Innovation Diffusion Channels and Community Policing: The Impact of Institutional Forces on Organizational Practice

The proposed research seeks to enhance our understanding of channels used to diffuse
innovation by assessing their influence in organizational change. These channels'journals and government publications, accreditation criteria, other agencies, grants, community and government pressures, academic courses/seminars, and professional associations'are studied within the context of community policing reforms. Using existing data collected from over 440 local law enforcement agencies, the relative importance of communication channels is assessed along with commonly studied factors of organizational change such as organizational size, jurisdiction crime rates, and community social disorganization. The results are most valuable for researchers and policymakers as they identify channels that are most salient with practitioners making decisions about organizational change. Such knowledge will allow for more strategic dissemination of research and enhance the prospects for change in criminal justice practice. nca/ncf