The effect of socio-demographiccharacteristics on theinf.docx

The effect of socio-demographic
characteristics on the
information-seeking behaviors
of police officers
Idris Guclu and Ali Can
Department of Security Science, Police Academy, Ankara,
Turkey
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine the
information-seeking behaviors of police
officers who work in police stations in the context of staying
current. Leckie et al.’s (1996) model of the
information-seeking behavior of professionals is tested.
Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative research design
was employed for data collection.
The sample includes 642 cases. It is both descriptive and
exploratory.
Findings – Police officers first rely upon their personal
knowledge and experience, then their colleagues
and then official documents. On the other hand, they rarely
consulted informants, libraries, journals,
books, and attendance at conferences as information sources.
There were significant differences in the
information sources used by police officers based on their
gender in the context of staying current. Lastly,
the results of this study indicated that service years in policing
and the roles in police station were
significantly correlated with the information sources used by
police officers regarding staying current.

Originality/value – This study, being the first, provides a huge
theoretical base for future studies.
It contributes to the discipline of information science by
validating a theoretical model in a different
context. In addition, it contributes to public safety by
understanding the frontline police officers’
information needs and information-seeking behavior.
Keywords Organization, Turkey, Police culture, Police,
Information sharing, Quality of policing
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
A current trend that has emerged as a result of the information
age is
information-seeking behavior. From individuals to large social
institutions,
information-seeking behavior is utilized to attain a wide variety
of goals. Studies
on human information-seeking behavior date back to shortly
after Second World War
(Wilson, 2000). According to Wilson (2000), the Royal Society
Scientific Information
Conference (1948) in London, the International Conference on
Scientific Information (1958)
in Washington, and the United Kingdom’s Advisory Council on
Scientific Policy’s studies
(1965) were the cornerstones for future information-seeking
behavior studies.
In the early 1960s, researchers began to focus on the
information-seeking behavior
of scientists and scholars (Fisher and Julien, 2009; Anderson et
al., 2001). Library
information researchers in particular extended the concept of
information-seeking
behavior beyond that of scientist and scholar to other

professions such as doctors,
engineers, librarians, nurses, lawyers, teachers, clergy, as well
as business-related
occupations in the late 1970s and early 1980s (Fisher and
Julien, 2009; Leckie et al.,
1996). Information-seeking behavior quickly became one of the
most frequently
researched areas in the study of social information (Jarvelin and
Vakkari, 1990; Kim
and Jeong, 2006; Pettigrew and McKechnie, 2001). Finally,
researchers have focussed on
information-seeking behavior of professionals especially since
the 1960s.
Policing: An International Journal
of Police Strategies & Management
Vol. 38 No. 2, 2015
pp. 350-365
© Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1363-951X
DOI 10.1108/PIJPSM-12-2014-0132
Received 24 December 2014
Revised 17 March 2015
Accepted 18 March 2015
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is
available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/1363-951X.htm
350
PIJPSM
38,2

However, there are scant studies that explore information-
seeking behavior in the
policing field, which disable scholars to evaluate how police
officers keep their information
current. Congruent to this argument, recent studies highlight
that police officers have
some difficulties to obtain information sources and in
circulating information regarding
their job (Demircioglu, 2010; Kilic, 2010). Having a sense on
the information seeking
behavior of police officers is highly important because
inadequate level of current
information in the information process of policing field may
adversely affect public
security. The ability of police officers to serve the public is
directly related to meeting their
information needs. As found in Baker’s (2004) study, there is a
need for studying the
information-seeking behavior of police officers within a
different context from that of most
other professions. Therefore, any efforts that try to understand
information-seeking
behavior of police officers may have a vital importance in terms
of enhancing public
security by correctly canalizing police officers to keep their
information current.
Given this context, the aim of this study is to understand the
information-seeking
behaviors of police officers who work in police stations in the
context of keeping
current. This study utilizes Leckie et al.’s (1996) model of
of professionals. If the theoretical aspect of this model explains
information-seeking

behavior of police officers who work in police stations, this
framework might be useful
in further studies. This study might also provide researchers in
the field of information
science with a model to test on other public services, such as
traffic unit servicing.
Literature review
The area of information-seeking behavior is one of the most
researched areas within the
field of information science (Kim and Jeong, 2006). The
of professionals is considered one of the more important
concentrations under the
umbrella of information-seeking behavior and the information-
seeking behavior of
engineers, health care providers, and scientists in particular has
been studied more
often by researchers (Leckie et al., 1996). These groups were
selected because they are
inclusive of many similar professions and represent a wide
variety of contexts. For
instance, engineers focus on technical products and health care
providers focus on
human clients (Leckie et al., 1996).
A study conducted by Von Seggern (1995) revealed that
scientists first use their own
collection of information then consult their colleagues and other
friends. Cabrajec and
Dukic’s (1991) results confirm this conclusion.
Flaxbart (2001) concluded that chemists and biochemists first
use electronic journals
through database systems due to their time-saving
characteristics and convenient

