The effect of community police integrity, trust and performance on community happiness in the United Arab Emirates

The concept of community happiness is increasingly being researched on as more governments are implementing initiatives to help people in their pursuit of happiness. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the community police have been entrusted with a challenging task of contributing to community development. This study, which was set in in Baniyas, Al Shamkhah district, examines the relationships between the constructs, namely integrity, trust, and community happiness with performance as the moderator in the context of the UAE. A mixed methods case study research design was adopted, which was premised on a pragmatic approach. To answer the research questions, qualitative interviews, descriptive statistics, and partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) were used to estimate the complex relationships between the constructs. Findings revealed that integrity and trust, vital for successful community policing, had a significant relationship with community happiness. Although performance did moderate the relationship between trust and community happiness, it did not have any moderating effect on the relationship between integrity and community happiness. In other words, trust is a predictor of happiness, but it seems that performance strengthens this effect. This study provided further support for the idea that due to the clarity and regularity offered by the government’s happiness initiative, residents were very trustful of their police. The results showed that the policy feedback theory (PFT), legitimacy theory and the conceptual model presented in this study offer explanatory elements for community happiness and policing and provided the explanation for the effect of integrity and trust in the police on community happiness. Future research should consider the inclusion of other constructs and variables, investigate community police officers’ perceptions of community happiness, and measure the inter-relationship among constructs to manipulate and strengthen the applicability of the theoretical model proposed in this study.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

phd

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia

Year dc:date.issued

2020

Author dc:creator

• Aljunaibi, Tareq

• DS Asia

Language dc:language

en