Compliance Behavior Research Articles

Divergent reactions to COVID‐19 exhibited in grandiose and vulnerable narcissism

AbstractGrandiosity and vulnerability are distinct dimensions of narcissism that may exhibit differences regarding compliance with COVID‐19 regulations and policies. Although both dimensions reflect entitlement and self‐importance, motivational tendencies diverge. Narcissistic grandiosity reflects bold expressions consistent with approach motivation, whereas vulnerable narcissism reflects reactive expressions consistent with avoidance motivation. Therefore, the present cross‐sectional investigation explored these relations between November 2020 and April 2021. Undergraduates (N = 487, Mage = 19.79, 87.1% women) completed online surveys that assessed grandiose and vulnerable narcissism, perceived severity of and susceptibility to COVID, attitudes and reactions toward COVID policies, as well as self‐reported behavioral data including number of daily hours out in public, indoor bar/restaurant attendance, and whether they had ever received a positive COVID diagnosis. Consistent with theoretical distinctions between the two narcissistic dimensions, grandiosity generally predicted reduced behavioral compliance and extraverted tendencies that put them at risk for COVID exposure; however, both grandiosity and vulnerability predicted worse reactions and attitudes toward COVID‐19 policies.

A Cross-Cultural Study of the Role of Efficacious Beliefs and Perceived Media Effects on Threat Perception in Predicting COVID-19 Compliance in China and the United States

ABSTRACT Self-centered vs. collective-oriented perceptions and beliefs have bearings on an individual’s behavior. In the context of the global coronavirus pandemic, this study attempts a cross-cultural analysis of public compliance with COVID-19 prevention measures in China and the United States. Using data collected from two parallel surveys, we explore how individualism and collectivism have affected respondents’ efficacious beliefs, perception bias and compliance behaviors. Findings show that higher self-efficacy in individualistic cultures tends to produce a wider self-other perceptual gap. Further, we found that individual-referenced variables (i.e. self-efficacy and perceived media effects on threat perception on oneself) play a stronger role in predicting public compliance in America. In comparison, collective-oriented and other-referenced measures (i.e. collective efficacy and perceived media effects on threat perception on others) are a stronger predictor of compliance in China than in the United States. The theoretical implications of the culturally rooted locus of reference (self vs. others) for compliance behaviors are discussed.

Rethinking Norm Psychology

Norms permeate human life. Most of people’s activities can be characterized by rules about what is appropriate, allowed, required, or forbidden—rules that are crucial in making people hyper-cooperative animals. In this article, I examine the current cognitive-evolutionary account of “norm psychology” and propose an alternative that is better supported by evidence and better placed to promote interdisciplinary dialogue. The incumbent theory focuses on rules and claims that humans genetically inherit cognitive and motivational mechanisms specialized for processing these rules. The cultural-evolutionary alternative defines normativity in relation to behavior—compliance, enforcement, and commentary—and suggests that it depends on implicit and explicit processes. The implicit processes are genetically inherited and domain-general; rather than being specialized for normativity, they do many jobs in many species. The explicit processes are culturally inherited and domain-specific; they are constructed from mentalizing and reasoning by social interaction in childhood. The cultural-evolutionary, or “cognitive gadget,” perspective suggests that people alive today—parents, educators, elders, politicians, lawyers—have more responsibility for sustaining normativity than the nativist view implies. People’s actions not only shape and transmit the rules, but they also create in each new generation mental processes that can grasp the rules and put them into action.

DETERMINANTS OF ZAKAT COMPLIANCE BEHAVIOR IN URBAN MUSLIM ENTREPRENEURS IN MATARAM CITY WEST NUSA TENGGARA

This research attempted to explore the determinants of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) compliance behavior in paying zakat (alms). This study involved business owners (SMEs) in the city of Mataram as the population and 176 people as the sample. The data were collected through online survey instruments employing the purposive sampling method. The testing technique and data analysis utilized Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Hence, the findings discovered that zakat literacy, Islamic egalitarianism, and moral norms influence the intention of SMEs owners to pay zakat. On the other hand, intention affects the owner's choice and compliance to pay zakat. This study is essential for zakat institutions to have a new strategy to encourage SMEs owners to pay zakat, considering the great potential in Indonesia. Distribution of zakat funds to asnaf (noun group of people worthy of receiving a Muslim tithe) fairly and equitably will attract more owners to pay their zakat through zakat institutions. Transparency and fairness in the distribution of zakat funds can increase the level of trust of SMEs owners in zakat institutions.

