EXPECTANCY-THEORY AND POLICE PRODUCTIVITY IN DUI ENFORCEMENT

This article drew on expectancy theory in industrial/organizational ps ychology to explain arrest productivity for driving under the influenc e (DUI) in a sample of Pennsylvania police officers. Expectancy theory is a cognitive model of motivation and performance based on workers' perceptions of their situation. Its major elements are estimated in a regression model: the officer's capability and opportunity for DUI enf orcement (performance-reward expectancy), the instrumentality of DUI e nforcement behavior for the officer, and the reward-cost balance assoc iated with making DUI arrest. These factors account for 26% of the res idual variance n the number of DUI arrests made annually once organiza tional effects have been removed. The relationships revealed are as ex pectancy theory predicts, except for instrumentality variables, which show a negative relationship to arrest productivity. This is due large ly to the orientation of a small number of ''rate busters,'' whose exc eptionally high arrest rate and negative attitudes toward their peers and the department hierarchy make them a distinct group accounting for a disproportionate number of arrests.