Managing tacit investigative knowledge: measuring 'investigative thinking styles'

摘要

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to produce a framework and instrument that can be used to improve the management of tacit investigative knowledge in policing agencies based upon Dean's (2000) theory of criminal investigation. Design/methodology/approach - The paper describes the development and large-scale test of a psychometric scale with a large sample of detectives from the New South Wales Police Force, Western Australia Police, Tasmania Police, Victoria Police and Singapore Police Force. The purpose of the scale is to quantitatively measure the extent to which investigative police adhere to Dean's (2000) four investigative "thinking styles". Findings - The research produced further empirical evidence of Dean's (2000) theory, but also indicated areas where the scale and theory required readjustment and re-conceptualisation. Research limitations/implications - Future research should conduct further large-scale tests of a revised instrument, which incorporates these changes. In particular, the potential overlap between Dean's (2000) thinking style constructs and other cognitive, psychological and even physiological traits demands further consideration before the instrument can be validated. Practical implications - Once a robust, valid and reliable instrument is constructed, it may be used to map the tacit investigative knowledge that exists in police agencies and thus, inform the management of that knowledge and the experts who hold it. Originality/value - This research contributes to the current literature on knowledge management approaches in policing, with a particular focus on the management of tacit investigative knowledge. It also further extends the work of Dean (2000) and his colleagues (Dean et al, 2006, 2007, 2008a, b; Dean and Gottschalk, 2007; Dean and Staines, 2011) in empirically validating Dean's (2000) theory of criminal investigation.