For the sake of safety: A time-lagged study investigating the relationships between perceived leadership behaviors and employee safety behaviors

BackgroundThe construction industry is affected by severe occupational accidents, and site managers’ leadership has been identified as critical in relation to safety. Most research in this field is cross-sectional and concerns broadly defined meta-categories of behaviors. AimsBy investigating the relationships between perceived specific leadership behaviors (i.e., planning, safety commitment, safety positive feedback, and active listening) and employee safety behaviors (i.e., compliance, participation, and voice), both cross-sectionally and across time (including exploration of reciprocal effects) this study aims to A) identify specific leadership behaviors of relevance for employee safety behaviors and B) further elucidate the time-lagged, prospective, relationship between managers’ safety-related leadership behaviors and employees’ safety behaviors. MethodConstruction site employees rated their managers’ leadership behaviors and their own safety behaviors on two occasions with a 4-month time lag (T1 and T2), using electronic questionnaires. Three cross-lagged panel models, one for each category of employee safety behaviors, were tested for cross-sectional, time-lagged and reciprocal effects. ResultsThe cross-sectional results support positive associations between all measured categories of perceived leadership behaviors and employee safety behaviors, with bivariate correlation coefficients ranging between 0.25 and 0.55. When controlling for respondents’ levels on the constructs at T1, the time-lagged data does not support prospective influence of planning, safety-specific positive feedback, or active listening leadership behaviors on employee safety behaviors, but does support prospective positive influence of safety commitment leadership behaviors on employee safety voice behaviors (ß = 0.34, p =.05). Reversed causality was found Employee safety compliance behaviors had a prospective positive influence on perceived active listening leadership behaviors (β = 0.20, p =.05) indicating that managers with employees that display high degrees of safety compliance behaviors show higher degrees of active listening behaviors 4 months later. ConclusionsThis study contributes with specific information about what kind of day-to-day leadership behaviors are associated with employee safety behaviors in the construction industry. Furthermore, the time-lagged data supports prospective influence of perceived safety commitment leadership behaviors on employee safety voice behaviors, suggesting that construction site managers should be trained and supported in consistently encouraging safe behaviors and in interrupting risk behaviors, in congruence with the safety information provided. Reversed causality was found, implying the existence of reciprocity in the leader-employee relationship.

Assessing Tax Compliance Behavior Among Romanian Taxpayers: An Empirical Case Study

This study explores how different factors affect tax compliance behavior among Romanian individual taxpayers. By unpacking tax compliance into nine drivers—tax system fairness, trust in government and tax authorities, efficiency, and transparency of government spending, knowledge of tax legislation, tax legislation simplicity, personal financial constraints, personal ethics, and moral standards, the social environment, and coercive measures—this study develops clear-cut paths of the drivers of tax compliance from the perspective of a developing country. The proposed research hypotheses were tested with a sample of 402 individual taxpayers and quantitative data analysis was carried out using partial least squares-structural equation modeling. The results showed that seven drivers (tax system fairness, trust in government and tax authorities, knowledge of tax legislation, personal financial constraints, coercive measures, moral standards, and tax legislation simplicity) were significant factors that increase the likelihood of tax compliance among individual taxpayers. Our findings are expected to provide tax authorities and governments new insights on tax compliance behavior that enable them to develop fiscal methods, strategies, policies, and legal measures tailored to local context, and constraints.

Machine learning in predicting anti-money laundering compliance with protection motivation theory among professional accountants

Money laundering represents a significant global threat, necessitating the vigilance of professional accountants in detecting and reporting suspicious customer activities within their jurisdiction to the relevant authorities. Despite the legal obligation to comply with anti-money laundering regulations, professional accountants' adherence to these measures remains insufficient. Previous research on machine learning techniques for combating money laundering has predominantly concentrated on predicting suspicious transactions, rather than evaluating compliance behavior. This study aims to develop a machine learning prediction model to assess the inclination of professional accountants towards adhering to anti-money laundering regulations, serving as an early signal system to gauge their willingness to abide by the law in their professional responsibilities. The research elaborates on the design and implementation of machine learning models based on three algorithms: Decision Tree, Gradient Boosted Tree, and Support Vector Machine. The paper offers two types of comparisons from distinct perspectives: firstly, the performance of each algorithm in predicting real cases of anti-money laundering compliance, and secondly, the contribution of attributes measured by weights of correlation in different algorithms. Alongside demographic factors, the study evaluates the effectiveness of each algorithm in anti-money laundering compliance by utilizing five attributes derived from the Protection Motivation Theory (PMT). The findings demonstrate the significance of all attributes, including demography and PMT, in all machine learning models, with both Gradient Boosted Tree and Support Vector Machine achieving a proportion of variance of 0.8 or higher. This indicates the potential of these algorithms in effectively measuring and predicting professional accountants' intentions to comply with anti-money laundering regulations.

