The Expendables: A Qualitative Study of Police Officers’ Responses to Organizational Injustice

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify events linked to police officers’ assessments of fairness within their departments, identify how officers’ felt about events they perceived as unfair, and record officers’ responses to perceived organizational injustice. This was a qualitative study that applied a phenomenological approach and information was collected from 24 officers through the use of semistructured interviews. The predominant organizational events linked to fairness assessments among participants included disciplinary actions, citizen complaints, blocked career aspirations, and officer–supervisor conflicts. Overwhelmingly, officers reported these events made them feel angry. These events fostered feelings of increased skepticism and not being supported or feeling expendable. Analyses of data revealed two salient forms of negative work outcomes as responses to perceived organizational injustice: production deviance and self-protective behaviors. This study expands our understanding of which events foster negative perceptions of injustice while exposing how police officers react to those experiences. These findings should be of particular interest to individuals interested in policing, organizational justice, or organizational behavior.