Reluctant Compliance Research Articles

Reluctant Compliance and Collaborative Fiscal Disobedience: How Hmong Consumers Evade Value-Added Tax in Vietnam’s Northern Uplands

For decades, the Vietnamese socialist state has failed to enforce taxation on local Hmong in Đồng Văn, a vast karst plateau in the country’s northern upland region. A recent rise in local tax revenue from Value-Added Tax (VAT) is optimistically perceived by state authorities as a turning point in the fiscal relationship between the state and the evasive population. This article shows that what appears to be a ‘success’ of taxation is the result of both reluctant compliance of local Hmong with a new technique of state control that ties consumer desires to the payment of tax, and their continued pursuit of ‘fiscal disobedience’ using various tactics to evade the novel taxing power of the state. Compared to their previous efforts of tax evasion, evading VAT requires fiscal disobedience of a collaborative kind, involving not only Hmong consumers but also vendors and even agents of the state.

US teacher opposition to so-called critical race theory bans

Several states in the United States, including Tennessee, have enacted laws prohibiting so-called critical race theory in public schools. Positioning teachers as policy actors, this study examines how future and current teachers understand and plan to navigate Tennessee's legislation. In focus groups, participants disapproved of the legislation. They expressed active opposition, reluctant compliance, and intentional disregard. We theorize these responses as reflecting teachers' calculations regarding power in their contexts. Findings illustrate that teachers are not merely passive subjects enacting mandates, but instead intentionally and strategically interpret policy. The study has implications for global contexts in which teachers navigate censorship policies.

A typology of resistance: the ‘hot potato’ of European return in West Africa

ABSTRACT Forced returns from Europe are politically highly sensitive across West Africa. Yet, there is enormous pressure from the European Union on West African governments to improve cooperation on returns. This paper seeks to answer how countries such as Nigeria, Senegal and The Gambia are resisting this pressure. Based on 129 qualitative interviews on both continents, the paper develops a typology that shows that states use a range of responses in the face of external and domestic pressures. These range from reluctant compliance to both reactive and proactive incompliances. States are likely to use all these strategies at different times, sometimes simultaneously. Thus, countries are resisting return, albeit in subtle ways given their asymmetric bargaining position.

Analysis of User Resistance Towards Adopting E-Office: A Case from A Governmental Organization

The advancement in information technology is accelerating, affecting many industries. Government entities are one of the industries that have been affected. They adopt information technology (IT) to replace disorganized traditional business processes. This study observes that the IT innovation adoption in an organization will lead to some resistance. We bring a case of IT adoption to replace one part of a manual business process (letter management system) into a digitalized system called E-office in one of Indonesia’s governmental organizations. The adoption of IT causes some resistance within the organization, which motivates us to identify resistances before and during the adoption. We interview a team who oversees handling E-office implementation and discovered two types of resistances in technology adoption: delaying resistances and opposition resistances. Meanwhile, there are two types of behavioral resistances: reluctant compliance resistance and misguided application resistance. This research further provides details on the approaches used by the organization to mitigate resistances before and during the adoption of the E-office project's implementation.

Analysis of User Resistance Towards Adopting E-Office: A Case from A Governmental Organization

The advancement in information technology is accelerating, affecting many industries. Government entities are one of the industries that have been affected. They adopt information technology (IT) to replace disorganized traditional business processes. This study observes that the IT innovation adoption in an organization will lead to some resistance. We bring a case of IT adoption to replace one part of a manual business process (letter management system) into a digitalized system called E-office in one of Indonesia’s governmental organizations. The adoption of IT causes some resistance within the organization, which motivates us to identify resistances before and during the adoption. We interview a team who oversees handling E-office implementation and discovered two types of resistances in technology adoption: delaying resistances and opposition resistances. Meanwhile, there are two types of behavioral resistances: reluctant compliance resistance and misguided application resistance. This research further provides details on the approaches used by the organization to mitigate resistances before and during the adoption of the E-office project's implementation.

