Understanding Black people’s resentment toward American law enforcement agencies: the roles of policing style and abusive police behavior

Purpose The goal of our study is to extend the management research that has examined the problematic relationship between American law enforcement agencies (LEs) and Black communities. Design/methodology/approach We recruited participants from university Black alumni networks, Black churches and Black fraternities/sororities. A Qualtrics survey link was shared by the respective organizations’ communications director/chair. This approach gave us access to an estimated 800–900 Black people. We received a total of 392 completed surveys. Findings We find that (1) LEA authoritarian policing positively impacts Black people’s evaluations of abusive police behavior and (2) LEA ethical policing negatively impacts Black people’s evaluations of abusive police behavior. In turn, abusive police behavior positively impacts LEA resentment. Comprehensively, we demonstrate that abusive police behavior mediates the relationship between policing styles and LEA resentment. Originality/value We are unaware of any study that seeks to explain how different policing styles can increase or decrease Black people’s resentment toward American LEAs. Our findings provide evidence of these relationships.