Enforcement Styles Research Articles

Does enforcement style influence citizen trust in regulatory agencies? An experiment in six countries

Abstract Establishing and maintaining citizen trust is vital for the effectiveness and long-term viability of regulatory agencies. However, limited empirical research has been conducted on the relationship between regulatory action and citizen trust. This article addresses this gap by investigating the influence of various regulatory enforcement styles on citizen trust. We conducted a pre-registered and representative survey experiment in six countries (n = 5,765): Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Israel, the Netherlands, and Norway. Our study focuses on three key dimensions of enforcement style: formalism, coerciveness, and accommodation. We hypothesize that a strict and punitive enforcement style with minimal accommodation will enhance citizen trust. Surprisingly, we found no overall effect of enforcement on trust. However, specifically high levels of formalism (strictness) and coerciveness (punitiveness) exhibited a small positive effect on trust. Furthermore, we observed no discernible impact of an accommodative enforcement style. Additional analyses revealed that the effects of enforcement style were not consistent across country and regulatory domains. This suggests we need to reconsider assumptions underlying enforcement theory, as our findings imply that public trust seems less conditional on heavy-handed enforcement than initially anticipated.

Bringing Public Virtue Back: How Does Ethical Leadership Impact Street-Level Bureaucrats’ Enforcement Style?

Public virtues can help street-level bureaucracies reflect and respond to the shortcomings in current public administration. According to the public virtue approach, this research identifies the key role of ethical leadership in improving the enforcement of street-level bureaucrats (SLBs). By promoting subordinates’ psychological empowerment, ethical leadership is significantly and positively correlated with facilitation, accommodation, and legal style. Public service motivation and organizational citizenship behavior moderate the above processes in diverse ways. This research calls for bringing public virtue back to street-level practices, and particularly for educating and encouraging the public sector about ethical leadership that will provide values, guidance, and empower SLBs to exercise virtue.

Discretion and its effects: analyzing the role of street-level bureaucrats’ enforcement styles

ABSTRACTThis research examines the intricacies of street-level bureaucracy, focusing on how bureaucrats’ discretionary powers affect their enforcement strategies during face-to-face interactions with clients. The study constructs an in-depth theoretical framework that blends elements from street-level bureaucracy theory and implementation studies. Structural equation modeling reveals a significant positive correlation between bureaucratic discretion and the perceived meaningfulness to clients, highlighting the roles of facilitation and accommodation enforcement style in determining enforcement approaches. However, the legalistic enforcement approach tends to create adverse impressions among clients and confines the decision-making capabilities of bureaucrats. The findings shed new light on street-level bureaucrats’ complex enforcement styles and behaviors, underscoring the critical interplay between their perceptions and enforcement methods in shaping their approach to policy implementation and public engagement. The study concludes by discussing these findings’ theoretical and practical implications, thereby enriching the conversation surrounding public administration theories and personnel management within public sector institutions.

Enforcement of service rules by frontline employees: A conceptual model and research propositions

Rule enforcement is a crucial part of the frontline service employee’s role that, if mishandled, can have serious consequences for employees, customers and the organization. However, there is very little knowledge about both its drivers and outcomes in the service literature. This study contributes to the organizational frontlines literature by developing a comprehensive framework of the drivers and consequences of service rule enforcement. Our conceptual model identifies organizational, individual, and situational variables that influence service rule enforcement and sheds light on the employee-related, customer-related, and organization-related consequences of rule enforcement. In conceptualizing service rule enforcement, we address the notions of enforcement/non-enforcement, the extent and consistency of enforcement, and rule enforcement styles. We also propose that rule enforcement can have both positive and negative consequences. Finally, we provide a research agenda that proposes ideas for future studies in this area.

Effects of regulatory enforcement style and audit firm remedial actions on investors' perceptions of audit quality

We examine how investors perceive audit quality when regulators adopt different enforcement styles to communicate audit inspection findings, and when the audit firm responds to the inspection findings. We employed a 2 × 3 between‐subjects experimental design, with regulatory enforcement style (critical or supportive) and audit firm response (defensive actions or remedial actions or control) as the independent variables. We find that investors perceive a relatively high level of audit quality when the audit firm chooses to take remedial actions, regardless of regulators' enforcement styles. In contrast, investors perceive a relatively low level of audit quality when the audit firm chooses to take defensive actions in response to regulators that impose a critical enforcement style. Additional analyses show that investors' perception of audit quality mediates the joint effects of regulatory enforcement styles and audit firm response on willingness to invest. Our findings suggest implications for the ways that regulators adopt different enforcement styles, which should be of interest to audit practitioners and regulators, as the findings show the potential consequences of different firm response strategies to inspection findings.

