Norm Compliance Research Articles

Morals in Multi-Unit Markets

Abstract We examine how the erosion of morals, norms, and norm compliance in markets depends on the market power of individual traders. Previously studied markets allow traders to exchange at most one unit and provide market power to individual traders by de-activating two forces: (i) the replacement logic, whereby immoral trading is justified by the belief that others would trade otherwise and (ii) market selection, by which the least moral trader determines aggregate quantities. In an experiment, we compare single-unit to (more common) multi-unit markets, which may activate these forces. Multi-unit markets, in contrast to single-unit markets, lead to a complete erosion of morals. This is associated primarily with a deterioration in norm compliance: the observed level of immoral trade is in contrast with the prevailing social norm. The replacement logic is the main mechanism driving this finding.

Social Norm Awareness and Norm Compliance in Online Games

Online games are one of the most popular information systems in the world, with over 2 billion users worldwide. Most users follow the social norms and standards of behavior in online games, but some violate social norms, negatively affecting others’ gameplay experiences and weakening loyalty to the game. The social norms in games and other online environments often differ from the social norms in the real world, so are users who violate norms doing so deliberately or are they unaware of the norms? Our results suggest that many users violate social norms because they do not understand them—about a third of the 1,093 participants in our study reported being unsure of the social norms in an online game they played regularly. Greater experience with a game did not significantly increase social norm awareness. Instead, perceptions of social presence, and learning routines (i.e., community learning and instructional support) influenced social norm awareness, which in turn influenced norm compliance. Thus, a technology’s social affordances, social presence, and learning routines are more important than experience using a technology in helping users become aware of and comply with social norms.

Enhancing accountability for police use of lethal force: Global monitoring and comparative benchmarking

Abstract Policing and law enforcement bodies and the public authorities that govern them should be accountable for all deaths connected with a use of force. Accountability is a requirement of international human rights law and related provisions on the use of force, and foundational to legitimate, constrained, and consensual policing in liberal democracies. However, divergence in normative compliance and types of state system means that accountability for lethal force is inconsistent around the world. This paper discusses how a global system for monitoring lethal force could enhance accountability by making effective use of comparative benchmarking.

High Global Health Security Index is a determinant of early detection and response to monkeypox: A cross-sectional study.

Recent outbreaks of monkeypox (Mpox) have occurred in countries outside of Africa, with large numbers of cases spreading rapidly to almost every continent. We aimed to analyze the correlation between the Global Health Security (GHS) Index (categories and indicators) and the Mpox case rate in different regions and globally. In this cross-sectional study, we used data from Mpox cases from the WHO, and the GHS categories and indicators for detection, prevention, reporting, health system, rapid response, international norms compliance, and risk environment. Outcome measures were the relationship between GHS index (categories and indicators) and Mpox case rate using crude and adjusted non-linear regression models. After performing adjusted analyses, only risk environment and detection and reporting index were associated with Mpox case rates in the 99 countries and the Region of the Americas, respectively. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) indicators of the prevention category, risk communication of the rapid response category, the joint external evaluation and performance veterinary services of the norms category, and the infrastructure adequacy of the risk environment category were associated with Mpox case rates in the 99 countries (p<0.05). Laboratory systems strength and quality indicator of the detection and reporting category, and emergency response operation indicator of the response rapid category were associated with Mpox case rates in the countries of the region of the Americas (p<0.05). AMR indicator of the prevention of the emergence category, and the infrastructure adequacy of the risk environment category were associated with Mpox case rates in the countries of the European Region (p<0.05). In the countries of the other regions, only the trade and travel restrictions indicator of the rapid response category was associated with Mpox case rates (p<0.05). Countries, particularly in the Americas region, with high levels of infrastructure adequacy and laboratory system strength and quality as measured by the GHS index are better equipped to detect more Mpox cases. Therefore, they have higher Mpox case detection rates and can successfully respond to Mpox outbreaks.

