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7/29/2013

Sara Araia 10419519 | Supervisor: Drs. Ing. Toon Meulemans

Second supervisor: Prof. Dr. J. Tettero

Master Business Studies | Marketing track

D

RESS TO

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Abstract

Purpose – This study will serve to show whether or not the Dutch police force, should

apply an evidence based management system in their everyday practice, such as using the uniform they wear as a marketing tool, to achieve higher levels of performance and get closer to their organizational objective. The research conducted in this article is meant to examine if uniform color can influence attitudes toward the police force.

Design/methodology/approach – The case study is provided to set the stage and

determine what is currently being done in the field. Following that the literature review will clarify what marketing strategies could be applied to the situation. Finally a survey using digitally manipulated images will assess if the marketing theories will hold up beyond the field that they were originally designed for and test if uniform color can influence attitudes.

Findings – The study produced mixed results where respondents favored a darker

colored uniform but the lighter colored uniform created more positive evaluations of the police force. Other antecedents however proved to be of more importance than uniform color did.

Research limitations/implications – Results were based on a convenience sample

mostly drawn from the university and included an overrepresentation of females.

Practical implications – The police uniform does have an impact on attitude towards

the police force; therefore designers of the police uniform as well as perhaps other uniforms should consider this when designing a future uniform.

Originality/value – The research provides a more extensive literature review to base

conclusions on as well as use theories from different academic fields. It adds to the body of knowledge currently available. In addition, it applies a theory beyond its original field.

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Table of Contents

Abstract ... 1

1. Introduction ... 4

1.1. Purpose of the study ... 5

1.2. Motivation ... 6 1.3. Objective ... 7 1.4. Structure ... 7 2. Contribution ... 8 2.1. Theoretical ... 8 2.2. Managerial ... 8 2.3. Practical ... 9

3. Case study: The Dutch Police ... 10

3.1. Service ... 11 3.2. Managerialization ... 11 3.3. Desired image ... 13 3.4. Uniforms ... 16 4. Literature Review ... 19 4.1. Service Sector ... 19 4.1.1. Services ... 19 4.1.2. Public Services ... 21

4.2. Evidence based management. ... 24

4.3. Marketing ... 25

4.3.1. Attitudes ... 25

4.3.2. Social Marketing ... 25

4.3.3. Behavior Modification Perspective ... 26

4.3.4. Elaboration Likelihood Model ... 26

4.3.5. Affect Transfer Hypothesis ... 28

4.4. Color ... 29

4.5. Police and Uniform color... 30

5. Quantitative Research ... 33

5.1. Hypotheses ... 33

5.2. Conceptual Model ... 33 Page | 2

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5.3. Additional Research ... 34

6. Methods ... 35

6.1. Sample/Distribution ... 35

6.2. Variables and Measures ... 36

7. Results ... 39

7.1. Scale Reliability and Means ... 40

7.2. Correlations ... 41 7.3. Regression ... 42 7.4. Relative weights ... 42 8. Discussion ... 43 9. Conclusion ... 44 10. Limitations ... 46 11. Future research ... 47 12. References ... 49 13. Appendix ... 52 13.1. Survey... 52 13.2. Scale means ... 59 13.3. Relative weights ... 60 Page | 3

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1. Introduction

Everyday people are confronted with a huge amount of images and information coming at them from all directions. Most are seen in passing and might not even register consciously but beware or not the brain is still processing it all. The fact that these cues are constantly being collected, filtered and stored, might suggest that subconsciously people are also being influenced. Marketers are very well aware of these processes and utilize different strategies to break through the clutter of images and information to create an impression in a matter of seconds. These strategies are based on an extensive body of knowledge on different topics such as environmental influences, preferences, physical and psychological processes etc. Utilizing aspects and theories from different disciplines, marketers often analyze problems from many different perspectives. As with marketing it is quite common in the academic field for other researchers to test whether or not a theory or model derived from another field can be used in their own research projects (Hall, 2003). This interdisciplinary approach is one that remains to be very interesting. Its use however is still limited. Even though these practices have proved to be successful, they are rarely used outside the profit sector. Managers in the non-profit sector keep reinventing the wheel in their attempts to solve the problems they face. Surely there must be a better way of doing business.

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1.1. Purpose of the study

Marketing has long been and still is an acknowledged and well researched field. The findings however are most often only used in profit organizations. This study will serve to highlight the need for evidence based management in an area where is currently least applied: public service. To achieve this it attempts to approach a specific practice problem using research findings. These research findings will be gathered from different fields of study, to see if theories belonging in one field could also hold up in another. This in turn demonstrates that practitioners do not need to be confined to research applying directly to their situations, e.g. the interdisciplinary approach discussed earlier. Many organizations still do not apply an evidence based management approach even though there are great benefits to be derived from it.

Specifically in this case, the analysis will be done to discover whether a public service, problem can be cleared up using traditionally goods marketing strategies. Because examples are often engaging and really help to explain the phenomenon, this theoretical proposition will be applied to an actual situation. The public service used in this paper will be the Dutch police force. One of the theories used will be derived from the marketing field. Theories such as the behavior modification perspective and the elaboration likelihood model, will elaborate on the use of marketing strategies to change people’s feelings and thoughts in a positive direction. Here the concern will be how to use something as simple as a police uniform to change these attitudes. To complete the picture, additional theories will be gathered from the psychological discipline to explain further why these theories would work and how the police force could benefit from these insights. The quantitative part of this research will therefore serve to either extend

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or set the boundaries in which the traditionally goods marketing strategies can operate, be it only in the private sector or also in the service en perhaps public service field. All put together this study will serve to show whether or not the Dutch police force, should use evidence based management in their everyday practice, such as the uniform they wear, to achieve higher levels of performance and get closer to their organizational objective.

1.2. Motivation

To subject of analysis for this paper was easily chosen. It was triggered by the fact that in December 2012 the Dutch police came out with their designs for the new police uniform, which is to be introduced in 2014. A lot of questions arose with the announcement of this new police uniform. Why chose a new uniform? What should be considered when designing a new uniform? What is the uniform trying to portray and how will citizens react to it? The response to this is an investigation of the police force, the uniform and their appearance in the minds of the people. There are a number of marketing theories that come to mind when considering this research and automatically the following question arises; Does the police force management review available marketing and psychology research when making decisions. This resulted in an analysis not only on the notion that using the uniform alone as a marketing tool, might be able to impact how people perceive the police and their attitude towards the police, but also an analysis of the Dutch police force to find out whether or not they utilize an evidence based management system.

