{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,17]],"date-time":"2026-08-17T05:24:26Z","timestamp":1786944266527,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":60,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,17]],"date-time":"2026-08-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1786924800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      <jats:italic>Wasta<\/jats:italic>\n                      , a culturally ingrained practice of favoritism prevalent in Arab culture, presents significant challenges to governance and organizational integrity in the Middle East. However, empirical research on its role in policing \u2014 an area notoriously tied to its use \u2014 is extremely scarce. This study proposes a framework explaining the elements that perpetuate\n                      <jats:italic>wasta<\/jats:italic>\n                      and examines officers\u2019 attitudes toward the practice.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      A mixed-methods design was employed. Survey data were collected from 199 officers to identify correlates of attitudes toward\n                      <jats:italic>wasta<\/jats:italic>\n                      , and semi-structured interviews were conducted with a subsample of officers (\n                      <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\n                      = 7) to explore the underlying dynamics shaping those attitudes.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Quantitatively, higher education and years of experience were significantly associated with officers\u2019 critical views of\n                      <jats:italic>wasta<\/jats:italic>\n                      in police work. Qualitatively, catalysts of\n                      <jats:italic>wasta<\/jats:italic>\n                      involved bureaucratic inefficiencies and cultural expectations, while deterrents included personal barriers and organizational reforms such as digitization. Social pressures (e.g., familial and tribal expectations) emerged as the main drivers pushing individuals into participating in\n                      <jats:italic>wasta<\/jats:italic>\n                      .\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      The results underscore the need for comprehensive reforms \u2014 including the development of digital infrastructure, transparency initiatives, and ethics-focused training \u2014 to reduce\n                      <jats:italic>wasta<\/jats:italic>\n                      in policing and restore institutional integrity. Beyond Kuwait, this research contributes to broader discussions on informal governance practices and provides a basis for comparative studies in similar cultural contexts.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1849882","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,17]],"date-time":"2026-08-17T04:32:30Z","timestamp":1786941150000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Kinship, favors, and officer integrity: exploring wasta in Kuwait\u2019s National Police Force"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Nasser","family":"AlSabah","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York Graduate Center","place":["New York, NY, United States"]},{"name":"Kuwait National Police, Ministry of Interior","place":["Kuwait, Kuwait"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1080\/13603124.2022.2087004","article-title":"The impact of wasta and external power holders on the educational system in Kuwait: leaders\u2019 perspectives","author":"AlAjmi","year":"2022","journal-title":"Int. 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