Applying for Settled Status: Ambivalent and reluctant compliance of EU citizens in post-Brexit Scotland

This article contributes to scholarship concerning the effects of the UK Referendum on EU membership and Brexit on EU citizen rights in the UK (Botterill, McCollum and Tyrrell, 2018 ; Burrell and Schweyher, 2019 ; Gawlewicz and Sotkasiira, 2019 ; Huber, 2019 ). The paper focuses on applications for, and meanings of, ‘settled status’ among Polish nationals living in urban and rural Scotland. In particular we argue that the ‘simple’ act of application produces diverse responses among Polish nationals, characterised by ambivalent and reluctant compliance, with longer term implications for ontological security and sustainable communities. In the paper we present empirical data from the perspectives of three differently positioned individuals to illustrate the heterogenous experience of Polish nationals in Scotland and to demonstrate how pre-existing vulnerabilities and conditions are compounded by the EU settlement scheme. First, we highlight a view of citizenship as ‘social contract’ through the vignette of Marek who expresses ambivalence about Brexit and for whom the welfare system serves both as a safety net and a space of the undeserving. Second, we reflect on the complex bureaucratic process of gaining citizenship for a family, through the vignette of Monika. Finally, we consider how form filling is an anxious act of validating oneself and questioning one's belonging to place with longer term effects on ontological insecurity, through the vignette of Weronika. We conclude by offering a set of recommendations for Scottish policy on intercultural communication, integration and sustainable communities that, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, is ever more significant.

Discursive and Institutional Management of Refugees and Their Crisis in Lithuania

AbstractIn this article, Lithuanian discourse and institutional management of migration is assessed, using the framework of securitization of migration offered by Jef Huysmans. In Huysmans’ work, migration is securitized not only in discourse, but also in the institutional practices of both the states and, in the case of Europe, also the EU. It is not only by talking about asylum seekers as a security problem, but also by moulding it into the practice of border control and policing (treating it in the same documents and institutions as terrorism, drug trafficking and organized crime) that migration becomes a security issue. In the Lithuanian case, both discourse and institutional practice leans to treat immigration and asylum as primarily security problems. In the discursive arena, however, the topics of ‘hard’ security are clearly eclipsed by economic topics and, it is argued, the economic pressures are the ones which could explain best the hostility towards refugees and reluctant compliance with the EU relocation scheme.

From Waste to Value

Traditionally global or national challenges have been dealt with by governments. New regulation assured higher standards in a variety of fields like e.g. environmental protection or labour rights. However, new regulation was often perceived as ‘red tape’ by business which responded by reluctant compliance. Today numerous companies have realized that addressing global challenges can foster and need not hinder business success. The innovations in the field of resource usage and waste management by Marks & Spencer, Freitag and TerraCycle created a triple win situation: they save resources, reduce waste going to landfill, improve reputation and generate profits. The better these organizations become in their business, the better for the planet.

Reluctant Compliance or Civil War: Prospects of Retrenchment in Israel

Most research on civil wars focuses upon the variables that contribute to the outbreak of internecine strife. By contrast, this article examines a case study where, despite the clear potential for such violence, the institutions of the state have been strong enough to forestall internal conflict: Israel. The potential for civil strife is most closely associated with the Jewish settler movement which, regarding territorial concessions to the Palestinians as an apostasy, has come to directly challenge the authority of the State. While acknowledging that key variables that would normally presage internal violence are certainly present in the Israeli polity, the article identifies three key variables that deny agency to violent extremism: the sense of solidarity to which the Jewish people are committed, the perception of existential threats facing Israel and disunity within the camp of the potential rebels.