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1.3. Objective

There are multiple purposes to this study. First off, it attempts to explain the current situation with the police service. Defining the service in theoretical terms, discussing the effects of a uniform and examining whether or not evidence based management practices are used, are all part of the case study. The second part of the study, tests a typical marketing theory in a field beyond the one it was originally designed for, the public service field. In addition it uses color psychology theories to elaborate upon how this theory might work. Concretely this would translate into the following research questions:

- What is the relationship between uniform characteristics such as color, direct experience and media effects on the one hand and attitudes towards the police service on the other hand?

- Is the relationship between uniform characteristics such as color and the attitude towards the service influenced by the attitude towards the uniform?

1.4. Structure

The first two chapters of this paper will serve to highlight the reasons for conducting this research and the contributions of the study. Chapter 3 contains the case study on the police. Following this chapter 4 will provide a theoretical overview of ideas and key themes relating to the topic. The quantitative part of the research can be found in chapters 5, 6 and 7. The conclusion and discussion are then described in chapters 8 and 9. Finally the last two chapters break down the limitations and future research options of this study.

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2.

Contribution

2.1. Theoretical

This research will add to existing knowledge about service marketing as well as behavior modification model by applying it to a different field, to see whether it will hold. A company can have many marketing objectives including raising awareness, promoting a product or service, influencing behavior and attracting consumers. Even though this may seem quite opposite from intentions when it comes to the police, both marketing and the police service have satisfying people’s need at the core of their objectives, be it satisfying a consumption need or a need for security. “The police industry” is one that has not yet been fully researched in terms of marketing and this paper aims at filling the gap mentioned earlier.

2.2. Managerial

If the findings were to prove that the police uniform does have an impact on attitude towards the police, designers of the police uniform as well as perhaps other uniforms should consider this when designing the next uniform. If the study shows no effect, more weight might be placed on comfort, efficiency etc. of the uniform rather than its outward appearance. In either case, the findings would have an important practical and managerial implication. This could not only translate into implications for the police specific but perhaps for a range of services where uniforms are employed.

Considering services in general this research might contribute to the realization that more weight might also be placed on promoting or selling the service as well as improving the service itself.

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2.3. Practical

“A focus on evidence use may also ultimately help to blur the boundaries between researchers, educators, and managers” (Rousseau, 2006 p.267).

Blurring of the boundaries, as Rousseau suggests, could be beneficial for many parties. This paper only discussed the gap between theory and practice in one direction, namely practice using the theories. It could be argues that the gap is also present in the other direction, due to the notion that research often does not use problems existing in practice to develop new research questions, but rather build on their own literary work. An attempt to reduce the gap would increase efficiency and save both practitioners and researchers a lot of time.

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3. Case study: The Dutch Police

The choice for the police in this research was initially based on local knowledge. Considering Yin’s views on designing a case study (Yin, 2009, p.48), it could be seen as a representative or typical case. Even though the police force is quite unique in that there are not many services like it, the research here does not focus on their responsibilities or processes. Rather it is about it being a public service/non-profit organization, wherein the uniform is a first and basic way of representing themselves. This is by no means unique to the police and in fact quite common. Therefore I would say this case study is a mixture of a local knowledge case and a representative/typical case. In addition, the fact that I am focusing on only the police and consequently the police as a whole, rather than individual departments, makes this a single case design. Finally, this study will focus on the activities done by the police and the consumer attitudes towards the police in the Netherlands, at this point in time. This would be then classified as a snapshot.

The following case study examines different aspects of the police profession, such as the service itself, the role of the uniform and the image the Dutch police would like to portray, using different sources.

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3.1. Service

The police work itself is a service that is intangible and hard for people to grasp, also known to be typical aspects of services. Therefore promoting the force will most likely be a better choice of strategy in trying to change attitudes towards the police force than making people aware of what they do and how much they accomplish. This might also be a difficult options considering that police officers deal with private information. Nevertheless this option will be discussed further on in this research paper. The actual specifics of the police service are beyond the limits of this investigation, which is why they will not be discussed. The main issue at hand is whether or not their outward appearance can help police officers change people’s perceptions and behavior allowing police officers to be more efficient in their job and consequently reach higher levels of performance. Traditional “goods” marketing offers different strategies and theories on how to change attitudes and perceptions, which therefore are very useful in providing a theoretically based solution to a practical problem.

3.2. Managerialization

Lately there have been more and more reports of police misconduct, incompetent investigations and appearances of corruption. These reports continuously diminish the public image of the police. Accompanying the worsening image are rising numbers of people acting out against police officers, refusing to comply with them and even attempting to harm them intentionally. The lack of respect shown by some groups towards the police force noted in the report “Gezag, waardering en respect voor de politie” (Politietop, 2010), also evident by the increasing news reports, seems to be growing and would also appear to be an effect of their hurt image. And it does not stop

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there. Technological advancements have a drastic impact as well. Camera phones, 24 hour news feeds and growing numbers of police reality shows, have made the police the most visible institution (Mawby, 2001). Positive consequences include a positive and exciting portrayal of the police profession by the numerous reality shows (e.g. Overtreders) and television shows (e.g. Law and Order). This might encourage future police officers to dedicate themselves to the profession. Negative consequences however are also present. In 1992 amateur footage showed the world how LAPD police officers were beating up Rodney King, harming the police image to a severe extent. This high level of visibility and scrutiny comes with a considerable amount of challenges, which Thompson (2005) calls managing the new visibility. This means the police force is steadily managerializing its operations.

Press officers, communication specialists and so called “image workers” are being employed to promote and protect the police image (Mawby, 2001). Even in the Netherlands it is common to see a spokesperson communicating the specifics of a crime instead of a police officer. In his paper Mawby (2001) goes on to explain how these image workers have moved on from their original reactive role of explaining and calming, towards a broader role that includes marketing. These developments are based on the situation in the United States of America. An inquiry into these practices in the Netherlands has revealed no marketing initiatives promoting the police. Other than communications officers, the only marketing campaigns are for the police academy which encourage people to sign up and become police officers. At this they appear to be doing an outstanding job. In 2012, the campaign to recruit police officers (Screenjezelf), won the SAN advertising award. An actual marketing department, as the Americans have, however does yet not seem to be in place. The development towards a marketing

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inspired approach fits well with the notion to implement an evidence based management approach. Based on best practices in research the police force could implement marketing strategies that would help to promote and protect the police image.

