Authorities and Communities: Can Authorities Shape Cooperation With Communities on a Group Level?

Abstract

Across 3 experiments, this research demonstrated experimental evidence that reconciliatory gestures (e.g., group-level initiatives by authorities to build trust with communities) emphasizing trust-building approaches to authority can increase community members' voluntary cooperation with authorities. Experiment 1 (N = 607) demonstrated that African Americans who learned about initiatives to increase community members' trust toward police became more willing to cooperate with the police in implementing the initiative compared with a baseline condition focused on technology and a condition in which they learned about initiatives for crime-prevention. Experiment 2 (N = 278) demonstrated that African Americans became more willing to cooperate in voluntarily reporting crime in a trust-building approach in which they received a trust-building message as compared with a condition in which they learned about initiatives for crime-prevention. Experiment 3 (N = 323) demonstrated that African Americans are more willing to report crime when they learned that authorities are undertaking these initiatives with a trust-building strategy: inviting community involvement in forming polices. Experiments 2 and 3 demonstrated evidence that the impact of trust-building approaches by authorities on cooperation was mediated through beliefs about the sincerity of police intentions for helping the community. The research integrates theory on procedural justice and authority with research on intergroup reconciliation, suggesting that authorities can use the principles of procedural justice in group-level strategies to promote community cooperation.