The impact of Media Contact on Police Cooperation intention in MZ Generation and Other Generation: The Mediating Role of Police Trust

This study aims to examine the generational differences in the impact of positive police contact through the media on police trust and cooperation intention. Utilizing data collected from a “Citizen Perception Survey on Police Organizations and Crime” conducted internally, the analysis employed multigroup analysis using AMOS 23.0. Key findings are as follows. First, in the MZ generation, police trust completely mediated the relationship between positive police contact through the media and cooperation intention. Second, in the other generation, police trust also completely mediated the relationship between positive police contact through the media and cooperation intention. Third, in both groups (MZ generation - other generation), the paths explaining police trust through positive police contact via the media and the path where police trust explains cooperation intention were statistically significant. However, there was no significant difference in the magnitude of path coefficients between the two groups. These results imply that positive police contact through the media can have a significant impact on police trust and cooperation intention for all generations. Based on these findings, strategic media utilization approaches are suggested: 1) avoiding the portrayal of idealized and fictionalized police figures and 2) emphasizing the depiction of everyday police figures that can lead citizen cooperation.