3.3. Desired image

As mentioned earlier, the police force is increasingly being confronted with image issues. Before they start to act upon it, it is important for this service to identify what the desired outcome is. How the police want to be perceived and what attitude they would like to elicit are some of the factors that need to be considered. Using different sources of information a picture is put together of how the police in the Netherlands want to be perceived and what attitudes the want to elicit amongst the people. The process of building a case with multiple sources is known as triangulation. The first source of information is a news article in het Algemeen Dagblad Rotterdam (Boere, 2012, January 19th), the second is an interview with Arend Kloosterman conducted on December 18th,

2012 by Rik van de Westelaken for Radio 1, and the last is the report enquête “Operationeel Uniform” (Smit-Willems, 2013). When the different pieces of data converge to form the same conclusion, the credibility of that conclusion is enhanced (Eisenhardt, 1989).

With the announcement of the new police uniform in December of 2012, came a lot of discussions on why, what and how. Some of the articles on the topic listed the flaws in the current uniform as well as the attributes the new uniform should have to create the desired image. The current police uniform consists of navy blue pants and a white shirt with tie (see Appendix 13.1). The news article mentioned previously shows several

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images of police uniforms used in different countries in the European Union, guided by the text of course.

Concerning the practical issues a number of flaws with the current uniform are listed. These include that the uniform is uncomfortable, does not have enough pockets and is very quick to get dirty. Because police officers have to do a lot in their uniform (chase, contain and calm suspects) comfort is an important factor to be considered and as being outdoors is inherent to their profession a uniform that does not get dirty as fast of where filth is less visible is definitely a better option. In addition, the female police officers complained that the uniform has a bad fit and is anything but flattering.

When it comes to the image the current uniform portrays, the article (Boere, 2012) had the following to say. Police officers feel that they are dressed up to neatly for the job they are trying to do, especially because of the trousers and white shirt and tie. Second they feel that the uniform is ‘lame’ and creates an image that is too nice considering the circumstances.

The main conclusion the article provides is that the new uniform has to portray authority and respect. As Visser mentions in the article the people’s call for a stricter performance by the police is louder than ever and people need to feel the level of safety. The current uniform is not adapted to these needs.

Arend Kloosterman is chairman of the commission that oversees the clothing- and weapons choices. In an interview with Westelaken, from Radio 1, held on December 18th,

2013, he elaborated upon the issues the article also discussed. He highlighted that functionality and comfort are the main problems with the current uniform. Second Kloosterman mentions that in the process of designing the new uniform attention was

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given to the current styles also seen in the countries surrounding the Netherlands. The new uniform has to be modern, and in line with what police forces in other countries are doing as well. He concludes that the trend is a more active looking uniform. This can also be seen in the images that accompanied the news article discussed previously. With regard to the image he actually does not elaborate upon the requirements for the new uniform, which is in contrast to the news article. After the design stage is completed, two different uniforms are offered to the police officers to choose from by means of a survey. The results of this survey were finally published in January 2013. This report (Smit-Willems, 2013) again covers the same issues discussed previously but clearly defines what Kloosterman failed to mention. It reports on how police officers want a uniform that fits their profession to a better degree, which means it has to be more decisive. Willems, program manager for the new operational uniform, elaborates upon this notion by claiming that the police now operate from an “involved authority” concept. This translates into a uniform that exudes clear authority, but can also be perceived as friendly and approachable.

When assessing all this information a clear pattern is visible. The most important factors in designing the new uniforms are functionality and comfort. In relation to the image that has to be portrayed it is mentioned much more, while the marketing aspect of changing people’s attitude and behavior through the uniform is not mentioned at all. The impression that the uniform cannot be used to influence people to a desired degree is affirmed by Otto Adang, lecturer Public Order and Risk management at the Police academy (Greven & Omstein, 2012). Even though he does state that authority is an important factor considering the role the police force has in the society, he goes on to

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say that; “A uniform is important and has to be functional, but in the end authority is not a function of appearance manifestations such as a uniform” (Greven & Omstein, 2012).

The following section explains how a police uniform in itself might be able to change people’s perceptions, obviously in contrast with the statement made by Adang.

3.4. Uniforms

The main function of a uniform is of course the identification. In his article Johnson (2001) states that people can identify a person who establishes order and with the power the use force through the police uniform. This is an important factor, as in situations where help is needed people can simply scan the crowd for the uniform and identify those that can help them. Secondly, uniforms are used as a source of information when creating a first impression, even to a greater extent than personality does (Connor, Peters & Nagasawa, 1975; Balkin & Houlden, 1983; Lennon & Davis, 1989). It sends a powerful message about the wearer’s status, group membership, occupation and authority. This is also evidenced by the surveys conducted by Balkin and Houlden (1983) and Singer and Singer (1985). Here they showed respondents images of models wearing different types of clothing, such as business attire, a milk man’s uniform and a police officer’s uniform. Respondents found the police officer’s uniform to convey the highest level of safety, competence and reliability. The impressions created by the uniform can also be transferred to the impressions about the wearer. An experiment found that models wearing a police uniform were rated as more competent, intelligent and reliable (Singer & Singer, 1985). Finally Johnson (2001) states the following: “The

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police officer’s uniform has a profound psychological impact on others, and even slight alterations to the style of the uniform may change how citizens perceive them” (p. 27). The influence a police uniform has works in many different ways. In addition to influencing people’s perceptions, it has also been found to be able to influence behavior. Not only will citizens confronted with a police uniform be more cooperative, in their research Sigelman and Sigelman (1976) found that motorists, when in the presence of a research assistant wearing a police style uniform, committed less illegal turn violations at an intersection. This would indicate that criminals would also curb their unlawful behavior when in the presence of such a uniform. In addition the uniform a person wears can have an impact on the occupational image of wearer itself (Frank & Gilovich, 1988). This however is beyond the scope of this investigation.

A summary of the literature on police and police uniforms indicates that the effect a uniform has is indeed an important factor to be considered. In addition to exuding a certain level of authority, it also triggers a number of associations in the minds of people, which in turn contribute to how the police force is perceived.