Clinical Value of Hospital-Community-Family Integrated Nursing Model in the Treatment of Patients with Hyperlipidemia Pancreatitis.

This study aimed to observe the impact of the hospital-community-family integrated nursing paradigm on the compliance, psychological state, and blood lipid levels in patients with hyperlipidemia pancreatitis (HLP). Totally 66 HLP patients treated in our institution between June 2018 and June 2021 were randomized to Exp group and Con group. The Exp group received the hospital-community-family integrated nursing mode, whereas Con group adopted conventional nursing. Outcome measures included patient compliance, mental state, and blood cholesterol levels. Patients with integrated nursing exhibited markedly higher compliance than those with conventional nursing, as evinced by higher scores of compliance behavior, compliance awareness, medication attitude, and treatment attitude (P < 0.05). Integrated nursing offered more potent mitigation of negative emotions of patients than conventional nursing (P < 0.05). Integrated nursing resulted in better enhanced quality of life of patients versus conventional nursing (P < 0.05). Superior blood lipid amelioration was observed in patients after integration nursing versus those after conventional nursing, demonstrated by a higher serum high-density lipoprotein (HDL) level, and lower levels of triglycerides (TG), cholesterol (TC), and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) (P < 0.05). Patients were more satisfied with integrated nursing (96.97%) than conventional nursing (72.73%), suggesting a high patient acceptance of the nursing mode (P < 0.05). The hospital-community-family integrated nursing model provides a viable alternative to enhance HLP patients' compliance and optimize their psychological state and blood lipid levels, demonstrating good potential for clinical promotion.

Social trust and COVID-appropriate behavior

Introduction: General trust and trust in various social institutions/agents are argued to positively influence the outcome, more so, in a crisis. Mitigating a crisis requires actions from individuals, family, friends, co-workers, various policymaking, and implementing agencies, media, and other agencies with whom people interact. In the COVID-19 situation, people individuals did not have a choice but to access essential services even with the risk of infection. Personal experiences also guide individuals' trust in various social groups and are responsible for taking individual action of protecting themselves in the pandemic. To what extent people trusted various social groups and observed appropriate behavior is investigated in this research. Methods: Responses were collected through a structured, web-based questionnaire where respondents self-reported their trust in various social agents and the extent to which they observed COVID-appropriate behavior. Respondents primarily belonged to the eastern part of India. Results: This study finds significant demographic differences in observing appropriate behavior leading to an identification of a vulnerable group. Second, trust in the inner group (family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers among others) is least important whereas trust in professionals and administrative institutions is the most important. Trust in the central government, media, and politicians among others is counterproductive to observing the appropriate behavior. Conclusion: People repose higher trust in professionals and administrative institutions in a crisis situation. Professional and administrative leadership helps in more effective crisis management leading to better behavioral compliance of the public. Any other leadership may be ineffective or counter-productive.

Should i really do that? Using quantile regression to examine the impact of sanctions on information security policy compliance behavior

Deterrence theory is one of the most commonly used theories to study information security policy non-compliance behavior. However, the results of studies in the information security field are ambiguous. To further address this heterogeneity, various influencing factors have been considered in the context of deterrence theory. However, a current challenge with these findings is that recent studies that quantitatively assess the effectiveness of deterrence have relied predominantly on methods that analyze the underlying data, starting from a regression-based approach. By applying quantile regression, we estimate the overall effect of deterrents, and uncover how their effect differs among employees with different inclinations toward ISP compliance behavior – a critical insight for determining security measures for specific employee groups. Based on longitudinal data gathered in the U.S., our findings show significantly different effects in the analyzed quantiles for both aspects of sanctions, namely certainty and severity.

Sensitivity of estimands in clinical trials with imperfect compliance.

In clinical trials that are subject to noncompliance, the commonly used intention-to-treat estimand is valid as a causal effect of treatment assignment but is sensitive to the level of compliance. An alternative estimand, the complier average causal effect (CACE), measures the average effect of treatment received in the latent subset of subjects who would comply with either assigned treatment. Because the principal stratum of compliers can vary with the circumstances of the trial, CACE too depends on the compliance fraction. We propose a model in which an underlying latent proto-compliance interacts with trial characteristics to determine a subject's compliance behavior. When the latent compliance is independent of the individual treatment effect, the average causal effect is constant across compliance classes, and CACE is robust across trials and equal to the population average causal effect. We demonstrate the potential degree of sensitivity of CACE in a simulation study, an analysis of data from a trial of vitamin A supplementation in children, and a meta-analysis of trials of epidural analgesia in labor.

