Police Officers’ Self-Assessed Legitimacy: A Theoretical Extension and Empirical Test

Researchers have recently begun to examine the sources and consequences of police officers’ self-assessed legitimacy, or the ways in which officers justify their authority to themselves. Important gains have been made, but this area remains in need of continued theoretical development. This study aims to further the theoretical and empirical analysis of police officers’ self-assessed legitimate authority. Data come from an officer survey distributed in a mid-sized department in the USA. Two conceptualizations and operationalizations of self-legitimacy are offered. Confirmatory factor analysis and ordinary least squares regression modeling are used to test the separability of the two constructs and to compare predictor domains. Results show that the two types of self-perceived authority are analytically distinct, and that workenvironment and organizational variables predict each type differently. The results have implications for future theorizing and testing of police self-legitimacy.