Critical success factors in asset securitisation in banks in India

Asset securitization is the structured business process whereby Banks’ loan assets and other receivables are packaged and sold in the form of ‘asset-backed securities’(ABS), thereby loan originators transfer some of their loan-risks to third parties. Asset securitization considers a pool of performing/non-performing retail loan assets and through financial engineering models, transforms them to tradable security by involving a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) that issues Negotiable Instruments (like Bonds/Promissory Notes/CPs) called Pass Through Certificates (PTCs) to Investors. In Indian context, most asset securitisation deals are done on Direct Assignment (DA) basis through retail loans-asset pool transfer to pool-buyer Bank with no SPV in between and hence no tradable security. This Research study analysed ‘Critical Success Factors (CSFs)’ in Indian model of asset securitisation (Li Liu, 2021) and in the process also analysed its associated business-processes, systematic-risks, Issues &amp; challenges. This study sourced its primary data from hands-on deal-practitioners and Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) associated with deal-participating entities and through qualitative data analysis technique of Narrative analysis and Applied Conversation analysis, the research-findings are concluded. The CSFs include - key business benefits including achieving lending targets &amp; compliance norms, supporting IT systems, immediate liquidity support (Chilukani Munender Reddy, 2018). Towards future prospects and challenges (Lakshman Alles, 2021), this study suggests for setting up ‘Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Assets Securitisation’ in each bank, for ‘building product-expertise and evolve appropriate asset-pricing-models for deals and PTC securities’. The study also suggests for an ‘Enabling IT systems’ that support automated deal-processes, risk-monitoring and compliance tracking’. These two aspects would facilitate for better deal-transparency and for making informed decisions by deal stake-holders.

Understanding the Recognition of Occupational Safety and Health: A Critique of Corporate Culture

In the era of globalization, in the face of industrial competition, companies are attempting to instill a culture of Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) as a symbol and image of their existence. However, it is unfortunate that the presence of OSH in the company does not always serve as a barometer of the company's normative compliance with OSH. In practice, the rules governing worker behavior still show varying degrees of permissiveness.&#x0D; The practice of OSH must be accompanied by moral values in order to achieve the desired condition. Therefore, there are two behavioral approaches in OSH communication practices in companies: (1) do the things right, which means following the rules. This does not necessarily resolve OSH problems, as ‘rules’ at the minimum only regulate employee behavior and (2) do the right things, which is moral in nature, which allows workers to act and behave according to their nature because what is outlined in the rules does not always reflect free will, so in the end each worker must find a way to do what’s best.&#x0D; The critical-interpretive approach with phenomenological method in research focuses on the meaning and awareness of OSH caused by communication distortion in the company on workers' behavior towards social reality as something complex, continuously evolving and full of meaning. In the development of Axel Honneth's conceptual dimensions of recognition theory (love, rights and solidarity) has a central role and solution in the distortion of corporate communication, especially in the implementation of OSH programs that emphasize the importance of recognizing worker relationships and developing self-confidence, self-respect and self-esteem, in the context of Good Corporate Governance (GCG) and Governance Risk and Compliance (GRC), recognition theory provides implications for the importance of recognizing workers’ contributions to the goals achieved in the company, thereby increasing workers' dignity and individual values in the company.&#x0D; Without social recognition, OSH will not be able to serve as operational barometer of a start-up company. It will only serve as a framing to protect the company, “as if” it already fulfills its legal obligations towards OSH.&#x0D;

The role of political devotion in sharing partisan misinformation and resistance to fact-checking.

Online misinformation is disproportionality created and spread by people with extreme political attitudes, especially among the far-right. There is a debate in the literature about why people spread misinformation and what should be done about it. According to the purely cognitive account, people largely spread misinformation because they are lazy, not biased. According to a motivational account, people are also motivated to believe and spread misinformation for ideological and partisan reasons. To better understand the psychological and neurocognitive processes that underlie misinformation sharing among the far-right, we conducted a cross-cultural experiment with conservatives and far-right partisans in the Unites States and Spain (N = 1,609) and a neuroimaging study with far-right partisans in Spain (N = 36). Far-right partisans in Spain and U.S. Republicans who highly identify with Trump were more likely to share misinformation than center-right voters and other Republicans, especially when the misinformation was related to sacred values (e.g., immigration). Sacred values predicted misinformation sharing above and beyond familiarity, attitude strength, and salience of the issue. Moreover, far-right partisans were unresponsive to fact-checking and accuracy nudges. At a neural level, this group showed increased activity in brain regions implicated in mentalizing and norm compliance in response to posts with sacred values. These results suggest that the two components of political devotion-identity fusion and sacred values-play a key role in misinformation sharing, highlighting the identity-affirming dimension of misinformation sharing. We discuss the need for motivational and identity-based interventions to help curb misinformation for high-risk partisan groups. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Judge’s discretion in ensuring human rights and freedoms: the significance of the legal position

