Expressed Trust and Compliance in Police-Civilian Encounters: The Role of Communication Accommodation in Chinese and American Settings

Abstract

Research has demonstrated that police officers’ communicative practices are potent predictors of individuals’ expressed reactions to law enforcement. The present study continues this line of work in Taiwan, the People’s Republic of China, and the United States by testing a theoretical model pertaining to the influence of perceived police officer accommodation and reported trust on attitudes about compliance with police requests. In addition to differences in reported levels of these variables across locations, findings indicated that perceived police officer communication accommodation predicted trust in police which, in turn, predicted attitudes about compliance with police requests. The empirical and practical significance of these findings are discussed.