access to journals. However, Murphy’s (2003) study indicated
that toxicologists,
biochemists, and other scientists have difficulty regarding
information-gathering tasks
in terms of managing their time effectively. In another study,
Majid et al. (2000)
conducted a survey of 234 agricultural scientists. Accordingly,
agricultural scientists
consult print materials first to keep their knowledge up to date,
then seek informal
communication and consulting with their colleagues (Majid et
al., 2000). Congruent to
Majid and his colleagues’ findings, Nweke (1995) and Frank’s
(1987) studies also
revealed that agricultural scientists prefer informal
communication rather than formal
communication for gathering information. Similarly, according
to Ellis and Haugan
(1997), scientists first use their own collections and then
consult their colleagues. They
also prefer informal communication and the use of internal
reports over journals.
Engineers are frequently researched professions in information-
seeking behavior
field. In this context, Yitzhaki and Hammershlag (2004)
concluded that engineers prefer
351
Behaviors of
police officers
electronic textbooks and trade over promotional literature. In

another study, focussing
on engineers’ information sources, Fidel and Green (2004)
interviewed 32 engineers and
learned that engineers initially consult familiar sources, and
prefer electronic sources
over document sources. Leckie et al. (1996) also concluded that
engineers consult
their own collections first, and then their colleagues. In another
study about engineers,
Hertzum and Pejtersen (2000) concluded that engineers
primarily consult their
colleagues because it saves time for them. Therefore, colleagues
shape the information-
seeking behavior. In the same vein, Hertzum and Pejtersen
(2000) and Kwasitsu (2003)
conducted a study among engineers working in the design,
process, and manufacturing
divisions of an engineering company and found that engineers
use their own collections
before seeking out other alternatives.
Lawyers generally carry out four types of tasks: advocating,
negotiating, drafting,
and counseling (Mayer, 1966). According to Leckie et al.
(1996), the work roles play a
crucial role in determining the information-seeking behavior of
lawyers. The type of
organization in which lawyers work also influences their
information-seeking behavior.
If a lawyer works in a small firm, that lawyer needs to consult
external information
sources more often than a lawyer in a big firm who has access
to the firm’s larger set of
internal collections (Leckie et al., 1996; Wilkinson, 2001).
Thus, a lawyer in big firm can
meet their information needs through the firm’s internal

collections.
The group of health care professionals has also attracted many
scholars’ attention.
Blythe and Royle (1993) conducted a study of a professional
group of nurses revealing
that nurses generally seek two main types of information for
keeping up to date:
one is information regarding the broader topics of nursing in
general and another is
information about the care of individual patients. Cogdill (2003)
found that nurse
practitioners primarily consult colleagues, textbooks, drug
reference manuals, and
protocol manuals. In contrast to Cogdill, McKnight’s (2007)
results showed that the
critical care nurses focus their attention on patient information
above all else. Critical
care nurses tended not to have the time or opportunity for
seeking information through
published sources while on duty.
Harrison et al. (2004) conducted a study of the information
needs of social workers.
Harrison et al. found that social workers lacking access to
information resources, lack
of internet access become one of the main obstacles in the work
environment. Strother
et al. (1986) studied the information needs of practicing dentists
and found that the
information-seeking behavior of dentists follows a similar
systematic research pattern
as that of nurses. The results of their study indicated that
dentists prefer personal
journal collections and professional colleagues for keeping their
knowledge up to date

on new techniques.
As noted above, a huge body of literature focusses on the
information-seeking
behavior of professionals. Professionals have many similarities
with law enforcement
officers in terms of information-seeking behavior and
information need (Fisher and
Julien, 2009). However, there are very limited studies on the
information-seeking
behavior of police officers until recent years and this issue has
been attracted particular
attention from researchers interested in security concerns. One
of the first studies
regarding the information-seeking behavior of police officers
was conducted by Baker
(2004). She examined the information-seeking behavior of
undercover female vice-
officers working undercover for controlling prostitution. Baker
(2004) revealed
that they, first, consulted their colleagues and then some
official document (incident
reports, etc.) as information sources. In addition, to meet their
information needs they
used both external and internal information sources. Aksakal
(2005) examined the
352
PIJPSM
38,2
information-seeking behavior of undercover narcotics police
officers in Dallas. He

found that the undercover narcotics police officers have
difficulties to obtain
information. The police officers prefer to use departmental
records, criminal histories,
technical surveillance, informants, and open sources. They also
are more voluntary to
use internal information sources. Al-Daihani and Rehman
(2007) explained the information
literacy capabilities of police officers in Kuwait is based on the
perceived value of the
different information sources used.
Most recently, there are few valuable studies published out
regarding the
information-seeking behavior of police officers. Demircioglu
(2010) revealed that crime
scene investigators first consulted their own personal
knowledge. Investigators
with low educational level are more likely to look at their
colleagues as a first
primary information source. Kilic (2010) examined the effect of
socio-demographic
characteristics of police officers on the use of information
sources in terms of their
information literacy skills. He revealed that the number of years
in police service and
education has an important effect on the preference of
information sources selection.
Lastly, Yildirim (2010) examined the information-seeking
behavior of digital evidence
examiners and found that they most often consult technical
journals as sources of
information. In addition, Yildirim found that work environment
also affect selection
of information source.

