Does Twitter Increase Perceived Police Legitimacy?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Grimmelikhuijsen, Stephan G.; Meijer, Albert J.
• 署名单位: Utrecht University; Utrecht University
• 刊物名称: PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0033-3352
• DOI: 10.1111/puar.12378
• 发表日期: 2015
• 页码: 598-607
• 关键词: social media use; e-government; procedural justice; trust; TRANSPARENCY; satisfaction; strategies; support; US

摘要

Social media use has become increasingly popular among police forces. The literature suggests that social media use can increase perceived police legitimacy by enabling transparency and participation. Employing data from a large and representative survey of Dutch citizens(N= 4,492), this article tests whether and how social media use affects perceived legitimacy for a major social media platform, Twitter. A negligible number of citizens engage online with the police, and thus the findings reveal no positive relationship between participation and perceived legitimacy. The article shows that by enhancing transparency, Twitter does increase perceived police legitimacy, albeit to a limited extent. Subsequent analysis of the mechanism shows both an affective and a cognitive path from social media use to legitimacy. Overall, the findings suggest that establishing a direct channel with citizens and using it to communicate successes does help the police strengthen their legitimacy, but only slightly and for a small group of interested citizens.