The Social Psychology of Procedural Justice: Findings in Hong Kong

This research aims to comprehensively illustrate the importance of perceived procedural justice among the public to police and governing authorities in crowd management involving multiple identities and identifications. It simultaneously considers the group engagement model and the elaborated model of procedural justice. We collected data from 1,000 participants in Hong Kong at the end of the Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement. Public perceptions of procedural justice, identification with militant protestors, moderate protestors, police, and the government, as well as their support for protestor violence, were assessed. Full structural equation modeling was employed to analyze the data and assess a complex model of procedural justice. We found a perception of low procedural justice contributed to increased public support for protestor violence by fostering identification with militant protestors. Additionally, a perceived lack of procedural justice was associated with heightened identification with moderate protestors, while simultaneously diminishing identification with the government, with the latter effect being fully mediated by reduced identification with the police. The significance of procedural justice for governing authorities in crowd management is multifaceted and should be considered within both the group engagement model and the elaborate model of procedural justice. The outcomes derived from the complex model of procedural justice provide insights for shaping comprehensive policing practices.