Researchers have studied information-seeking behavior in a
wide variety of professions
for many years. However, the conceptualization related to a
single profession’s information-
seeking behaviors cannot be generalized to all other professions
due to different work
roles and tasks. The model presented by Leckie et al. (1996)
aims to explicate general
information-seeking behaviors of professionals. Even though
the model is considered
insufficient to explain all specific tasks in all contexts, it has
strong potential to be a
forerunner in future studies on this topic.
The greater portion of studies on information-seeking behavior
is related to
occupations in the general public ( Julien and Duggan, 2000).
However, as noticed in the
literature review, the studies related to policing are very limited
in terms of information-
seeking behavior. Policing as a profession includes many sub-
branches, such as the
traffic unit, forensic unit, community policing unit, anti-drug
and smuggling unit,
passport and immigration unit.
All professionals in policing have different structures, roles,
tasks and information
needs as well as different sources, all of which are essential to
maintaining the social
order both within the department and within the community they
serve. Abraham
Maslow’s (1970) hierarchy of needs highlights the importance
of security. There are five
levels of needs that motivate humans: physiological, safety and
security, social and

affiliative, esteem and recognition, and self-actualization.
According to this order,
safety and security is the second most important need to be
fulfilled.
Information is important for the success of policing (Chen et
al., 2004). Problem-
oriented policing (POP) primarily identifies problems that need
a wide range of
information (Goldstein, 1990). POP is employing the Scanning,
Analysis, Response,
and Assessment (SARA) problem-solving model. The
information seeking behavior
of police officers governs each step process of the SARA model
for effective
crime prevention. The information collected by police officers
leads to the development
of a comprehensive problem solving plan. Some policing
practices, such as
counter-terrorism units, require rapid and accurate information
owing to the risky
nature of policing. In this sense, the information-seeking
behavior of police officers
deserves special attention from researchers.
353
Behaviors of
police officers
Taking together, the literature review of the information-
seeking behavior of
professions, including police officers, has some common and
significant characteristics:

professions try to find appropriate information to meet their
needs even if it takes
more than one attempt and there is a variation of information
sources depending on
work roles and tasks. Like other professionals, police officers
tend to use informal
communication rather than formal communication. Police
officers that need to use
coercive measures like seizures, wire-tapping in certain
situations want to consult their
own knowledge first as scientists, lawyers, and legal researchers
do. The literature
review also indicates that no study on the information-seeking
behavior of police
officers working in police stations has been conducted up to
now. This study, to some
extent, fills the gap in the literature of information-seeking
behavior of police officers.
Methodology
In this study, a quantitative methodology was used to explore
the information needs
and information-seeking behaviors of police officers in police
stations. A primary cross-
sectional sample was employed for the study. Considering the
shortage of studies
regarding the information-seeking behaviors of police officers
in Turkey, this study
also provides basic descriptive statistics and bivariate
relationships between the
interested variables and the outcome variable.
Like military organizations, the structure of the Turkish
National Police (TNP) is
very centralized. The General Director of Security governs the
Turkish police forces

under the auspices of the Ministry of the Interior. Turkey has 81
cities that their
populations range from 100,000 to several millions. TNP has its
subdivisions in every
town of these cities (Ozcan and Gultekin, 2000). Therefore,
police stations exist even
small areas of cities. TNP has over 180,000 ranked and non-
ranked police officers
nationwide (Ozmen, 2008). According to Ozmen (2008), the
total number of non-ranking
police officers is 167,000 in the TNP. The ranking system for
police officers’ in the
TNP is based on varying background information, such as
experience, education,
administrative system, and different political agendas.
In order to maintain homogeneity of sampling, sample of this
study includes only
non-ranking police officers because there is no clear role
variation in Turkish police
stations due to the lack of stable defined responsibilities of
police officers working in
police stations. Paper-based surveys were utilized to secure
higher response rate. The
unit of analysis of the current study is police officers working
in police stations in
Turkey. The use of information sources for keeping up-to-date
(ISKD) is the dependent
variable. The study utilized the roles of police officers,
education, service years in
policing, service years in police stations, gender, and age as
independent variables.
Sampling method
In this study, the sample size was derived from a sampling
frame by using simple

random sampling because obtaining a complete list of all police
stations and employee
list throughout Turkey is very difficult, time consuming and
expensive. The names of
the cities in Turkey were listed and eight out of 81 cities were
randomly selected. The
TNP is a national, highly centralized organization. Training of
officers, education,
regulatory laws/rules, and recruitment are governed from TNP
headquarter. For this
reason, centrality of management provides uniformity to
policing in Turkey. Each
member of TNP is subject to rotation and will be assigned to a
different area of Turkey
at least three times throughout their professional career. The
total number of surveys
sent out was 791 with a response rate of 81 percent. There were
149 samples not taken
354
PIJPSM
38,2
into account owing to being incomplete, which in turn reduced
sample size to 642.
The sample size (n ¼ 642) is adequate to produce reliable
hypothesis tests (i.e. t-test).
Data collection method
A pilot test with police officers working in police stations was
conducted beforehand.
In this study, the α values indicate that there was a high internal
consistency and