Designing or altering a police uniform is however limited in its choices, because of the recognizability. In any case or circumstance, people need to be able to identify a police officer with limited effort in order for them to not only feel safe but also to be able to easily find the people that can help them. This pertains to the uniforms as well as the police vehicles. This is why in 1994 the Dutch police have formulated the standard appearance attributes in a “house style”. Consequently the European Union decided in 1998 that the blue color range would be the police color within the union (Korpsmedia, 2011). This means designers are limited in their options when considering a new uniform.

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Following this case study of the police and the issues surrounding the police uniform, a review of the theoretical research applying to this situation will be presented. First off is an assessment of the literature on public services, which of course include the police service, and how they might implement marketing practices formed beyond their field. After that the different marketing theories and models that are available and could be used with regard to police uniforms and people’s perception and behavior will be elaborated upon. The specifics of the marketing theories and why such marketing practices and models might work will be examined using theories from the psychological field. This will not only help in understanding what influence colors have on people’s perceptions but also determine what colors to use in the quantitative part of the research. Finally this paper will also report on the existing literature directly linked to law enforcement and uniforms to assess the current state of the literature and review whether or not there is any consensus on the impact of a police uniform and what colors would best serve the police in achieving a change in people’s attitudes and behavior. When the literature pertaining to this study has been examined, hypotheses to be tested will be formed.

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4. Literature Review

4.1. Service Sector

Even though service marketing is becoming important subfield of marketing, one of the main assumptions the literature in this field has, is that “services marketing problems require services marketing solutions, strategies developed from experience in goods marketing are often insufficient” (Zeithaml, Parasuraman & Berry, 1985, p. 33). This implies that the differences between goods marketing and service marketing are in fact so distinct, that the fields can’t benefit from each other’s developments. This paper disagrees with this argumentation. Posing that when it comes to “selling the service”, rather than dealing with problems within the service provided, strategies from goods marketing could offer a good solution. When favorable, positive attitudes towards the service are the goal, businesses should not hesitate to look beyond their direct field to learn from others as well as from advances in the literature (Rousseau, 2006). Even so, to properly understand the situation and implement a strategy that fits well, a clear definition of what services and public services are and how they differ from regular private organizations needs to be provided.

4.1.1. Services

In the growing body of literature on service marketing, there are some unique characteristics of services mentioned that found the reasoning behind the different treatment of services from tangible goods.

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- Intangibility. Contrary to goods, services are performances that cannot be seen, tasted or touched. According to Bateson (in Zeithaml et al. 1985) intangibility is

the critical goods-services distinction.

- Inseparability of production and consumption. A feature that characterizes most services is that the production and consumption of the service happen at the same time. The customer is therefore present when the service is being performed (e.g. airplane flight, hair cut).

- Heterogeneity. The performance of the service can vary greatly in its quality for example from producer to producer and even from day to day. This is more so the case with labor intensive services. “The level of consistency that you can count on and try to communicate to the consumer is not a certain thing” (Knisely, 1979a, p. 58).

- Perishability. This means that services cannot be stored in the way goods can. If the service is not used at a particular point in time, there is no way to reclaim it later on. This leads to problems when trying to synchronize supply and demand. Zeithaml et al. (1985) state that these unique characteristics listed above create specific problems which in turn require special strategies for dealing with the problems. Following in this line of reasoning they suggest that, television advertising, which is commonly used as a goods marketing strategy, could be deemed to be a less appropriate marketing tool for services because of the intangibility. The research Zeithaml et al. (1985) conducted found that a large number of service organizations instead use their personnel as a marketing tool, selecting personnel carefully and consequently training them. Based on their conclusions intuitively it would be logical to conclude that the

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personnel appearance (e.g. the uniforms they wear) might also be used as a marketing tool.

Even though the characteristics of services would seem to apply to most services, it is important to realize that differences also exist between services and not just between service organizations and goods organizations. In their research, Zeithaml et al. (1985) concluded that despite there being a large amount of literature on services, little research has been conducted on the differences amongst services. The following section will elaborate upon a specific type of service.

4.1.2. Public Services

Marketing specifically related to the public sector seems to be under-represented in the academic literature on marketing as well as on public services (Peattie et al. 2012). Despite the lack of extensive knowledge on the matter public service professionals have perceived marketing as inappropriate for public service organizations (Laing, 2003). To understand if and how marketing models could be used, a thorough understanding of public services needs to be gained.

Beyond the basic level of distinction made for services, there are two defining characteristics of public services (Laing, 2003).

- Dominance of political objectives. Whereas in the private sector the main objective is usually to attain higher levels of efficiency and consequently higher levels of profitability, decisions in the public service sector are determined by social justice and equity. The basis for this notion is the idea that public services, specifically services such as criminal justice and social welfare, provide broader

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social benefits to the community rather than provide direct benefits to a recipient. Bauer (in Laing, 2003) refers to this as social profit.

- Citizenship versus consumerism. Even though citizenship is received less academic attention than consumer behavior has, it is still apparent that there is a difference between the two. The concept of citizenship is based on a collectivist theory, which means that the focus here lies on the needs of the society and social justice rather than the needs of the individual, which is at the heart of consumer behavior.

- Multi-dimensional customers. In contrast to the private sector, it is hard to determine the beneficiary of a service in the public service sector, as it usually delivers both individual and social benefits. In addition the ones that directly receive the service and the taxpayers who provide the funds for these services are often separated (Lovelock & Weinberg, 1990: 4). From a transactional marketing perspective this is a tough problem to tackle.

These distinctions can also be found in the classification of public services that van der Hart (1991) formed and was adapted by Laing (2003).

Figure 1: Classification of public services

Degree of contact with public

Degree to which the customer pays

Low High High I Criminal justice Emergency services II Council housing Postal services Low III Central government deparments IV

Customs & Excise

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Laing (2003) argues that for public services falling into the first and third category marketing models would be of little relevance and could even be incompatible. This is due to the fact that these services do not depend on the service users for their survival, as the degree to which the customers pay is low, and because the relationship between service providers and users in these categories would be classified as citizenship. Being that the police force falls within the first category, this would go against the argument being made by this research paper. The opposite applies for the second and forth category, of which Laing (2003) suggests that they could benefit from the application of marketing models and concepts. His view on crossing over theories from one field in to another for categories one and three, is a confirmation of arguments made earlier. Walsh (1991, p. 15) had the following to say considering marketing from a public service perspective: “the ethic that governs the public sector is quite different from that which applies in the private sector”. Arguing that theories should not be used across the two fields.