To comply or to be committed? Public procurement and labour rights in global supply chains

Violations of fundamental labour rights have been a problem in global supply chains for decades. Recently, public procurement is increasingly used to regulate labour standards in global chains. Based on previous research on private actors, which distinguished between compliance-focused and commitment-focused enforcement strategies, this article discusses the problems and means of enforcing respect for labour rights in global supply chains. By applying this distinction to public procurement, this article develops a concept of enforcement styles for public procurement as a tool to regulate labour in global supply chains.

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

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.

How Do Supranational Regulators Keep Companies in Line? An Analysis of the Enforcement Styles of EU Agencies

AbstractNational governments have increasingly transferred enforcement powers to EU agencies that monitor and penalize non‐compliance by private actors. How do EU agencies apply enforcement competences in practice? Based on the Eurolegalism thesis, pressures for deeper integration have led to the emergence of a more adversarial enforcement style in Europe. Consequently, supranational regulators are expected to employ formal and coercive enforcement instruments. Conversely, studies of EU enforcement suggest that EU agencies may be reluctant to antagonize national governments by prosecuting private actors. In this study, we analyze the enforcement practices of supranational agencies with direct enforcement powers: the EU Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA). We find that EU agencies apply a legalistic approach, but they vary in coerciveness of enforcement. Whereas EU agencies tend to apply more coercive measures against non‐conform products, they are generally not adversarial toward non‐compliant organizations.

The Untold Stories: Women on the Front-Lines of Environmental Regulation

The interactions and relationships between front-line regulators and the regulated impact the implementation of environmental policy. Much of the existing research to date investigates the regulatory enforcement styles of regulators or the compliance motivations of firms. It is equally important to consider the role of women and their experiences as front-line workers. This qualitative research is one of the first to provide insight into the untold stories of women on the front-lines of environmental regulation. Through an examination of original interview data from 25 environmental regulators with the Danish Environmental Protection Agency (DEPA) and Montana Department of Environmental Quality (MT DEQ), the findings suggest steps must be taken to ensure the voices of women on the front-lines of environmental regulation are no longer overlooked. Instead, we recognize how their day-to-day experiences impact our understanding of the implementation of environmental regulations.

Can organizations guide employees' social media behavior? The benefits of incentive rather than restrictive social media guidelines

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of social media guidelines (SMGs), as well as their impact on control mutuality, a sub-dimension of the organization–employee relationship (OER). A total of two studies compare guidelines with a focus that is either predominantly incentive or restrictive. In addition, they investigate the moderating effect of guideline writing style and enforcement.Design/methodology/approachIn total, two online experiments were conducted among Belgian employees. Participants read a social media policy manipulated in terms of focus (restrictive vs incentive) and style (conversational vs corporate; Study 1) or enforcement (signature requested vs not requested; Study 2).FindingsIncentive guidelines increase employee branding behavior more than their restrictive counterparts, while also safeguarding employees' perceived control mutuality. However, solid SMGs will not compensate for an organization's bad reputation among employees. The guidelines' style and manner of enforcement did not seem to matter.Practical implicationsCommunication executives can use our findings to draft SMGs in a way that increases opportunities (e.g. ambassadorship) and reduces risks (e.g. criticism) associated with employee social media use.Originality/valuePrior research on SMGs is predominantly descriptive and focused on the organizational perspective. This research paper contributes to both theory and practice by studying the causal impact of these guidelines on employees.

Automation and discretion: explaining the effect of automation on how street-level bureaucrats enforce

ABSTRACT A dominant assumption in the street-level bureaucracy literature is that bureaucrats’ discretion is curtailed by automated systems. Drawing on survey and factual data (n = 549) from Dutch inspectors, we test the effect of automation on enforcement style and whether this can be explained by discretion-as-perceived. Our results show that automation (1) increases bureaucrats’ legal and accommodation style; (2) discretion-as-perceived does not mediate this effect; but (3) automation does decrease discretion-as-perceived. The main implication is that we do not find empirical evidence for curtailment and future research should move beyond discretion to understand effects of digital systems on bureaucrats’ behaviour.

Persoonsgerichte handhaving van de socialezekerheidswetgeving

In this article, we discuss a ‘person-centred’ view on the enforcement of social security laws. This is a new vision on enforcement whereby welfare workers can ‘differentiate’ in order to create more room for ‘customization’ with an eye for ‘the human dimension’ and an ‘appropriate’ enforcement style. Despite the unanimity about the desirability of this approach, most of the practical details are still unclear. Our central question is therefore: How may a person-centred approach of the enforcement of social security laws be implemented in practice? Based on an action research study, in which we closely collaborated with welfare workers and benefit recipients at a Dutch welfare office, we attempt to answer this question. We first discuss a number of central concepts from the enforcement literature and consider the concept of ‘motivational postures’. For this study, we developed a prototype of a new electronic analytical tool (which can be used to support enforcement) and then applied this tool in a small pilot study. In the article we describe our findings and discuss the experiences of benefit recipients and welfare workers with the analytical tool. We conclude that this tool appears to offer a good basis for the further development of the person-centred enforcement of social security laws.