reliability for information sources for keeping up to date
(ISKD) (Cronbach’s α ¼ 0.888).
The possible threat may be that the concept of information-
seeking behavior may not
be well defined in information science.
Data analysis
The data first were analyzed with descriptive statistics to
provide a picture of the data
set. After a bivariate correlation matrix, multivariate statistical
analyses consisting
of one model were performed. In the model, the dependent
variable general use of
ISKD was regressed on the socio-demographic variables
(education, the roles of police
officers, service years in policing, service years in police
stations, gender, and age).
Research questions and hypotheses
This study addresses the following a research question and
hypotheses:
R1. To what extent is there a relationship between the
information sources used by
police officers in the context of keeping up to date and their
socio-demographic
characteristics?
H1. There are significant differences in the information sources
used by police
officers based on their educational level in the context of
keeping up to date.
used by police
officers based on their service years in policing in the context

of keeping up to
date.
used by police
officers based on their service years in police stations in the
context of keeping
up to date.
used by police
officers based on their gender in the context of keeping up to
date.
used by police
officers based on their age in the context of keeping up to date.
used by police
officers based on their roles in the context of keeping up to
date.
Analysis and findings
The use of information sources for staying current was
measured with a scale of 23
items. In order to create the outcome variable, 23 items were
summed and then
averaged to create the new variable ISKD. The small values of
standard deviations
compared to mean values imply having normally distributed
variables. It is ranging
from a minimum score of 1.59 to a maximum of 4.73 with a
mean score of 3.19 and a
0.61 standard deviation value. Table I, relating to use of
information sources in the

context of keeping up to date, indicates that police officers
consult legal documents
355
Behaviors of
police officers
more often than any other information source with a 3.91
average score. The next most
frequently used information source was their colleagues in their
shift with a mean score
of 3.72. Station commander (3.67), shift commander (3.66), and
departmental manuals
and guides (3.64) were also important information sources for
police officers. In
addition, in order to stay current, police officers working in
police stations more often
used the Police Network (POLNET) (3.62) and internet web
sites (3.52) as compared to
other sources. However, police officers consulted libraries as
the least used information
source for keeping up to date with a 2.25 average score. Table I
also presents that
printed journals (2.43), attendance at conferences (2.53),
citizens (2.67), and books (2.78)
were among rarely used information sources.
The average age is 33.96 years with a standard deviation of
6.81, and ranging from
20 to 55 years of age. The largest category of age group of
police officers in police
stations was the age group of 36-40 (27.7 percent). The second
largest age group among

police officers was between 26 and 30 (26.6 percent) followed
by age groups 31-35
(21.8 percent), 25 and younger (10.1 percent), 46 and older (7.2
percent), and 41-45 (6.5).
The rate of female police officers in the sample is (12.9
percent) (n: 83) and for male
officers (87.1 percent) (n: 559).
The education level covered five categories: high school,
college, university, master
degree, and doctoral degree. In this study, no respondent had a
doctoral degree. Half of
the participants (50 percent) had a two-year college degree,
about a third (34.6 percent)
completed a four-year college, and 12.9 percent police officers
with high school diploma.
The service years in policing was categorized in six groups
based on five-year
intervals. Over 78 percent of police officers have less than 15
years’ experience.
In Turkey, five years’ experience qualifies an officer to be as an
expert. Thus, almost
Mean SD Skewness Kurtosis
Legal documents (codes) 3.91 1.015 −0.708 −0.174
The colleagues in my shift 3.72 1.049 −0.486 −0.449
Station commander 3.67 1.215 −0.582 −0.688
My shift commander 3.66 1.069 −0.491 −0.485
Departmental manuals and guides 3.64 1.022 −0.457 −0.418
Police network (POLNET) 3.62 1.106 −0.460 −0.550
Official circulars and memos 3.56 1.048 −0.386 −0.511
Internet web sites 3.52 1.219 −0.421 −0.838
Personal files and folders 3.43 1.129 −0.306 −0.681
The colleagues in other shift 3.29 1.050 −0.060 −0.644

