Abstract:

Investigative leaders in the police must be able to lead under demanding conditions. The research presented in this article is part of the research project Character in police students and police leaders aiming at investigating which character strengths are important for these two groups. Character strengths are psychological ingredients that one uses to display virtues or human goodness. The research described in this article aimed to explore which character strengths students of investigative leadership at the Norwegian Police University College (NPUC) would deem as the most important in order for them to function well in their role as investigative leaders. The following research question was asked in the present study: Which character strengths do you think are the most important for investigative leaders? We asked 55 students taking part in a course in investigative leadership at the NPUC to assess 24 character strengths sorted under six virtues and to indicate the character strengths importance for investigative leaders. During a classroom lecture, participants were shown a link to an online questionnaire on a screen, ensuring their anonymity when answering the questionnaire. The questionnaire was derived from a previously developed and validated survey created by the first and third author in collaboration with a research group at the Norwegian Military Academy. The questionnaire consisted of 24 questions, with one question for each of the 24 character strengths. The assessment was made on a 5-point scale ranging from not important to very important. The 55 participants were requested to first read the definition and synonym for each character strengths, and then rate how important this character strength was for an investigative leader. We informed the participants that their individuals' responses would be treated confidentially and that their responses would be aggregated on a group level in order to ensure individual anonymity. The participants then received and gave oral informed consent to participate in the study. After collecting the data, the first author then presented the results to the participants, this as a part of the ongoing lecture. The results revealed that the most important character strengths that emerged was open-mindedness, followed by leadership, fairness, integrity, persistence, teamwork, love of learning, social intelligence, curiosity and perspective, self-regulation, kindness, and bravery. The character strengths all have individual differences, and they are distinct from each other. Character strengths are seen as positive traits, and are referred to as the capacities we humans have for thinking, feeling, and behaving in such ways that it benefit oneself and others. The character strengths deemed as the most important by the participants are mainly sorted under the virtues wisdom and knowledge and justice, rendering a possible character strength profile that may be suitable for investigative leaders in the police. The results from this study can be used to both select students to investigative leadership courses and to further educate future investigative leaders in the police. In addition, the result may have implications for curriculum design in future investigative studies in police educational organizations.

Keywords:

Character strengths, education, student perspective, investigative leaders, individual characteristics.