Enforcement by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: An Empirical Analysis of Director Kraninger’s Leadership

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been steeped in partisan controversy since its founding in 2011. While generally championed by those on the left, many on the right have been skeptical if not hostile to the Bureau’s mission. The Bureau’s enforcement regime has unsurprisingly evolved depending on the political alignment of its Director. Under Director Richard Cordray, who served under President Barack Obama, the Bureau pursued an aggressive enforcement policy throughout the consumer finance industry. Conversely, under Acting Director Mick Mulvaney, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, such activity came to a near standstill. Many expected President Trump’s permanent nominee, Kathleen Kraninger, to continue Mulvaney’s retrenchment. Yet, after two years at the helm of the Bureau, Kraninger surprised many, primarily by launching enforcement actions at a rate not dissimilar to the Cordray era. This is the first full empirical study of Director Kraninger’s complete enforcement record. The article analyzes every Kraninger-led enforcement action by a wide variety of data points, including legal theories and remedies used. In doing so, this article will provide industry observers and practitioners, when coupled with preexisting studies on Cordray and Mulvaney, a complete record of CFPB enforcement as of January 2021. The data ultimately suggests that Kraninger’s enforcement policy was a blend of her predecessors: while she was fairly aggressive in launching enforcement actions like Cordray, the severity of penalties and remedies imposed was generally less punitive, hewing far closer to Mulvaney’s style of enforcement.

Leading frontline enforcers: how supervisors’ leadership style impacts inspectors’ enforcement style

ABSTRACT This article analyzes the relation between leadership style of managers and the enforcement style of street-level bureaucrats. We also studied the influence of organizational culture. The analysis is based on a survey among 549 inspectors of the Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) in The Netherlands. Studying transactional leadership and servant leadership the findings show that contrary to the general assumptions in leadership literature the influence of leadership style on enforcement behaviour of inspectors is only very limited. Organization culture has more influence on how inspectors enforce rules in their interactions with inspectees.

A balancing act: Swedish occupational safety and health inspectors\u2019 reflections on their bureaucratic role when supervising micro-enterprises

The safety and health of many workers employed in micro-enterprises (with less than 10 employees) is poor, and legal arrangements related to working environments remain a considerable challenge in these enterprises. The aim of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of how Swedish occupational safety and health (OSH) inspectors perceive themselves as inspectors and their role as bureaucratic regulators when meeting micro-enterprises. In the study, 11 Swedish inspectors were interviewed and asked to reflect on their role as inspectors, how they perceive themselves as inspectors and what their role is as bureaucratic regulators when inspecting micro-enterprises. The qualitative content analysis revealed one theme—a balancing act—and three categories: one inspector, many roles; interactions with micro-entrepreneurs; and exercise the profession as an inspector. The results showed that OSH inspectors experience challenges in meeting the requirements of street-level bureaucracy while addressing the needs of micro-enterprises. In conclusion, OSH inspectors need organisational support to develop inspection models and enforcement styles tailored to micro-enterprises, as this could ease their work and contribute to better inspection outcomes. The implications of this study include a need for increased competence about working environment issues in micro-enterprises, development of enforcement styles among the inspectors, emphasis of the importance of specific governmental projects for OSH and development of models in this enterprise group. Additionally, development of micro-enterprise managers’ competence and ability to handle issues related to the working environment and health were also important.

Auditor Commitment and Turnover Intentions Following Negative Inspection Findings: The Effects of Regulator Enforcement Style and Firm Response

SUMMARYWe examine the effect of the regulator's style (critical versus supportive) when enforcing negative inspection findings and the audit firm's response to those findings (increase or decrease audit process structure) on auditor professional and firm commitment and turnover intentions. We find no evidence that enforcement style impacts professional commitment, but that auditors are more inclined to leave the profession when the regulator adopts a critical enforcement style and when their firm increases audit process structure. We further find that firm commitment is lower when the firm increases audit process structure, and that this is most pronounced when the regulator adopts a supportive enforcement style. We find no evidence of firm turnover intentions being impacted by either enforcement style or firm response. Recognizing the importance of retaining competent and motivated auditors, our results highlight the care needed, and alternatives available, when regulators enforce, and firms respond to, negative inspection findings.Data Availability: Data are available from the authors upon request.JEL Classification: M42.

