OCCUPATIONAL SELF-EFFICACY AND HARDINESS AS CORRELATES OF ADHERENCE TO CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION PROCEDURE AMONG INVESTIGATING OFFICERS IN SOUTH-EAST NIGERIA: MODERATING EFFECTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE

SOURCE:

Faculty: Social Sciences
Department: Psychology

CONTRIBUTORS:

Umeoji, I. C.
Obi-Nwosu, H
Nwafor, C.

ABSTRACT:

The study on the moderating effect of organizational climate on the relationship among the variables of occupational self-efficacy, hardiness and adherence to criminal investigation procedure was motivated by the need to contribute meaningfully to the improvement of the criminal justice system, since a major determinant of whether or not justice would be served in a criminal case is appropriate extraction of forensic information during criminal investigation. Participants included 403(225 males, and 178 females) Officers of the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (CIID) of the Nigerian Police Force, who were purposively selected from the CIID of the police headquarters in each of the states of the South East Nigeria. Their ages ranged from 25 to 57 years old, with the mean age of 39.69years, and standard deviation of 13.22. The Adherence to Criminal Investigation Procedure Questionnaire, Occupational Self-efficacy Scale – Short form (OSS-SF), Dispositional Resilience Scale 15-R,and Organizational Climate Questionnaire – Short Version (OCQ-S) were used for data collection. The correctional design was adopted, and Moderated Regression Analysis was used for data analysis. Results showed that hardiness significantly and positively predicted adherence to criminal investigation procedure; that occupational self-efficacy significantly and positively predicted adherence to criminal investigation procedure, and that organizational climate significantly and positively predicted adherence to criminal investigation procedure. Furthermore, hardiness and organizational climate jointly predicted adherence to criminal investigation procedure,but occupational self-efficacy and organizational climate showed no significant interaction effect on adherence to criminal investigation procedure. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that police officers who are high in hardiness, and occupational self-efficacy should be employed for criminal investigation, and that police administration should improve on the organizational climate so as to get the best out of crime investigators. The study concludes that the place of psychology in effective administration of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Nigerian Police Force is indispensable.