In-service training documents 3.24 1.079 −0.208 −0.560
Departmental archives 3.19 1.203 −0.135 −0.877
Governmental documents (e.g. official gazette) 3.12 1.202
−0.111 −0.932
Another shifts’ commander 3.09 1.095 0.042 −0.685
Prosecutor 3.07 1.388 0.009 −1.297
Mass media (newspapers, TV) 3.03 1.162 −0.121 −0.868
Books 2.78 1.101 0.123 −0.736
Databases (i.e. crime, personnel etc.) 2.77 1.159 0.199 −0.789
Citizens 2.67 1.221 0.170 −1.009
Attendance at conferences 2.53 1.033 0.330 −0.430
Printed journals 2.43 1.013 0.332 −0.517
Libraries 2.25 1.072 0.593 −0.304
Note: n ¼ 642
Table I.
Descriptive statistics
for use of
information sources
related to keep
current
356
PIJPSM
38,2
75 percent of police officers can be considered experts. Service
years in a police station
were broken down by four-year intervals. Over 63 percent of
police officers had a one to
four years’ experience in police stations. It was followed by the
group of five to eight
years (21.3 percent). Approximately 40 percent of police

officers had at least five and
more years’ experience in a police station.
The data are obtained from the following cities in Turkey:
Ankara, Bitlis, Diyarbakir,
Kars, Kayseri, Samsun, Siirt, and Sivas. The city populations
vary from approximately the
hundreds of thousands to several millions. In this study, the
lowest city population is Kars
(126,127), and the highest, Ankara (4,513,921). Before
performing the multivariate analysis
for the variable context of keeping up to date and the variable
conducting police station
tasks, a bivariate correlation matrix was created to present the
levels of linear
relationships (bivariate only) between the dependent and
independent variables.
Generally, the correlation coefficient can be interpreted as r
values of o0.35 are low
or weak, 0.36-0.67 modest or moderate, and 0.68-1.0 strong or
high correlations (Taylor,
1990). In this sense, H2, H4 and H6 examine the relationship
between the information
sources used by police officers in the context of keeping up-to-
date and their socio-
demographic characteristics. First, there was a statistically
significant positive linear
relationship between the information sources used by police
officers in the context
of keeping up-to-date and their years policing (r ¼ 0.078,
po0.05). That is, spending
more years as a police officer, more frequent use of information
sources, supporting H2.
As presented in Table II, there was a statistically significant
negative relationship

between the information sources used by police officers and
their gender in the context
of keeping up-to-date (H4) (r ¼ −0.085, po0.05). H6 examines
the relationship between
the information sources used by police officers and their roles
in the context of keeping
up-to-date (r ¼ −0.129, po0.01).
Similarly, an independent samples t-test is used for analyzing
H4. The hypothesis
assumes that there are significant differences in the information
sources used by police
officers based on their gender in the context of keeping up-to-
date. Both Tables III and
IV indicate that there is a statistically significant difference
between gender and the
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
ISKD –
Years in policing 0.078* –
Years in police stations 0.077 0.627** –
Age 0.067 0.933** 0.602** –
Gender −0.085* 0.107** 0.113** 0.175** –
Education 0.015 −0.405** −0.269** −0.376** −0.071 –
Marital status 0.013 0.387** 0.248** 0.439** 0.027 −0.102** –
Position in police station −0.129** 0.040 0.027 0.041 0.272**
−0.075 −0.096* –
Notes: **,*Correlation is significant at the 0.01 and 0.05 levels
(1-tailed), respectively
Table II.
Bivariate analysis
F t df Sig. (two-tailed) Mean difference

Equal variances assumed 1.386 2.148 640 0.032 0.154
Equal variances not assumed 2.020 103.7 0.046 0.154
Table III.
Independent samples
test: ISKD vs gender
357
Behaviors of
police officers
frequency of information sources used by police officers in the
context of keeping up-to-
date (t ¼ 2.148, po0.05). Thus, the results do support H4.
In the same vein, one-way ANOVA was employed in order to
understand the
relationship between education level and the information
sources used by police
officers in the context of keeping up-to-date (H1). The findings
of Tables V and VI
indicate that there are no significant differences in the
police officers based on their educational level in the context of
keeping up-to-date
(F ¼ 2.57, p ¼ 0.053). The value of η2 indicates that 1.2
percent of the variance was
accounted for by educational level (η2 ¼ 0.012).
Table V also indicates that there is, to some extent, a
significance difference between
the master’s level and university (p ¼ 0.053). However,
considering α 0.05 level, the results

do not support H1. Since one-way ANOVA only reports whether
there is a general
difference between the categories of independent variable, an
additional test is needed in
order to see which categories of the independent variable
significantly differ from each
other. This step is basically conducting a t-test for the
categories/groups of education level.
In this context, Table VI reports individual t-test results. Table
VI displays the t-test
results among the categories of education variable. As Table VI
suggests, the only
significant difference (even though it is not smaller than 0.05.)
is between master-level
graduates and the university/college graduates. More
specifically, Master graduates have
significantly higher level up to date information source
compared to university graduates.
In order to examine the relationship between the roles of police
officers working in
police stations and their use of information sources, one-way
ANOVA was utilized in
this study. Tables VII indicates that there are significant
differences in the information
sources used by police officers based on their roles in the
context of keeping up-to-date
(F ¼ 3.80, p ¼ 0.002). The value of η2 indicated that 3 percent
of the variance was
accounted for by differing roles in the police station (η2 ¼
0.030).
Gender n Mean SD
Female 83 3.24 0.65