Tourists’ Compliance With Public Policy and Government Trust: An Application of Protection Motivation Theory

Based on the Protection Motivation Theory (PMT), this study investigates the impact of risk perception (threat appraisal and coping appraisal) and trust in the destination government on tourists’ self-protective behavior. Survey data from 450 international tourists from the United States were collected through mTurk and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) with SmartPLS 3.0. The results suggest that tourists’ self-protective behavior is directly influenced by their perception of threats and the appraisal of coping mechanisms, but not by trust in the destination government. However, trust in the destination government has an indirect effect on self-protective behavior mediated by threat appraisal and coping appraisal. Thus, tourism stakeholders must focus on building and maintaining trust in government to encourage compliance and self-protective behavior of tourists. Limitations, implications, and suggestions for future research are further discussed.

Screening and treating problematic substance use among patients in psychiatry – obstacles and solutions

ObjectiveIn Sweden, national guidelines recommend that all staff in the healthcare system systematically screen patients for alcohol use and illicit substance use. Where hazardous use is identified, it should be addressed as soon as possible, preferably through brief interventions (BI). Results from a previous national survey showed that most clinic directors stated that they had clear guidelines for screening alcohol use and illicit substance use, but that fewer staff than expected used screening in their work. This study aims to identify obstacles and solutions to screening and brief intervention, based on survey respondents’ free-text responses to open-ended questions.ResultsA qualitative content analysis yielded four codes: guidelines, continuing education, cooperation and resources. The codes indicated that staff would need (a) clearer routines in order to optimize compliance with the national guidelines; (b) more knowledge about how to treat patients with problematic substance use; (c) better cooperation between addiction care and psychiatry; and (d) increased resources to improve routines at their own clinic. We conclude that increased resources could contribute to better routines and cooperation, and provide increased opportunities for continuing education. This could increase guideline compliance and increase healthy behavior changes among patients in psychiatry with problematic substance use.

Do sociodemographic characteristics of SME entrepreneurs influence their tax (non)compliance behaviour?

The studies in tax compliance, tax evasion and tax morale often largely focus on the economic and behavioural factors responsible for tax (non)compliance, but very little attempt has been made to determine the extent to which the sociodemographic characteristics of taxpayers influence their (non)compliance behaviour in Nigeria. Therefore, the current study examines the influence of sociodemographic characteristics of SME entrepreneurs on tax (non)compliance behaviour. Information on tax non-compliance behaviour and sociodemographic variables was elicited from (N = 382) SME entrepreneurs from six geopolitical zone divisions of Nigeria using a questionnaire and executed by survey research tradition. The results of the study reveal that certain sociodemographic variables including age, education and business sectors of the SME entrepreneurs are significant determinants of tax (non)compliance behaviour, while gender and religiosity exert insignificant influence. The study concludes that beyond economic sanctions, tax incentives and taxpayers’ attitudes, certain sociodemographic factors are effective in encouraging or discouraging tax noncompliance in Nigeria. Most importantly, tax authorities must come to reality by including sociodemographic factors as part of their tax drive strategies. Further discussions of the study’s theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Adherence to standard operating procedures for improving data quality: An empirical analysis in the postal service industry

Complete and accurate data is an important enabler of effective supply chain decision making. Despite the increasing efforts to fully automate data collection processes using advanced sensors and scanners, human operators are still in charge of data entry tasks in most industries. Unfortunately, operators do not often comply with the standard operating procedures (SOPs) and do not always exhibit the consistency and commitment required to collect high-quality data. In fact, data collection is often perceived as a non-value-adding activity that increases workloads and lowers productivity. We aim to empirically study the extent to which compliance with SOPs for data collection is affected by some of the key factors. Using a large dataset obtained from a leading postal service provider in Australia, we find that an operator’s workload, fatigue, and related work experience directly impact the compliance levels. We also find that a company’s compliance reinforcement intervention to improve compliance behavior can moderate these impacts.

Firefighter Stress, Anxiety, and Diminished Compliance-Oriented Safety Behaviors: Consequences of Passive Safety Leadership in the Fire Service?