This notion is generally accepted in the public sector field, at the same time however theorists in the marketing field, argue that even though the application of marketing is most likely going to be different for the public sector and the private sector, the difference will not be that large (Butler & Collins, 1995; Mawby & Worthington, 2002). Core marketing practices merely need to be adapted to fit the situation, which lines up nicely with the premise of this paper.

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4.2. Evidence based management.

Even though researchers often look to other disciplines to help solve their issues, practitioners rarely do. Rynes, Giluk & Brown (2007) go so far as to say that the gap between science and practice might even be too big and persistent. Researchers often gain new and useful insights that practice could greatly benefit from. To address this issue, a shift towards Evidence Based Management (EBM) has been present in recent history. Evidence based management allows practicing managers to make organizational decisions based on social science and organizational research This means that decisions are no longer guided by personal preference and random experience but rather led by the best available scientific evidence. (Rousseau, 2006: 256). Not only would evidence based management help raise support for decisions by referring back to the original research, it will help practice achieve better results and higher levels of efficiency (Sackett, Strauss, Richardson, Rosenberg & Haynes, 2000). Even though the benefits of evidence based management would seem to be apparent, it is still not widely used. In his paper, Rousseau (2006) mentions several reasons for this scarce use. Amongst them is the notion that managers do not know about the evidence as they are not up to speed with current developments in research. Another reason is that evidence based management requires the skill to transform this knowledge into actual practice solutions. The benefits however outweigh the challenges met when trying to make use of evidence based management.

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4.3. Marketing

Marketing is a field of research and practice that is extremely broad and rich in its topics and application. It ranges from pricing and placement strategy, to knowing how the reach the largest amount of people and those influencing people both cognitively and affectively. This last part is what this study will be focusing upon. But in order to understand how to change people’s attitudes, first a definition of attitudes is necessary.

4.3.1. Attitudes

The American Marketing Association website (American Marketing Association, n.d.) provides the following definition for attitudes:

“A person’s overall evaluation of a concept; an affective response involving general feelings of liking or favorability”.

Logically when referring to someone’s attitude towards a particular object, person or organization therefore it means someone’s overall evaluation of that object, person or organization.

4.3.2. Social Marketing

Changing attitudes with a social objective is also known as social marketing. Peattie et al (2012) specify this by stating that social marketing attempts to achieve behavioral change in a particular audience by using typically commercial marketing models and tools. The social part means that these efforts are made with the goal being to eventually benefit society (public health, safety, communities and the environment). This goal can be achieved through many different marketing tools.

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4.3.3. Behavior Modification Perspective

An important part of the marketing paradigm is being able to persuade people to like a product, person, cause, organization etcetera. This means that influencing attitudes and consequently behavior is an important concept to understand. Specifically the behavior modification perspective focuses on environmental/external factors that influence behavior instead of psychological processes occurring within the person being influenced (Nord & Peter, 1980). The behavior modification perspective argues that cognitive processes taking place in the minds of people need not be understood in order to modify attitudes and that people can be influenced without knowing the specifics of how it comes to be. According to Petty and Cacioppo (1986: 124) there are many theories on the psychology of persuasion. So much even that it is considered common for textbooks to describe anywhere from ten to twenty theories on the matter. Even though there is a wealth of knowledge, most theories can be categorized into one of two routes to attitude change (Petty & Cacioppo, 1981a in Cacioppo & Petty, 1983: 3). These two distinct routes are explained by the elaboration likelihood model.

4.3.4. Elaboration Likelihood Model

The elaboration likelihood model is less extreme than the behavior modification perspective in that it does not completely shun internal processes. Based on the level of involvement it specifies two routes to persuasion. Amongst other things the level of involvement is based on someone’s ability and motivation to process, also referred to as the likelihood of elaboration. Involvement could be low if for example people are not cognitively able to process, don’t have the time to process or when there are too many distractions hampering the ability to process. Conversely involvement is high when the prior problems are absent. The basic notion of the elaboration likelihood model is that

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depending on the level of involvement or the likelihood of elaboration, either low or high, different routes may work best and a person can therefore either take the central route or the peripheral route to persuasion (Petty & Cacioppo, 1983).

Central Route. When there is a high level of involvement, it means that people have the

ability and the motivation to process a certain message. The attitude is then influenced and perhaps changed by a careful cognitive assessment of the arguments and information in that message.

Peripheral Route. Here attitudes may be modified because the object which is under

evaluation is linked to some positive or negative cue. Peripheral cues typically used in marketing strategies include music, sex, humor and color. In addition to those cues, attitudes may also be changes because the person evaluating uses simple decision rules (e.g. the more arguments the better). Both cues and decision rules are alike in that they do not require extensive thinking for an evaluation.

There are a number of situations in which people come into contact with police officers. A common denominator in most situations is that the ability or motivation to process will typically be low. When there is no direct contact, people simply pass police officers in the street. Here there are time restrictions to consider, as people might be going somewhere additionally a multitude of distractions on the street also hamper the processing. In cases when there is direct contact, people are most often distressed either because they are have been victimized and something bad happened to them or because they did something wrong and are nervous about just having been caught. Again these situations are characterized by a low ability and motivation to process.

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Therefore if police officers opt to try and influence people’s attitude, the peripheral route of persuasion, using basic cues, would be the best choice in this situation. Utilizing uniform color as a means to change attitudes falls perfectly in line with this reasoning.

4.3.5. Affect Transfer Hypothesis

The peripheral route to persuasion argues that attitudes can be influenced by basic cues. MacKenzie, Lutz and Belch (1986) however found that this is not a direct process. At the time, researchers had argued that “attitude toward the ad (Aad), an affective construct representing consumers’ feelings toward the ad itself, is a mediating influence on brand attitude” (Mitchell & Olson, 1981 in MacKenzie et al., 1986 p. 130). This is visualized by the following image.

Figure 2: Affect transfer hypothesis

After having conducted their research MacKenzie et al. (1986) found that the results linked this process, called affect transfer, specifically to the state of low involvement and consequently the peripheral route. These results were substantiated further later on when Zhang and Zinkhan (2006) executed a similar study. They used humor as a peripheral cue in an ad to argue that under conditions of low involvement the effect of humor on attitude toward the brand would be mediated by the attitude toward the ad and that this effect would disappear under conditions of moderate or high involvement. Their hypothesis was confirmed, consistent with research done prior to theirs, concluding that attitude change using the peripheral route is an indirect process.