The article is devoted to the analysis of the judge’s discretion in ensuring human rights and freedoms and the study of the significance of the legal position of the Supreme Court. It has been established that the purpose of the Supreme Court as the highest judicial institution in Ukraine is, first of all, the formation of a justified legal position regarding the application by all courts in the further work of a specific norm of substantive law or compliance with a norm of procedural law that was incorrectly used, and thus directing practice into a unified and proper enforcement. The legal positions of the Supreme Court have a more complex nature, as there is a clear awareness of the tasks of this body as a key subject in the formation of the unity of national judicial practice. The legal literature was studied, which currently discusses the problem of deviating from the legal positions expressed earlier, whereas it is at the level of higher courts that the problem of unanimous application of legal norms by courts in similar legal relations should be resolved. The institution of departure from the pre-legal position is quite an interesting phenomenon and become widely in recent years, and this problem is connected, perhaps, with the reform of procedural legislation. It was established that a massive departure from previous legal positions violates the standards of consistency of judicial practice, and the requirement of legal certainty appeals precisely to the standards of consistency of judicial practice, according to which courts must make similar decisions in similar cases under the same factual conditions. Constancy of judicial practice means that a series of previously adopted and agreed court decisions is a convincing proof of the correct interpretation of the legal norm. Since the legislator has not establish the binding nature of previously adopted resolutions of the Supreme Court of Ukraine, however, the possibility of deviating from them is provided only to the court of cassation instance of the Supreme Court. Deviating from the legal position, the court must provide a serious and convincing argument, since there has to be valid and reasonable grounds for a different application of the law’s prescription in the same (or similar) situation with a similar legal structure. It was concluded that the principles that are guided by judges when making each specific decision and forming the corresponding legal position, namely the principles of the rule of law, justice and legality, are of particular importance.

Out of Site, Out of Mind? The Role of the Government‐Appointed Corporate Monitor

ABSTRACTWe study the role of a relatively new type of external firm monitor, an on‐site government‐appointed Corporate Monitor, and assess whether such appointments reduce firms' propensity to violate laws. Using a sample of deferred and nonprosecution agreements, we first document the determinants of Monitor appointment. We find firms that voluntarily disclose wrongdoing and have more independent directors are less likely to have Corporate Monitors, whereas those with more severe infractions, mandated board changes, and increased cooperation requirements are more likely to have Monitors. We find such appointments are associated with an 18%–25% reduction in violations while the Monitor is on site, however, the effect does not persist after the Monitorship ends. Using a semisupervised machine learning method to measure changes in firms' ethics and compliance norms, we find that the reduction in violations is associated with changes in ethics and compliance that also do not persist. Finally, we document that firms under Monitorship experience a persistent reduction in innovation, highlighting a previously unexplored cost of these interventions. Overall, our results suggest that, although Corporate Monitors on site are associated with fewer violations, firms revert to previous levels of violations following Monitors' departure.

The Conservatism Principle and Asymmetric Preferences over Reporting Errors

ABSTRACT Accounting conservatism has been described as deriving from preferences for reporting errors to be in the direction of understatement rather than overstatement. We pair reporters with users (who rely on reporters’ information) in a multiperiod experiment. We posit that, under misaligned incentives that motivate aggressive reporting, users view aggressive reports as reflecting exploitative intent and expect that a norm prohibiting aggressive reporting applies. We predict that users use noisy reporting errors to gauge reporters’ norm compliance. We find that, ceteris paribus, users prefer not to be paired with reporters producing overstatement errors likely to reflect aggressive reporting relative to reporters producing understatement errors likely to reflect conservative reporting; alternatively, we find no such asymmetric preferences when the agents’ motives are aligned. The asymmetric preferences cannot be explained by agency theory predictions of payoff maximization or loss aversion. These moral preferences provide an initial condition from which conservatism can endogenously emerge. Data Availability: Data are available from the authors upon request. JEL Classifications: B52; D81; D82; M41.

