Methodological challenges in the measurement of police cynicism : a critique of the Niederhoffer's police cynicism scale as applied in the South African Police Service (SAPS)

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Niederhoffer developed a scale in the early 1960s to measure the level of cynicism amongpolice officials. Niederhoffer concluded that cynicism is prevalent among police officials andthat professionalization of the police occupation is the root cause of cynicism. TheNiederhoffer scale was subjected over years to a number of methodological tests. It wasfound to be multi-dimensional whilst some authors found that the scale is invalid. In thisstudy, we confirmed these findings to some extent in that it was found that the Niederhoffer'sscale is indeed multi-dimensional and that it has a low internal reliability. This study alsoreplicated some of Niederhoffer's substantive hypotheses which were supported by ourempirical data. The various dimensions of scale were also correlated with an AttitudeTowards Organizational Change scale. It was found that cynicism is related most strongly toboth fear of change and acceptance of change.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University