Criminal law as a preventative tool of environmental regulation: compliance versus deterrence

The effective enforcement of environmental law is an issue which continues to engender considerable academic debate. The conclusions that may be drawn from such debate will have implications not only for the future of environmental law but also the wider regulatory reform agenda. This article commences with several noncontentious propositions. First, any regulatory regime ought to place considerable emphasis on preventing harm; within the context of environmental law, this view is encapsulated by the preventative principle. Secondly, one may be tempted to treat the criminal law as a purely reactive or curative mechanism were it not for the deterrent effect associated with the imposition of criminal sanctions. Therefore, the initial premise is that if environmental law is to become more preventative in scope, policymakers ought to consider how the deterrent effect of environmental criminal law may be bolstered. Academic publications and official reports are replete with assertions that the fines imposed by the courts for environmental crime are lamentably low. A preoccupation with the level of fine may lead one to overlook the fundamental importance of the likelihood of apprehension as an essential ingredient of the deterrence formula. Mainstream criminological discourse provides clear evidence that the probability of apprehension has a greater influence on deterrence than severity of sanction. In this context, the enforcement style adopted by the relevant enforcement agency is crucial; in particular, whether the style adopted augments the perception that apprehension is more probable. This article proceeds to argue that many of the assumptions on which the compliance style is based may be questioned, if not totally undermined. It is contended that a transition from compliance-orientated enforcement towards an approach more focused on deterrence has the potential to enhance the deterrent, and by extension the preventative effect, of environmental criminal law.

The Adoption, Implementation, and Impact of Smoke-Free Policies among Gaelic Athletic Association Clubs in Ireland: A Qualitative Study.

The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) is a major stakeholder in promoting smoke-free policies in Ireland. Several GAA clubs have adopted smoke-free policies, and there is a growing interest among other GAA clubs to also become smoke-free. As such, the purpose of this study is to explore the process of how GAA clubs adopt, implement, and enforce smoke-free policies in order to discover best practices that other clubs could replicate. Representatives from 15 smoke-free clubs were interviewed regarding how their club became smoke-free. Interview data were analyzed, in which four major themes emerged: (1) process (planning a smoke-free policy, communicating the policy to the community, providing smoking cessation resources), (2) barriers (opinions and behaviors of club members who smoke, bars connected to club houses, policy exceptions, visitors and umpires who were unaware of the policy), (3) enforcement (community-based style of enforcement, non-confrontational approach, non-enforcement), and (4) impact (observation of policy compliance and decrease in cigarette litter). The study’s findings indicate a general ease of becoming smoke-free with minimal barriers. As such, the GAA should urge each club to become smoke-free and to use the effective methods used by current smoke-free clubs for communicating and enforcing smoke-free policies.

The (un)intended effects of street-level bureaucrats’ enforcement style: Do citizens shame or obey bureaucrats?

This paper studies the intended and unintended effects of street-level bureaucrats’ enforcement style. More specifically, it answers to what extent street-level bureaucrats’ enforcement style affects citizens’ obedience (i.e. intended effect) during face-to-face encounters and willingness to publicly shame bureaucrats (i.e. unintended effect). Building on insights from street-level enforcement and the social interactionist theory of coercive actions, a trade-off is theorized between the effect of enforcement style on citizens’ on-the-spot obedience and on public shaming. Results of an experiment ( n = 318) and replication ( n = 311) in The Netherlands reveal that (1) neither the legal nor facilitation dimension has an effect on on-the-spot obedience; (2) the legal dimension does not affect public shaming but (3) the facilitation decreases it. These findings are robust across both the experiment and replication.

Blaming the bureaucrat: does perceived blame risk influence inspectors’ enforcement style?

Is there a relation between street-level bureaucrats’ enforcement style and their perception of the risk of getting blamed? This article answers this question on the basis of a survey ( n = 507) among inspectors of the Netherlands Food and Product Safety Authority. We included perceived media attention on their work as a factor that might influence street-level bureaucrats’ perception of blame risk and their enforcement style. Three dimensions of enforcement style were distinguished from earlier research: legal, facilitative and accommodative. We found that when inspectors perceive more blame risk, they employ a slightly less legal style and, instead, employ a more accommodative style. Thus, they act a little less formally and less coercively (i.e. legal) and take greater account of their peers’ opinions (i.e. accommodative). However, perceived media attention did not have a significant influence on enforcement style. Points for practitioners 1. When inspectors perceive more blame risk, they tend to pay more attention to the opinion of peers (other inspectors, supervisors, etc.). 2. Blame risk does not lead to the use of a more formal inspection style. 3. Media attention does not play an important role in enhancing the blame risk perception of inspectors. 4. This media and blame risk is less important than often found in the case of politicians. This may be connected to the fact that the work of inspectors as street-level bureaucrats is less visible to the wider public (and the media).