We are the Champions: Championing Change Among Community Policing Officers

Community oriented policing is a philosophy based on police-public partnership and has faced significant challenges regarding implementation despite its popularity. In order to increase the chances for organizational change to succeed, it is important to ensure that the employees support it. The present study employs the Information-Motivation-Behavior skills (IMB) model (Fisher & Fisher, 1992) to determine whether adequate information in the form of training, along with and job autonomy, can develop change-related self-efficacy, which subsequently may affect positive change behaviors among employees. Based on a survey of 476 first-line officers in a large police department in Virginia, our results suggest that field training and job autonomy are directly and indirectly associated with change-championing behavior. The study makes a theoretical contribution to the IMB theory, and a practical contribution to HR practitioners that face the need to implement change programs in various organizations and wish to impact employee attitudes towards change.