Norm compliance in an uncertain world

In many situations, pro-social norms govern behavior. While the existence of a pro-social norm may be clear to someone entering the situation, it is often less clear precisely how much effort is required in order to comply with the norm. We investigate how people react to uncertainty about which effort level implements the prevailing norm using a modified version of the dictator game. Since the behavioral effects of pro-social norms are tightly linked to the degree of anonymity in a situation, we also vary the extent to which subjects’ behavior is observable. We find that when behavior is anonymous, uncertainty about which effort level implements the norm reduces aggregate norm compliance. However, when others can observe behavior, introducing a small degree of implementation uncertainty increases aggregate norm compliance. This implies that norm implementation uncertainty may actually facilitate interaction as long as behavior is observable and uncertainty is sufficiently small. We also document that reactions to norm implementation uncertainty are heterogeneous with one group of people reacting to implementation uncertainty by increasing compliance (over-compliers), while another group reacts by reducing compliance (under-compliers). The main effect of increased observability operates through the intensive margin of the under-compliers; they reduce their negative reaction to norm implementation uncertainty when their actions become more visible.

When emotional responses conflict with self-interested impulses: A transcranial direct current stimulation study of cognitive control in cooperative norm compliance

This study proposes a conflict between the impulse to express negative emotions and the temptation to behave selfishly in the cognitive control processes of complying with cooperative norms. We conduct an experiment with two tasks (cost and no-cost) in a prisoner’s dilemma game with third-party punishment and apply the transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to modulate the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). The results indicate significant differences in tDCS effects on third-party punishment between two cost conditions. In the no-cost task, third parties in the cathodal condition report higher negative emotional responses and assign more punishment to norm violators than those in the sham condition. However, the tDCS effect on third-party punishment is not significant in the cost task. Our results help address the inconsistent findings in prior literature regarding the role of the right DLPFC in norm compliance and deepen our understanding of the cognitive control process in enforcing cooperative norms by third parties.

Impact of legislation on banks portfolio risk and its failure effects

The banks work on very strong compliance norms, as they are the custodians to the customer’s money. They need to ensure that the money does not belong to them, and it needs to be managed with maximum precision as it becomes a liability on the part of banking institutions. The financial system needs to work on a defined line with a focused approach. There is always a dotted line mechanism to run the business with certain specifics. Banks need to work with the primary objective of protecting depositors’ investments, managing risk and ensuring the proper flow of information to all stakeholders. The banking sector needs to always work on preventive and protective mechanisms, and it needs to manage the critical ratio of assets and liabilities, and its mismatch cannot be afforded at any point in time. In recent times, we saw the failure of two banking giants, Yes Bank and Laxmi Vilas Bank, which makes us think about legislation and regulatory compliance in the right spirit.

Secular-Religious Dynamics and their Effect on Humanitarian Norms Compliance

Abstract We propose a more nuanced examination of the powerful forces that play a role in shaping the view shared by many international humanitarians that religions have a predominantly negative influence. First, we examine the role of secularist underpinnings of humanitarian discourse in shaping secular-religious dynamics in the humanitarian sphere, and the intersection of this with other forces of power. We argue that analyses of secular-religious dynamics are essential to understanding the roles of and attitudes towards faith actors in humanitarian norms compliance as well as the actions and reactions of faith and humanitarian actors. Theoretically, we ground the article in an analysis of secular perspectives towards impartiality and neutrality, the observation of which is meant to secure humanitarian space. Interrogating secular perspectives on humanitarian action helps demonstrate how impartiality and neutrality can be used as reasons to avoid engagement with faith actors. A secular approach to humanitarian action tolerates religion with boundary-creation around what is permitted from faith actors, applying a reductive ‘good’/‘bad’ binary. We then examine the experiences of local faith actors (LFAs) in South Sudan in interaction with international humanitarians with respect to humanitarian principles. These examples demonstrate how LFAs comply with humanitarian principles and view this as part and parcel of their commitment to the values of their faith tradition. They also show how LFAs create space for humanitarian norms compliance of other actors through their peacebuilding work and have been relied upon to access parts of the country that are inaccessible to international humanitarians due to safety concerns.

A framework for modeling human behavior in large-scale agent-based epidemic simulations

Agent-based modeling is increasingly being used in computational epidemiology to characterize important behavioral dimensions, such as the heterogeneity of the individual responses to interventions, when studying the spread of a disease. Existing agent-based simulation frameworks and platforms currently fall in one of two categories: those that can simulate millions of individuals with simple behaviors (e.g., based on simple state machines), and those that consider more complex and social behaviors (e.g., agents that act according to their own agenda and preferences, and deliberate about norm compliance) but, due to the computational complexity of reasoning involved, have limited scalability. In this paper, we present a novel framework that enables large-scale distributed epidemic simulations with complex behaving social agents whose decisions are based on a variety of concepts and internal attitudes such as sense, knowledge, preferences, norms, and plans. The proposed framework supports simulations with millions of such agents that can individually deliberate about their own knowledge, goals, and preferences, and can adapt their behavior based on other agents’ behaviors and on their attitude toward complying with norms. We showcase the applicability and scalability of the proposed framework by developing a model of the spread of COVID-19 in the US state of Virginia. Results illustrate that the framework can be effectively employed to simulate disease spreading with millions of complex behaving agents and investigate behavioral interventions over a period of time of months.