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4.4. Color

When confronted with something or someone new, first impressions are immediately made in a matter of seconds. About 62-90 percent of this first assessment is made based on colors (Singh, 2006). This means colors have a profound influence on our feelings and consequently our attitude towards objects or people. A lot of research has been done on color and its effect. However this research has mainly been focused on the use of color in products. Despite the clear evidence that color has an impact on social processes such as impression formation, the effects of uniform color have not been properly investigated by researchers (Nickels, 2008). Not only is there a slight lack of research on this particular matter, the literature available on the influence of color in general differs greatly in its outcomes and conclusions. Many of the theorists agree that certain colors have important social meanings, which are attained either through cultural social learning or through innate biological causes (Whitfield & Wiltshire, 1990; Elliot & Maier, 2007). A main level of consensus can also be found with regard to the effects of colors such as yellow, white, red and blue. Yellow is generally linked to feeling of happiness, while red is considered to convey feelings of excitement. Blue is most often linked with emotions such as trust, calmness, whereas white is considered an indication of purity (Kido, 2000; Aslam, 2006). These researchers specified the emotions linked to color further than researchers before them had done. Cimbalo, Beck and Sendziak (1978) made a different, more general, kind of distinction of colors and emotion. They concluded that yellow, orange and blue can be considered to be happy colors and red, black and brown are to be designated as sad colors. The color black however creates the most controversy. Some theorists label the color to be a sign of strength and activity (Nickels, 2008), which would be in sync with the previously discussed desire of the Dutch police force to have their new uniforms exude a higher level of authority and

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activity. This is a validation of the experiment conducted by Vrij, Pannell and Ost (2005). Here their results suggested that darker clothing seemed to have and authoritative influence over public decisions. At the same time other researchers attribute more negative associations to the color black, including associations of anger, aggression and death (Osgood, 1957:23; Frank & Gilovich, 1988; Valdez & Mehrabian, 1994; Johnson, 2005). Despite there being a vast amount of research on this issue, evidence on this matter is clearly inconclusive.

4.5. Police and Uniform color

The inconclusive results in the literature of the effects of color in general are carried on in the literature directly linked to the law enforcement profession. Here again a similar confusion arises. The study conducted by Johnson (2005) attempted to determine what color uniform would create the most favorable impression in citizens. His results suggested that a police uniform with a lighter blue shirt would be the best choice. Even though the dark colored uniform was not rated least favorable, it was perceived to be most unfriendly and aggressive. A flaw in his study however was the fact that respondents were asked to rate the uniform and Johnson then concluded that these ratings automatically applied to the officer wearing the uniform, without any meditational process. In a reaction to the flaw found in Johnson’s (2005) study, Nickels (2008) designed another study and found the complete opposite. Here lighter colors elicited less positive evaluation in relation to darker uniform colors, concluding that black accentuates power which in turn can be associated to authority, control and sophistication. In addition to citizens impression on the uniform Johnson conducted yet another study (2013) to assess the behavioral consequences of differences in uniform

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colors. Even though his own previous research had concluded that darker colored uniforms gave rise to feelings of unfriendliness and aggression, which had also been concluded long before when Frank and Gilovich’s research (1988) found that sports players were perceived to be playing more aggressively by the referees and Vrij (1997) suggested that criminals were being seem as more threatening when wearing dark clothing, the results indicated that there was no significant relation between black police uniforms and police citizen aggression. This means that police officers could very well wear darker colored uniforms without having any behavioral consequences. The notion of the link between attitude and behavior being a weak one had previously been elaborated upon by several researchers (Kim & Hunter, 1993; Kraus, 1995), and had now been affirmed by Johnson (2013). Therefore a police officer’s uniform can influence people’s feelings and attitudes, without it having an effect on behavior such as physical violence or filing a citizen’s complaint. All this research appears to raise more questions than it does answers, which is why this research will attempt to add to this extensive body of knowledge and perhaps reach a level of consensus.

When combining the literature on law enforcement and color and the literature on color by itself, the notion that lighter colors might work better in this particular profession. Even though authority is clearly an emotion the police force would like to elicit, aggression is the last thing police officers would want to trigger in a situation where people are already uncertain and anxious. Aslam (2006) concluded that the color blue, in addition to relaxation, could also trigger feelings of high quality and responsibility and that the color white is most often associated with purity and honesty. A level of authority could then take place even with lighter colors when combining it with the

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inherent level of authority that automatically comes with the law enforcement profession. Therefore lighter color might be a better option in determining how to design a police officer’s uniform.

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Uniform color (lightness)

5. Quantitative Research

5.1. Hypotheses

Based on the literature three hypotheses can be established.

- H1: People’s attitude towards the uniform will be more favorable, when the uniform has more light colors.

- H2: People’s attitudes towards the uniform will transfer to attitudes towards the public service.

- H3: People’s attitude towards the public service will therefore be more favorable, when the uniform has more light colors.

These hypotheses can be visualized by means of a conceptual model.

5.2. Conceptual Model

Figure 3: Conceptual model

Attitude towards the uniform/ likeability of the uniform

Prior experiences with the service

Media and news coverage (environmental influences)

Attitudes towards the service/ likeability of the service

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5.3. Additional Research

The presented literature shows that basic cues are an important factor in the formation of an attitude toward something or someone. However it would appear obvious that there are many other factors that influence this formation process. Even though these other antecedents will not be discussed, they are added to the quantitative part of the research to examine the relative weight of the effect of the basic cue; uniform color. The notion that uniform color can influence attitude is now noted, if however it turns out that it merely accounts for a small part of the influence compared to the other antecedents, managers may consider investing in other marketing strategies. This is for managers to decide. A relative weights analysis will therefore either highlight the importance of a due diligent focus on the color of the uniform or serve to identify another important antecedent that could also be considered when implementing marketing strategies.

Direct Experience. Literature in the field of marketing suggests that direct experience

based beliefs provide a powerful basis for developing attitudes towards the brand (Smith, 1993: 206).

Media/ News coverage. As a result of his study Entman (1989: 347) indicated that the

media have a significant influence on what people think and their evaluations by influencing what people think about.

Both antecedents have already been incorporated into the conceptual model to clarify their position in this research.