Male 559 3.17 0.60
Table IV.
Group statistics:
ISKD vs gender
Sum of squares df Mean square F η2 Sig.
Between groups 2.89 3.00 0.96 2.57 0.012 0.053
Within groups 238.98 638.00 0.37
Total 241.87 641.00
Table V.
ANOVA ISKD vs
education level
ISKD score High school Two-year college University
n Mean SD Mean D Sig. Mean D Sig. Mean D Sig.
High school 83 3.15 0.64
2-year college 321 3.22 0.58 0.07 0.85
University 222 3.14 0.64 −0.01 1.00 −0.07 0.60
Master degree 16 3.55 0.64 0.40 0.13 0.33 0.22 0.40 0.053*
Table VI.
Multiple
comparisons ISKD
vs education levels
358
PIJPSM
38,2

Table VIII presents that the respondents performing different
roles (M ¼ 3.056) in
police stations reported a statistically significant different ISKD
score than justice
police officers (p ¼ 0.04). One-way ANOVA test suggests that
there is a significant
general difference between the categories of “roles police
station” variable. Based on
this result, we obtained Tukey test results, which report
individual t-tests for the
categories of the independent variable. Given this context,
Table VIII reports that there
is a significant difference between patrol officers and justice
police officers at the 0.05 p
level. Except patrol officers and the other roles in police
stations, roles have no
significant effect on ISKD scores. Finally, the results of Table
VIII support H1.
The OLS model in Table IX attempts to estimate the impacts of
education, gender,
service years in policing, roles, and service years in police
stations on the information
sources used by police officers in the context of keeping up-to-
date (ISKD). There was
an overall 3.1 percent explained variation in the outcome
variable (R² ¼ 0.031). That is,
based on the F value in the model, at least one independent
variable has a non-zero
relationship with the dependent variable (F ¼ 4.010, po0.01).
Table IX clearly indicates that the only significant predictor in
the model was “roles
in police stations” when the other independent variables in the
equation were taken into
account (β ¼ −0.112). The remaining variables (gender service

years in police stations,
and education) were not significantly related to the dependent
variable in this model.
Table II indicated that age variable is highly correlated with
service years in policing
(r ¼ 0.933), therefore, age is excluded from the multivariate
model in order to avoid
multicollinearity.
Taken together, OLS regression model in Table IX attempt to
estimate the impact of
education, gender, service years in policing, roles, and service
years in police stations
on the information sources used by police officers in the context
of keeping up to date.
The outcomes of OLS regression indicated that (in the expected
direction) the role of
police officers had a statistically significant impact on the
police officers in the context of keeping up to date. However,
the remaining variables
did not have statistically significant effect on the outcome
variable.
Discussion and conclusion
The information-seeking behavior of police officers, to some
extent, differed from other
occupations regarding the context of keeping up to date. The
findings indicated that
the most frequently used information source was colleagues,
followed by departmental
manuals and guides, POLNET, and internet web sites.
The current study reports both bivariate findings and multiple
regression (OLS)
results for the study hypotheses. Even though “gender” and

“roles in police station”
were significantly related to the outcome variable, multiple
regression suggests that the
only significant predictor for the context of keeping up to date
was “roles used by police
officers.” In addition, the current study suggests an
insignificant relationship between
the information sources used by police officers and their
educational level in terms of
Sum of squares df Mean square F η2 Sig.
Between groups 7.01 5 1.40 3.80 0.030 0.002
Within groups 234.86 636 0.37
Total 241.87 641
Table VII.
ANOVA ISKD vs
roles in police station
359
Behaviors of
police officers
IS
K
D
sc
or
e
A

dm
in
is
tr
at
iv
e
of
fi
ce
r
Ju
st
ic
e
po
lic
e
of
fi
ce
r
P
at
ro
l
of
fi
ce
r
O
ff

ic
er
on
du
ty
D
is
pa
tc
h
of
fi
ce
r
n
M
ea
n
SD
M
ea
n
D
Si
g.
M
ea
n
D

Si
g.
M
ea
n
D
Si
g.
M
ea
n
D
Si
g.
M
ea
n
D
Si
g.
A
dm
in
is
tr
at
iv
e

of
fi
ce
r
11
7
3.
23
5
0.
61
60
Ju
st
ic
e
po
lic
e
of
fi
ce
r
14
2
3.
35
3
0.

58
96
0.
11
7
0.
79
3
P
at
ro
l
of
fi
ce
r
24
3
3.
14
1
0.
58
58
−
0.
09
4

0.
86
2
−
0.
21
2
0.
05
O
ff
ic
er
on
du
ty
49
3.
04
8
0.
60
58
−
0.
18
7

0.
65
7
−
0.
30
5
0.
10
−
0.
09
3
0.
97
D
is
pa
tc
h
of
fi
ce
r
16
3.
26
4
0.

