies. Findings suggest that in all the three countries security personnel are trying to reach out to the police to play their part in community policing compared to the police reaching out to the private sector.

There is a time lag in data collection (seven‐year period) as the data for this paper were not collected at one point in time in these countries. Despite this limitation, the use of many identical questions in surveys in all the three countries offers an opportunity for this comparative research.

Most research on police officers' job satisfaction has been done in relation to individual factors while ignoring the role of organizational culture and environmental factors. Further, this setting offers an opportunity to test if democratization of police organizations influences job satisfaction.