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6. Methods

This second study consists of a survey among a representative sample of the population to examine what the current state of attitudes towards the police is and whether or not basic cues such as the uniform (specifically its color) will affect this. The quantitative part of the research will therefore serve to test the existing theory in another field en therefore, depending on the results, expanding it or setting the boundaries in which the theory is effective.

6.1. Sample/Distribution

This research aims to generalize the results to the Dutch population. To reach a large number of respondents, within the time and resource frame, the survey is distributed via internet. Respondents will either receive a personal email asking them to participate by clicking on the link provided or the link will be made available in post via social media. This invitation will include a cover letter specifying what the research is about and how long it will take to complete. Even though the research is focused on the Netherlands, the survey will be provided in English, which means respondents will have to be able to understand the English language. There is a clear benefit to providing the survey in English, which is that a large number of people will be able to participate in the research rather than confining it to people who only speak Dutch. Finally the survey will be disseminated amongst my own personal network, which is non-probability type of sampling, also known as convenience sampling.

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6.2. Variables and Measures

Uniform color. As there are colors associated with the police services, which have either

historical or practical (recognizability) value, this study is not aimed at changing the colors all together, but will remain within the boundaries of color use as they are currently also being used in society. Therefore the uniform color variable will be presented in the form of 3 pictures of uniforms with different variations of colors typically used in police uniforms (white/blue/black). Starting out with a white/navy color scheme, the colors will gradually darken to a blue/navy scheme to eventually form a black/black color scheme. The different pictures will only vary by color and will include specific signs that highlight that they are in fact police uniforms. To minimize any distractions that might invalidate the results, the main focus should be on the uniform color alone. Therefore accessories such as the safety vest and any forms of weaponry will be removed. The result is an image set used in the survey, which can also be found in the Appendix 13.1.

Attitudes toward the uniform. While there are many definitions for attitude, here attitude

means whether or not respondents have either positive or negative feelings towards the uniform. After having viewed the pictures, respondents will be asked to relay their attitudes in seven 5-point semantic differential scales. Attitudes measured will be on the following continuums: good/bad, nice/mean, warm/cold, gentle/forceful, friendly/unfriendly and passive/aggressive, based on the work of Johnson (2005). To examine whether or not the police’s desire to exude a higher level of authority will be achieved by the choice of a uniform color another item, authoritative/submissive, was added. The semantic differential scales have the following form:

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Good Bad

Pre-tests showed this is clear enough for respondents. Had it not been clear, traditional Likert scale format, where a statement is presented (e.g. “good”) and people answer with 1-strongly disagree and 5 strongly agree, would have been used.

Attitudes toward the service. To assess whether or not the attitude toward the uniform

will transfer to the service, attitude toward the service must of course also be measured. The scale used will be based on the work of Nickels (2008). Respondents will be asked to rate 5 statements referring to the police force on a 5-point Likert scale. The following statements were presented:

1. Police are usually polite to people

2. Most police treat people the same regardless of race or wealth 3. Most police officers are fair in their dealings with people

4. The police stick to high ethical standards when enforcing the law 5. Most police officers enjoy using authority to push people around

In the original scale by Nickels (2008) the first statement contained the word courteous instead of polite. A pre-test showed that this word created some difficulties, as Dutch respondent did not know the word and its meaning. Therefore this word was replaced for a more common synonym. The same goes for the word stick in the fourth statements. Originally this stated adhere, but this again appeared to be a lesser known word.

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In addition to asking respondents to rate their attitude towards the service based on the images of the police uniforms, respondent were also asked to rate it based on two other factors. This was part of the additional research to determine what antecedent would influence the attitude towards the service most. The other factors were whether or not respondents had even been in direct contact with the police force and whether or not respondents had heard about the police force in the media. Based on their answers they could either continue to the next part of the survey or rate their attitude toward the service based on the direct experience and/or the media coverage, using the Likert scale described above.

Control variables were age and gender.

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7. Results

The data for this research is gathered using surveys and used as input for statistical analysis by means of the software program SPSS. Eventually 53 people had participated in the survey. The largest age group was 20 and 34 years old as there were over 40 people in this category (20-24 = 41,4% and 25-34 = 43,4%). Additionally the majority of respondents were female (69,8%). Demographic figures for the Netherlands, which can be found on the Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek website (CBS, 2013, april 5th),

however state that the percentage of females would normally be at 50,5%.

Research Population Weighting

Males 30,2% 49,5% 1,64

Females 69,8% 50,5% 0,72

Applying weighting to the raw data might level the results to a level more congruent with the population. As it stands the over-representation of females here may have skewed the outcome of the survey but this will be discussed further in the limitations section.

Cleaning the data.

None of the items in the survey contained missing data. One of the items (no. 5) in the scale to measure attitude towards the service was counter indicative. This means it needed to be reverse coded before continuing any analysis. To do this the likert scale used to measure them needs to be flipped (1 -> 5, 2 -> 4, 3 -> 3, 4 ->2, 5 -> 1).

Now the data is ready to be used for analysis purposes.

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7.1. Scale Reliability and Means

Reliability is an important factor in doing research. To make sure the outcome of the analyses to be run will be good enough to use in making predictions and testing hypotheses, the scales used in the research need to be reliable. Therefore this needs to be examined first.

The analysis shows that the scales used in different situations provided different levels of reliability. Most of them ranged around a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.7 but the scales used to measure the attitude toward the uniform in the white/navy color scheme and in the blue/navy color scheme ranked around 0.5. To increase the reliability the last item in the white/navy color scheme was deleted from the analysis and the last two items in the blue/navy color scheme also.

Finally scale means were computed to aid in the analyses of the hypotheses (see appendix 13.2).

Firstly, the calculations show that the color of the uniform does have an impact on the attitude towards the uniform. Even though the differences in means are small they are quite clearly present. People responded most positively to the uniform with the black/black color scheme and least positively to the uniform with the blue/navy color scheme.

Secondly the means indicate a slight difference in the attitudes towards the police force when considering different uniform colors. In sharp contrast to the results for the attitudes toward the uniform, the results here suggest that the respondents had the most favorable attitude toward the public service with the blue/navy color scheme and least favorable toward the public service with the black/black color scheme.

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Overall respondents had a slightly more positive evaluation of the uniforms than they did the police service itself.

These results already suggest that the attitude toward the uniform is not transferred to the attitude toward the police service itself, as the uniform color that creates the most positive attitude goes on the create the least positive attitude toward the police and vice versa.

