Does citizen opinion matter? An analysis of police officers’ support for democratic policing in South Korea

Purpose This study examined the effects of organizational justice and citizen respect to support for democratic policing through self-legitimacy among South Korean police officers. Design/methodology/approach The authors used survey data from 467 South Korean police officers in 2022. Structural equation model analysis was used to examine relationships between each variable. Findings This study found a positive relationship between organizational justice and self-assessed legitimacy. Also, citizen respect had a positive relationship with both police officers' self-assessed legitimacy and audience legitimacy. Self-assessed legitimacy had a significant effect on support for democratic policing, while perceived-audience legitimacy did not have a significant effect on support for democratic policing. Originality/value The current study provides evidence that self-legitimacy affects supporting democratic policing in a non-Western democracy. Additionally, to the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to examine the role of police self-legitimacy as a link between organizational justice and citizen respect and the intended behaviors of police officers toward citizens.