Influence of obsessive-compulsivity, job experience and gender on corrupt practices among Nigerian police officers

This study examined influence of obsessive-compulsivity, job experience and gender on corrupt practices among police officers. Participants were 687 police officers drawn from three states in the South East, Nigeria who comprised of 489 males and 198 females. The ages of the participants ranged from 27–48 years with a mean age of 35.52 and standard deviation of 3.90 years. Data for the study was obtained with the aid of two questionnaires namely: Obsessive compulsivity scale which is a subscale in Symptoms Distress Checklist (SCL-90R) and 12-item Unethical Behaviour Tendency Scale by Tang and Weatherford UBTS (1997). The study adopted a 2x2x2 factorial design and 3-Way Analysis of Variance (3-WAY ANOVA) as appropriate design and statistical tool for the study respectively. Result from the three tested hypotheses indicated that differences in obsessive-compulsivity, job experience and gender significantly influenced police corrupt practices at F(1, 687) = 4.77*; F(1, 687) = 3.24* and F(1, 687) = 3.69* p <.05 respectively. It is recommended that the corrupt practice among law enforcements agents is implicated by subjective factors which ought to be taken into consideration during recruitment and selection processes.