權力距離下的裁量與道德能動性：基層警察的服從倫理與制度回應   全文下載

Discretion and Moral Agency under Power Distance: The Ethics of Obedience and Institutional Responses among Frontline Police Officers

本研究探討基層警察在高權力距離組織情境中行使裁量的實作經驗，分析制度條件如何形塑其道德能動性的展現與受限。臺灣警察體系長期受科層化治理與服從導向文化影響，使基層警察的專業判斷傾向被重新界定為符合程序與可稽核性的行動選擇；然而，執法現場的情境差異與倫理需求，仍使員警必須在命令、規範與具體處境之間進行判斷與取捨。
本研究整合Lipsky的基層官僚理論、Zacka的道德傾向框架，以及Bandura關於道德能動性與道德脫勾的觀點，採取詮釋取向的質性研究方法，透過對十二位外勤員警之深度訪談與參與觀察，分析基層警察在制度壓力下的執法調適歷程。研究結果顯示，高權力距離的組織條件壓縮了裁量的可見運作空間，使多數員警傾向採取以風險最小化為導向的服從策略；惟部分員警仍透過非正式規範與細部行動調整，在制度可容忍的範圍內維持有限的專業判斷。
本研究指出，裁量在高權力距離組織中並非消失，而是轉化為「是否動用」與「如何動用」的實作問題；道德能動性則為理解此一轉換歷程的重要分析視角。研究結果補充既有裁量理論對行動過程之靜態理解，並顯示制度環境對道德判斷空間的影響。

This study examines how frontline police officers exercise discretion within high power-distance organizational contexts, focusing on the conditions under which moral agency is expressed or constrained. In Taiwan’s police system, hierarchical governance and obedience-oriented organizational culture tend to redefine professional judgment as procedurally compliant and auditable action. Nevertheless, situational variability and ethical demands in street-level law enforcement continue to require officers to make context-sensitive judgments amid commands, rules, and on-site conditions.
Drawing on Lipsky’s theory of street-level bureaucracy, Zacka’s framework of moral dispositions, and Bandura’s concepts of moral agency and moral disengagement, this study adopts an interpretive qualitative approach. Empirical data were collected through in-depth interviews with twelve frontline police officers and supplemented by participant observation, allowing for an analysis of how officers adjust their enforcement practices under institutional pressure.
The findings indicate that high power-distance organizational conditions significantly compress the visible space for discretion, leading most officers to adopt compliance-oriented strategies aimed at minimizing personal and organizational risk. However, some officers continue to preserve limited professional judgment through informal norms, sequencing of enforcement actions, and low-visibility adjustments that remain within institutionally tolerable boundaries.
This study argues that discretion in high power-distance organizations does not disappear but is transformed into a practical question of whether and how discretion is activated. Moral agency emerges as a key analytical lens for understanding this transformation, highlighting how ethical judgment persists—albeit in constrained and situationally negotiated forms—within bureaucratic law enforcement settings.