7.2. Correlations

In analyzing relationships amongst variables, a correlation matrix can give a good overview. Using SPSS the basis for a good matrix were computed and after some esthetic alterations, like adding the mean and SD, the following matrix can be seen.

Mean SD 1 2 3 4

1. Total Uniform Mean

2,9683 0,39149 1,000 2. Total Police Mean

2,9429 0,46537 ,279 1,000 3. Direct Experience Mean

2,9143 0,82358 -,195 ,347 1,000 4. Media Exposure Mean

2,1619 0,59538 ,111 ,401 ,356 1,000

Note. Correlations greater than r= 0,23 are significant at alpa < 0,05 (one-tailed)

Figure 4: Correlation Matrix

The table clearly shows that the correlation between the attitude towards the uniform (total uniform mean) and the attitude toward the police (total police mean) is significant (0.279 at an alpha < 0,05).

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7.3. Regression

A regression analysis done in SPSS, shows that the model all together is significant (F=2,892 alpha =0,05) while keeping the control variables constant. The variables used in this analysis accounted for 49,1% of the variance in the model. When adding the control variables this number reaches just over 70% of the variance, making them important factors in predicting the outcome variable.

Examining the variables independently, the results show that attitude toward the uniform, attitude based on direct experience and attitude based on media exposure all have a positive relationship with attitude toward the police, with attitude based on media exposure having the strongest relationship (t = 1,612). At 0,544, 0,230 and 0,128 none of the relationships however appear to be significant.

7.4. Relative weights

Finally to find out which of the antecedents makes the bigger impact and should therefore be considered more carefully, a relative weights analysis is performed. To do this first a correlation matrix needs to be computed and altered in excel. This will then become the input for the analysis. The results (see appendix 13.3) show that put together the attitudes based on the uniform, the direct experience or the media exposure account for 29,9% of the variance in this model. Within this contribution attitude based on media exposure and attitude based on direct experience finish at a tie as both account for about 35% and attitude based on uniform sadly accounts for a little under 30%. This means that attitude based on uniform carries the least weight in defining what attitudes toward the police service itself are based on.

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8. Discussion

As can be seen in the correlation matrix and the regression analysis outcomes, attitude toward the uniform and attitude toward the service are positively correlated. Despite the fact that they are and a relationship therefore exists, it does not appear to be significant. Therefore H2 cannot be supported, which means that there is no sign of affect transfer. In addition the scale means show that the uniform with the black/black color scheme was found to be most favorable. This means that H1 can also not be supported. The hypothesis left standing is the one that argues that people’s attitudes toward the service will be more favorable when the uniform has more light colors (H3). Considering the scale means, the results suggest that H3 can partly be supported. The uniform color scheme creating the most favorable attitude toward the police service was the one with the blue/navy color scheme. Even though it is not the lightest, it can still be considered a lighter color when examining all options provided.

This study was not able to provide hard evidence for the attitude formation based on uniform color. However the relative weights analysis provides some alleviation in this matter and further insight into the antecedents and their importance. In the results of the relative weights analysis attitude based on uniform was found to have the least weight in determining the attitude toward the police. This may perhaps be a reason to the lack of significance in the relationship between the two. The experiences people have when they come into direct contact with the police and the media coverage on the police seem to be of much more importance when it comes to the attitude toward the public service.

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9. Conclusion

The first part of this research paper unveiled an extensive body of knowledge on attitude, uniform and color. The quantitative part however was unable to show a clear effect between these variables. That does not mean that there is no merit to this paper. The research conducted here was merely an example of one of the many ways in which marketing strategies could be used in the public sector to achieve the goals set. As the relative weights analysis indicated, there are other antecedents that could also benefit from some attention. If direct experience is an important factor, the police force could implement a customer relationship management system, wherein police officers could assure that people are satisfied after they have experienced the direct contact. And if the media only exposes cases of police misconduct, the police force might consider increasing their visibility, so that it becomes easier for people to see how much actually goes good.

There are however some important drawbacks to the implementation of these (and also other) strategies. The police force is and most likely will remain a public service. The main focus of the police should therefore be on fighting crime, ensuring that people feel safe and thereby increase the level of social profit discussed before. If they were to get too caught up in image issues, citizens might wonder if the police force is not getting too distracted and wonder why the people should fund image issues, as the police force is funded through tax euros. This does not mean that public services should negate marketing strategies all together. It simply means that public services should put a lot of thought and effort into finding a good balance.

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As it currently stands the Dutch police force is ready and prepared to introduce the new uniform which has mostly dark colors.

Figure 5: New Dutch police uniform

Still the police could make good use of an evidence based management system by researching how to achieve positive attitudes in people considering the situation at hand. An option to be evaluated is police visibility. The marketing paradigm called exposure effect argues that a positive attitude toward something of someone can be enhanced simply as a result of repeated stimulus exposure (Zajonc & Markus, 1982).

If researchers and practitioners help each other, through consulting or collaboration, rather than focus solely on their own projects, there will be no need to keep reinventing the wheel. But as Rynes et al. (2007) state, bridging the gap between academics and practice will require desire and effort from both sides.

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10.

Limitations

Conducting an internet based survey with means the sample will rely on the accessibility of the survey, which is of course a possible drawback of this method as some people might not have access to a computer or internet (Wright, 2006). In addition to that the negative consequence of convenience sampling is the response rate depends on respondents’ willingness to participate. This effect is clear as a limited amount of people made the effort of filling in the survey. And can also be seen in the demographic results of the survey, the female gender was over-represented, most likely due to the effects of convenience sampling. This something to consider as it limit’s the generalizability of the outcomes.

Furthermore the images used in the survey were different in the color of the uniform, other than that they were similar. This means they all lacked the full police uniform attire such as a safety vest, weaponry, hand cuffs etc. The lack of a full and complete police officer image might very well have hampered the investigation of the effects of attitude. And regarding the colors, people might argue that colors are controversial. Not only can differences in perception and preferences be seen between different cultures, different genders and different ages, there is a large amount of people that cannot perceive color properly or at all. This ranges from color confusion to color blindness and the natural change in perception of color that comes with age.

Finally, like mentioned before, this study was conducted in the Netherlands. The result that lighter colored uniforms, give way to more positive attitudes might very well be the result of the familiarization with the current police uniform and the feelings people already have towards it. However this is a limitation that would be really hard to overcome.

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