Structural Elaboration and Institutional Isomorphism: The Case of Crime Analysis Units

• NCJ Number: 216838
• Journal: Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management Volume: 29 Issue: 4 Dated: 2006 Pages: 643-664
• Author(s): Matthew J. Giblin
• Date Published: 2006
• Length: 22 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study explored the influence of institutional factors on the development of police organizational structures, specifically the adoption of a crime analysis unit into a police organization’s structure.

Abstract

The findings indicated that both contingency and institutional factors influenced the organizational structure of police organizations, suggesting that institutional theory could be applied to the study of police organizations. Specifically, the results revealed that the contingency factor of agency size was positively related to the adoption of a formal crime analysis unit. The institutional factor of accreditation also increased the likelihood of an agency adopting a formal crime analysis unit. While accreditation is a voluntary process, it is also considered a normative pressure and once accredited, crime analysis policies become mandatory. This illustrates how a single normative pressure might be appropriately placed to affect the intended change (DiMaggio and Powell’s 1983 categories of isomorphism). Other factors, such as jurisdiction crime rate and agency funding, were unrelated to police organizational structures. Researchers mailed questionnaires to late-adopting or non-adopting agencies (in terms of adopting crime analysis units) identified through the 1997 Law Enforcement Management and Administration Survey. Questionnaires, which measured crime analysis unit status and characteristics of the agency, were completed by 160 agencies. Interviews were conducted with representatives from 12 law enforcement agencies to gather in-depth information about the design and structure of their crime analysis functioning as well as information about why a crime analysis unit was incorporated into the police organizational structure. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to examine the impact of the various factors on the adoption of a crime analysis unit. Future studies should examine whether the effects of institutional forces to change are limited to agencies considered late-adopters or if the same forces operate similarly on agencies quicker to adopt innovative programming. Tables, notes, references