The Moderating Role of Willingness to Implement Policy on Street-level Bureaucrats’ Multidimensional Enforcement Style and Discretion

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study contributes to the understanding of street-level bureaucrats’ behavior at the frontlines of regulatory enforcement. Regulatory enforcement is a multifaceted phenomenon that revolves around the concept of discretion of street-level bureaucrats. This study examines how a multidimensional enforcement style influences discretion and determines whether the willingness to implement acts as a moderator. It utilizes a survey questionnaire distributed among inspectors of the Department of Labor in the Ministry of Human Resources of Malaysia (n = 241). The finding of this study is street-level bureaucrat enforcement style comprises three primary dimensions: legal – which registered the highest correlation with discretion – facilitation, and accommodation. Using structural equational modeling, the three dimensions were found to have positive effects on discretion, and when considering the indirect effect of willingness to implement the relationships between the three dimensions and discretion were stronger when inspectors’ willingness is high. The novelty of this thesis is in producing an inclusive examination of regulation enforcement through the lens of Lipsky and Braithwaite’s theories by shedding light on the importance of the different factors that ultimately shape the discretion of bureaucrats. The primary contribution is highlighting that enforcement style have a profound impact on bureaucrats’ discretion when considering the willingness to implement and thus these factors shapes the whole implementation process.