72
67
0.
02
9
1.
00
−
0.
08
9
1.
00
0.
12
3
0.
99
0.
21
6
0.
91
O
th
er

75
3.
05
6
0.
67
00
−
0.
18
0
0.
55
1
−
0.
29
7*
0.
04
−
0.
08
5
0.
95
0.
00

8
1.
00
−
0.
20
8
0.
91
Table VIII.
Multiple
comparisons ISKD
vs roles in police
station
360
PIJPSM
38,2
staying current (H1). Likewise, Stefl-Mabry (2005) revealed
that education had no effect
on the choosing of information sources. Al-Daihani and Rehman
(2007) also found no
significant differences regarding use of information sources and
educational level.
Given the findings of other studies, the outcome variable can be
more related to the task
of the police officers carry out in their routine work. Another
underlying reason can be

the simplicity of task that police officers conduct; therefore,
they may not feel enough
motivation to keep their information current.
On the other hand, recent studies regarding information-seeking
behavior in law
enforcement conducted in Turkey found relationships in
different directions. Kilic
(2010), for instance, revealed that there was a positive
relationship between education
and the frequency of using information sources. Demircioglu
(2010) also concluded that
the educational level of crime scene investigators was highly
correlated with the use of
information sources related to staying current. Therefore, the
results of this study were
not consistent with the expected direction.
The number of years in police service is another important
variable investigated in
order to explore its effect on the use of information sources.
This variable was called as
“experiences” in some studies. The findings show that there
were statically significant
differences in the information sources used by police officers in
the context of keeping
up to date (H2). Brand-Gruwel et al. (2005) underscored
important differences in the use
of information sources between novices and experts in various
professions. For
example, they found that experts were more likely to evaluate
the information
compared to novices. Contrary to these studies, “years in police
service” was not
significantly associated with the dependent variable in the
current study.

Aksakal (2005) pointed out that experience is an important part
of information-
seeking behavior of undercover professionals. For example,
O’Connor’s (2003) studies
indicated that the process of information-seeking behavior can
be improved through
experience, such as in the case of a bounty hunter and a
submarine chaser. Lloyd (2007)
also found that a significant relationship existed between years
in service as a police
officer and the use of information. Like Lloyd (2007), Kilic
(2010) concluded that police
officers with more experience had a stronger tendency to use
information sources than
less experienced police officers. According to bivariate
analysis, the results showed
that there were significant differences in the information
sources used by police officers
based on their experience in terms of keeping current (H5),
however, the same
relationship had been washed out by multiple regression. In this
respect, there can be
some reasons why experienced police officers are more likely to
stay current by seeking
information relative to novice police officers. The reason could
be related to the
experienced police officers’ position in work place. That is,
they generally occupy the
B (SE) β
Years in policing 0.007 (0.005) 0.075
Years in police stations 0.007 (0.007) 0.053
Gender −0.118 (0.075) −0.065
Education 0.041 (0.037) 0.047

Roles in police stations −0.055** (0.020) −0.112
Model R2 0.031
Model F 4.010**
Note: **po0.01
Table IX.
OLS regression
results for
information sources
361
Behaviors of
police officers
position in the police station as mentor or leader. Therefore,
they used the information
sources for helping novice police officers as well.
Policy implications
The findings of this study provide a couple of implications. As
noted, educational level
did not correlate with the information sources used by police
officers regarding staying
current. On the other hand, bivariate results (one-way ANOVA),
to some extent,
indicates significant differences for the education-level
variable. Therefore, this result
may underline the importance of training programs for police
officers. Certain
education programs can be arranged to provide appropriate
information sources for
police officers in police stations in terms of keeping up to date.

In addition to education,
bivariate results of experience, age, and gender variables report
significant results.
Therefore, policy makers might make an adjustment to TNP’s
organizational structure
in order to encourage more experienced officers to mentor
newer officers in the process
of finding up to date information sources. The bivariate results
also suggest that
younger police officers were more likely to use the internet and
POLNET than older
officers. There are obvious advantages using these sources for
both keeping up to date
and for finding useful information. Thus, a policy might be
created to encourage older
police officers to take advantage of these powerful tools,
including training programs
teaching the use of computers and the internet.
Theoretical implication
This study employed a model similar to Leckie’s and found
similar results, that may
contribute to the generalibility function of Leckie’s model to
other countries One
important contribution is to add to the literature review of
future studies on
information-seeking behavior related to police officers working
in police stations as
professionals and to professionals in general. Therefore, the
study may create a
stepping stone for scholars to study law enforcement and their
information-seeking
behavior. Context plays an important function in information-
seeking behavior. The
literature indicates that information-seeking behavior research
has emphasized specific

contexts, such as an individual’s situation and setting (Fisher
and Julien, 2009). Fisher
and Julien (2009) see context as dynamic and complex. For Kari
and Savolainen (2007),
context is a driving force of information seeking. Many factors
may be contextual, such
as the rules and structure of an organization or the behaviors of
professionals. Fidel
and Pejtersen (2004) argue that under defined boundaries, the
expected information
behavior may be easily analyzed in a particular context. Taken
together, the findings of
this study confirmed Leckie et al.’s (1996) concern about
context. Based on the findings,
future studies may provide a better understanding of task
complexity and other
professionals’ information-seeking behavior in different context
for extending Leckie
et al.’s (1996) model, and in turn, illuminate any unknown
factors in the Information-
seeking behavior of the professional.
Methodological implication
Taking into account the complexity of human information
behavior, many scholars
argue that multiple methods are essential to fully grasp human
information-seeking
behavior. Simply using only qualitative or only quantitative
research method designs
is not enough to see the whole picture. It is necessary to use
multiple approaches.
In this sense, using a mixed method approach might be more
helpful for a broad
362