Circuits of Power in Practice: Strategic Ambiguity as Delegation of Authority

Most power relationships between organizations and stakeholders are episodic circuits of power whereby resource dependence is exacerbated by prohibitive rules. Such relationships are usually constraining rather than empowering and generate resistance and reluctant compliance rather than co-operation and creativity. Clegg's (1989) concept of facilitative circuits of power, however, suggests that some power relationships, particular where high amounts of discretion are delegated, can result in innovation by stakeholders. Public sector agencies have multiple and diverse external stakeholder groups that they need to influence in order to implement their strategies. In this paper, we explore a facilitative circuit of power using a case study of a public sector research funding organization that employed strategic ambiguity to delegate considerable authority to stakeholders, stimulating a variety of creative responses during a period of major system restructuring. Risks associated with such a practice include the generation of active and passive resistance as well as a propensity for the system to revert to an episodic power circuit over time. Despite these risks, we propose that the deployment of strategic ambiguity is a previously unrecognized mode of high discretionary strategic agency in authority delegation that can generate creative responses on the part of stakeholders within a facilitative circuit of power.

Living with Angina Pectoris–A Phenomenological Study

Angina pectoris is a common medical condition with a high mortality and morbidity rate and normally requires medical therapy to control symptoms. The impact of angina and treatment strategies are gauged almost solely on clinical measurements. This approach does not provide insight into the effects of the disease from the patients' perspectives. Understanding these effects enables a patient centred approach to care, which may facilitate adherence to treatment strategies. Previous studies examining heart disease from the patients' perspective have tended to focus on myocardial infarction or coronary surgery and not, as this study does, on angina per se. Unstructured interviews of seven patients with clinically stable angina pectoris were carried out and analysed using a phenomenological approach. Seven themes were identified: limitation and adjustment; resignation; indignation; caution; reluctant compliance; surprise; and the unknown. Patients made adjustments to their lifestyles because of the limitations imposed on them by angina. These changes were accepted reluctantly, initially with annoyance, but ultimately with resignation. They were cautious in everyday activities to avoid something ‘worse’ happening. On the whole, they were surprised that they had developed the disease despite little understanding of risk factors. They had not considered the long-term effects of the disease. Angina patients need to have access to information sources to understand the disease and to make adjustments to their lives. An opportunity to discuss the disease with a specialist health care professional is essential. The study showed that phenomenology has a contribution to make in areas such as cardiology where the research agenda is predominantly positivistic.

Living with angina pectoris--a phenomenological study.

Angina pectoris is a common medical condition with a high mortality and morbidity rate and normally requires medical therapy to control symptoms. The impact of angina and treatment strategies are gauged almost solely on clinical measurements. This approach does not provide insight into the effects of the disease from the patients' perspectives. Understanding these effects enables a patient centred approach to care, which may facilitate adherence to treatment strategies. Previous studies examining heart disease from the patients' perspective have tended to focus on myocardial infarction or coronary surgery and not, as this study does, on angina per se. Unstructured interviews of seven patients with clinically stable angina pectoris were carried out and analysed using a phenomenological approach. Seven themes were identified: limitation and adjustment; resignation; indignation; caution; reluctant compliance; surprise; and the unknown. Patients made adjustments to their lifestyles because of the limitations imposed on them by angina. These changes were accepted reluctantly, initially with annoyance, but ultimately with resignation. They were cautious in everyday activities to avoid something 'worse' happening. On the whole, they were surprised that they had developed the disease despite little understanding of risk factors. They had not considered the long-term effects of the disease. Angina patients need to have access to information sources to understand the disease and to make adjustments to their lives. An opportunity to discuss the disease with a specialist health care professional is essential. The study showed that phenomenology has a contribution to make in areas such as cardiology where the research agenda is predominantly positivistic.

Students' tactics of resistance and teachers' stress.

In a study of 134 college teachers, teachers' self-reported stress scores were significantly and positively related with their perceptions of students' use of reluctant compliance and deception tactics in resistance to on-task learning.

The strategic management of workplace diversity initiatives: Public sector implications

Diversity initiatives have been and continue to be one of the most popular trends in contemporary management practice. Motivations of key decision makers in organizations for diversity initiatives run the gamut from a sincere desire to be socially responsible to reluctant compliance with employment discrimination laws. However, even the most well-intentioned, well-designed diversity programs can run into unanticipated problems. This paper utilizes two actual case studies to explore some of the controversies managers can expect when dealing with diversity and provides recommendations for the strategic conceptualization and management of diversity.