Safety-specific passive leadership has been negatively linked to diminished safety outcomes, including safety behaviors. However, this relationship is not fully understood. Research has not fully examined mediating factors that may be influenced by passive leadership, which then influence safety behaviors. Research among firefighters in this context is particularly absent. As such, this study aimed to examine relationships between safety-specific passive leadership, stress, anxiety, and compliance-oriented safety behavior outcomes among 708 professional firefighters. A path analysis was completed. The hypothesized model fit was very good and hypothesized relationships were confirmed. Safety-specific passive leadership was positively, significantly associated with increased firefighter stress perceptions and stress was positively, significantly associated with anxiety. Anxiety was negatively, significantly associated with both safety compliance and personal protective equipment behavior. This study has implications for researchers and practitioners. The findings emphasize the importance of active leaders in the fire service as passive leadership in the context of safety is distressing, which results in anxiety and ultimately diminished safety behavior outcomes, which could place firefighters at risk for injuries, illness, or death.

Nonparametric Bayesian Q-learning for optimization of dynamic treatment regimes in the presence of partial compliance.

Existing methods for estimation of dynamic treatment regimes are mostly limited to intention-to-treat analyses-which estimate the effect of randomization to a particular treatment regime without considering the compliance behavior of patients. In this article, we propose a novel nonparametric Bayesian Q-learning approach to construct optimal sequential treatment regimes that adjust for partial compliance. We consider the popular potential compliance framework, where some potential compliances are latent and need to be imputed. The key challenge is learning the joint distribution of the potential compliances, which we accomplish using a Dirichlet process mixture model. Our approach provides two kinds of treatment regimes: (1) conditional regimes that depend on the potential compliance values; and (2) marginal regimes where the potential compliances are marginalized. Extensive simulation studies highlight the usefulness of our method compared to intention-to-treat analyses. We apply our method to the Adaptive Treatment for Alcohol and Cocaine Dependence (ENGAGE) study , where the goal is to construct optimal treatment regimes to engage patients in therapy.

Profiling compliers and noncompliers for instrumental variable analysis with covariates: A weighting approach.

Instrumental variable (IV) estimation is an essential tool to estimate the causal effect of a treatment in randomized experiments when noncompliance exists. In such studies, standard statistical approaches can be biased because compliers and noncompliers can differ in unmeasured ways that affect both the compliance behavior and outcome. Based on a few assumptions such as monotonicity, the IV estimand represents the causal effect of compliers. Profiling compliers and noncompliers has important implications because the IV estimand applies only to compliers. A method for estimating the covariate means for compliers and noncompliers has recently been proposed in political sciences literature. However, this approach requires an assumption that the instrument is randomly assigned, which confines the application of this approach to randomized experiments. In this study, we present two weighting methods for profiling compliers and noncompliers when the instrument and compliance behavior are confounded by several covariates. The proposed approach can be used for both experimental and nonexperimental studies, and hence is more broadly applicable. For the development, an instrumental propensity score is adopted to account for confounded instruments. We demonstrate the utility of the proposed methods based on simulation and real data experiments.

Finite element modeling of the effective creep compliance of carbon nanotube-polymer nanocomposites: A critical microstructure-level investigation

A micromechanical model implemented with the finite element method (FEM) using the representative volume element (RVE) approach is developed to investigate the creep compliance behavior of carbon nanotube (CNT)-polymer nanocomposites. Effects of the CNT waviness, orientation, volume fraction and aspect ratio on the creep compliance of the nanocomposite are examined. Contribution of the interphase region formed due to the interaction between CNTs and matrix to the nanocomposite creep behavior is considered. The nanocomposite creep behavior is affiliate on the waviness and orientation of CNTs. Increasing the volume fraction and length of CNT and interphase thickness improves the nanocomposite creep performance.

The Economic Theory Assumption and Utility Maximization Model: The Perspective of Zakat Compliance Behavior

The dearth of studies on the economic theory and model from the perspective of zakat compliance behavior is hardly found in the literature and empirical evidence as well. Numerous studies have been explained through utility maximization and compliance behavior especially in the context of taxation based on the economic theory assumption. Discussion on compliance behavior has two basic theories that are associated with compliance; firstly, the psychological and sociological theory, and secondly, the economic theory that is always used to discuss compliance behavior in taxation. Due to that, this study aims to discuss the relevant economic theory and model from the perspective of zakat compliance behavior. In reviewing the relevant literature, this article provides a discussion on economic theory and model as a basis for explaining zakat compliance which includes a number of aspects like the economic aspect, psychological and sociological aspects as well as the Islamic aspect as previously suggested by some studies. Additionally, it demonstrates that economic theory and model also can be used to discuss Zakat compliance behavior and not purposely in the taxation system. Based on the discussion, this study will hopefully shed some light that even though the theory and model mainly discuss conventional perspectives such as the taxation system but it’s also can be adapted to discuss on Islamic perspective with some modification.