PIJPSM
38,2
understanding of the information-seeking behavior of police
officers. A mixed
approach provides the researcher with two or more different
research strategies for
collecting data. This increases the validity of the data gathered
from various sources.
In this study, the use of information sources for staying current
was measured with
a scale of 23 items. The complexity of police tasks required the
use of a variety of
information sources. However, categorizing of information
sources into six groups, as
Leckie et al. (1996) proposed, may produce better outcomes.
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Corresponding author
Professor Idris Guclu can be contacted at: [email protected]
For instructions on how to order reprints of this article, please
visit our website:
www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/licensing/reprints.htm
Or contact us for further details: [email protected]
365
Behaviors of
police officers
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further
reproduction prohibited without
permission.

Anonymous Community Scenario
The Anonymous Community has been in the global news lately
because of its unique location in the
center of its city, its cultural diversity, and its gang problem.
The Anonymous Community is located in a 5
mi.² radius in the heart of Progressive City. This community has
consistently been criticized by members
of Progressive City because of the condition of the houses,
schools, businesses, and infrastructure of the
community. Many of the houses and businesses in the
Anonymous Community are over one hundred
years old and are in need of serious repair. The infrastructure in
this community has not been upgraded in
over 50 years. Citizens of Progressive City have actively pushed
the Modern State to condemn the
Anonymous Community so that Progressive City can bulldoze
the community and turn it into a city park.
The Modern State has refused to condemn the Anonymous
Community because it is a historic
community and is one of the most diverse communities in the
world.
There are many members of the Anonymous Community who
still live their lives in the same manner that
members of the community lived their lives when the
community was founded over 100 years ago.
However, there are some members of the community (middle-
aged and youth) who have chosen to fully
assimilate into the Progressive City culture. Most of the
community members who have assimilated are

law-abiding citizens. However, there are a few of the
assimilated members of the community who have
formed a gang and are engaged in criminal activity (primarily
related to illicit drugs) in the Anonymous
Community and in Progressive City. The gang activity that has
originated in Anonymous Community and
overflowed into Progressive City has added additional tension
to the relationship between members of the
Anonymous Community and the Progressive City.
Several news outlets on the local, state, national, and
international levels have begun reporting about the
happenings in the Anonymous Community on an almost daily
basis. The Anonymous Community has
been portrayed as a community plagued by crime and as a
community whose members do not seem to
care about the condition of their community. Local law
enforcement has been portrayed as a containment
force that uses militaristic tactics to keep crime from the
Anonymous Community from spilling over into
Progressive City. This media coverage has put tremendous
pressure on the members of the Anonymous
Community and local law enforcement to address the
“substantive issues” in the Anonymous Community.
Several community forums have occurred in which local law
enforcement and members of the
Anonymous Community have come together to discuss
establishing a relationship between the
community and law enforcement that will result in a
collaborative effort to address the gang problem in
the community. The initial community forums consisted of
heated discussions about: 1) the perceived
Anonymous

Community
Progressive City
militaristic presence of law enforcement in the Anonymous
Community and the perceived gatekeeping
role that law enforcement played for the Progressive City; and
2) the perceived unwillingness of members
of the Anonymous Community to assist law enforcement in
investigating crimes that occurred in the
Anonymous Community.
Communication between law enforcement and community
members in the Anonymous Community
began to improve after one of the most historic buildings in the
city was vandalized by the gang that
originated in the Anonymous Community and one of the eldest
members of the community was seriously
injured during the vandalism. The building was used as a school
for students with disabilities and was
considered the best school in the Anonymous Community. The
school had seen an increase in the
number of fights, theft of school equipment, vandalism, and
suspensions related to illicit drugs. As a
result, overall school attendance had significantly decreased.
School administrators were able to connect
the increase in violence, crime, vandalism, and suspension
related to illicit drugs at the school to the
enrollment of several members of the gang that originated in the
Anonymous Community; however, they
had been unable to develop a plan to address the issues.
As a result of the improved communications between law
enforcement and members of the Anonymous

Community, law enforcement and members of the Anonymous
Community agreed to implement various
community policing strategies that would improve the
relationship between the community and law
enforcement, and reduce crime in the Anonymous Community.
The implemented community policing
strategies included increased foot patrols, community sponsored
youth activities, gang awareness
programming, and restorative justice community service
programs for the Anonymous Community
members convicted of non-violent and violent crimes. Members
of the Anonymous Community, law
enforcement, and members of Progressive City also formed a
coalition for addressing criminal activity in
both communities. This coalition also requested federal funding
to assist with the restoration of the
buildings, houses, schools, and infrastructure in the Anonymous
Community as a way to demonstrate that
there is a sense of care and concern for the community.

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