Another in need enhances prosociality and modulates frontal theta oscillations in young adults.

Decision-making is a process that can be strongly affected by social factors. Evidence has shown how people deviate from traditional rational-choice predictions under different levels of social interactions. The emergence of prosocial decision-making, defined as any action that is addressed to benefit another individual even at the expense of personal benefits, has been reported as an example of such social influence. Furthermore, brain evidence has shown the involvement of structures such as the prefrontal cortex, anterior insula, and midcingulate cortex during decision settings in which a decision maker interacts with others under physical pain or distress or while being observed by others. Using a slightly modified version of the dictator game and EEG recordings, we tested the hypothesis that the inclusion of another person into the decision setting increases prosocial decisions in young adults and that this increase is higher when the other person is associated with others in need. At the brain level, we hypothesized that the increase in prosocial decisions correlates with frontal theta activity. The results showed that including another person in the decision, setting increased prosocial behavior only when this presence was associated with someone in need. This effect was associated with an increase in frontocentral theta-oscillatory activity. These results suggest that the presence of someone in need enhances empathy concerns and norm compliance, raising the participants' prosocial decision-making.

Social capital is associated with cooperation and indirect norm enforcement in the field: behavioural evidence from Switzerland

Abstract Social capital, comprising networks, generalized trust, and cooperation norms, is often considered a key factor in promoting prosperity and cooperation. Informal norm enforcement also drives cooperation. While early theories of social capital and norm enforcement propose that networks encourage sanctions, strong reciprocity theory argues that sanctioning non-cooperation is a universal preference. In the lab, people uphold cooperation through sanctions without networks, but this occurs only in regions characterized by high trust levels and strong cooperation norms outside the laboratory. Are trust, cooperation, and enforcement linked in the field, and if so, what are the generative mechanisms? In two neighbourhoods of Bern, one high in social capital and one low, we linked indicators of social capital and expected norm compliance from resident surveys (N = 466) with cooperation, measured with the lost-letter technique (N = 240), and norm enforcement, measured with reactions to transgressions of the antilittering norm (N = 123). Cooperation and indirect enforcement were more prevalent in the high social capital neighbourhood. Direct enforcement was rare in both neighbourhoods. The less optimistic expectations of cooperation and norm compliance prevalent in the low social capital neighbourhood can potentially explain the lower levels of cooperation and norm enforcement.

Pre-colonial centralization and tax compliance norms in contemporary Uganda

AbstractThe paper examines the legacy of pre-colonial centralization on tax compliance norms of citizens in contemporary Uganda. Using a regression discontinuity analysis on neighboring ethnic homelands with different levels of pre-colonial centralization, we find that pre-colonial centralization is correlated with stronger norm for tax compliance. The result is explained by the legacy of location-specific capacity of centralized states in upholding authority and a strong social cohesion exhibited through higher interpersonal trust but not through trust in public institutions.

“Watching Eyes” Do Not Strengthen the Behavioral Intention of Donating Blood: A High-Powered Pre-registered Replication Study

Previous studies have demonstrated that eye-like images promote prosocial behavior and reduce antisocial behavior (watching-eyes effect). However, several recent reports of replication failure have called into question the replicability of the watching-eyes effect. It also remains unclear whether eye-like images promote prosocial tendencies or norm compliance. In this study, we attempted to replicate the watching-eyes effect on the behavioral intention of blood donation and examined the moderation effect of social norms in a high-powered pre-registered experiment. Participants were 1408 Japanese adults. A 2 × 2 (image: eye, control; norm: pro-donation, neutral) between-participants design was used. Participants first read an essay on either the importance of donating blood or a neutral topic. Then they reported their behavioral intention to donate blood while observing an eye-like or control image. The results showed non-significant effects of eye-like images and no interaction between eyes and norms. However, interestingly, our exploratory analysis suggests the possibility that the watching-eyes effect emerges only under specific contexts. We discuss the interpretations of the results and implications for future research.

A ‘Uniform’ for All States?

A ‘Uniform’ for All States?