Rule Breaking Research Articles

The Effects of the Exposure to Neurotoxic Elements on Italian Schoolchildren Behavior

Background/Aim: Neurodevelopmental disorders are constantly increasing on a global scale. Some elements are known to be neurotoxic being able to interfere with neurons. In this study we assessed the neurobehavioral effect of the exposure to trace elements including lead, mercury, cadmium, manganese, arsenic and selenium among 6-12 years old children residing in Taranto area in Italy. Methods: A total of 299 children from 6 to 11 years were enrolled in the 12 primary schools located in the 5 sub-areas. Whole blood, urine and hair were collected while The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS), administered to the main teacher and to the mother were considered to identify problem behavior in children. The relationship between metal exposures and neurobehavioral outcomes was tested through linear mixed effects model and tobit regressions. Results: Blood lead mainly influenced social problems (beta 0.7; 95% CI 0.1, 1.4), aggressive behaviour (beta 0.9; 95% CI 0.2, 1.6), externalizing (beta 1.8; 95% CI 0.1, 3.5) and total problems (beta 1.9; 95% CI 0.2, 3.7). Urinary arsenic showed to have an impact on anxiety and depression (beta 0.4; 95% CI 0.1, 0.8), somatic problems (beta 0.6; 95% CI 0.1, 1.1), attention problems (beta 0.4; 95% CI 0.1, 0.7) and rule breaking behaviour (beta 0.4; 95% CI 0.1, 0.7). Conclusions: Overall, we were able to test that higher blood lead or urinary arsenic concentrations increase the risk of neurobehavioral problems. This is in line with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) priority list of hazardous substances where arsenic and lead are ranked as first and second respectively. No other studied elements appeared to have a statistically significant effect on children neurobehavior.

Disobeying Orders’ as Responsible Leadership: Revisiting Churchill, Percival and the Fall of Singapore

In many organizations, subsidiary performance goals are developed remotely by optimistic leaders back at headquarters, leaving deployed managers vulnerable to unrealistic operational expectations on the frontline, unable to follow orders. Most management research categorizes employees’ failure to follow workplace directives as deviant behavior. In contrast, I argue that in some circumstances ‘disobeying orders’ should be considered a virtuous, responsible leadership strategy when facing unachievable tasks. Through a historical analysis of the surrender of the British colony Singapore to Japan during World War II, this paper links pro-social rule breaking (PSRB), productive resistance, and responsible leadership literatures, developing a process model that explains how some deployed leaders cope with ethical dilemmas in virtuous ways by ‘disobeying orders’.

Inclusive Leadership and Pro-Social Rule Breaking: The Role of Psychological Safety, Leadership Identification and Leader-Member Exchange.

This study explores the impact of inclusive leadership on employees' pro-social rule breaking through the dual path of psychological safety and leadership identification, as well as the moderating role of leader-member exchange in the above paths. We used questionnaires to survey 303 employees at two time points. The results show that inclusive leadership has a significant positive impact on employees' pro-social rule breaking, that psychological safety and leadership identification play mediating roles in this relationship, and that there is no significant difference between the mediating effects. Leader-member exchange moderates the indirect effect of inclusive leadership on pro-social rule breaking through psychological safety. That is, under a high level of leader-member exchange, inclusive leadership has a strong impact on psychological safety and pro-social rule breaking, but the moderating effect of inclusive leadership on employees' pro-social rule breaking through leadership identification is not significant. This study provides guidance for improving the vitality of employees and promoting the development of enterprise rules.

Targeted anti-corruption in LMICs: developmental governance and health systems research

Abstract Traditional approaches to anti-corruption have relied upon broad-based legal change and the introduction transparency and accountability measures. The evidence to date shows that these have been unsuccessful in reducing corruption in health and other sectors in low and middle income countries. Traditional approaches often assume that corruption is driven by individual greed, immorality or opportunism caused by a lack of accountability measures and that once corruption is rendered visible that there will be a channel through which it can be acted upon. In many LMICs, however, corruption and rule breaking is widespread and much better understood as a systemic problem. In these settings, health workers often break rules to solve the problems of working in overstretched, underfunded health systems. In these settings, policy often does not match the realities of an underfunded health system, and so sticking to the rules can have harm career progression or the ability to care for ones family. New approaches to anti-corruption based on Mushtaq Khan's idea of developmental governance take these context specific factors into account and look for targeted, feasible and high impact action that can create improvements of rule abiding behaviour that benefit the health system and the delivery of care. This presentation examines how it can be applied to the health system and the adaptations that it makes in the ways that we work on anti-corruption in health. It examines the ways in which policy can be changed so that groups of actors in the system are be incentivised to engage in abiding behaviour as they recognize that it is in their interests to do so.

Death by a Thousand 10-Minute Tasks: Workarounds and Noncompliance in University Research Administration

The article examines administrative workarounds in the context of university research administration. The empirical results from 116 semi-structured interviews with academic researchers with active National Science Foundation awards are framed by a “Rules Response” model positing relationships among rules compliance requests, administrative burden, red tape, and response choices, including compliance, appeal, rule bending, rule breaking, and workaround behaviors. Propositions are presented and reviewed in light of empirical results. The article concludes with implications of empirical results for improving the Rules Response model and a more general discussion of research needed to improve the understanding of both rules compliance and workarounds.

Rule Breaking, Gender, Social Status, and Entrepreneurial Persistence

We examine the drivers of severe adolescent rule breaking, namely self-interest and impulsivity, on entrepreneurial persistence as we explore the influence of intersectionality on this relationship. Using longitudinal data from a national representative survey of US adolescents, we find impulsive rule breaking is associated with a higher likelihood of entrepreneurial persistence and this relationship is moderated by gender and socioeconomic status. The relationship between impulsive rule breaking and entrepreneurial persistence is stronger for men and adolescents from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. These findings contribute to research on entrepreneurial rule breaking behavior, the effect of impulsivity on entrepreneurial activity, and demographic intersectionality in entrepreneurship.

Constructions of noncompliance: narratives and contexts in the case of administrative corruption

Authorities depict noncompliance by public officials (POs) as a problematic deviation they seek to address by several means. This article discusses the problem as a situation where the public’s reframing opportunities guide POs toward the acceptance of noncompliant behavior. This novel approach is underpinned by a behavioral model of decision-making processes. The pre-decision-making processes of POs are altered by actors who reframe efforts through narratives that affect the way POs make sense of a situation, their evaluation of the appropriateness of alternative actions, and their willingness to accept rule breaking. We use administrative corruption as a case of noncompliance to design a survey experiment applied to POs in a local government in Mexico. The survey adapts rationalizations of administrative corruption to test how narrative frames affect PO decision making, where a zone of noncompliance becomes acceptable.

Systematic review of research on fair play and sporting competition

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to provide an international panoramic of fair play and sporting competition; identifying, categorising and analysing the scientific articles about this topic. Using a systematic search in the Scopus and Web of Science databases, relevant studies were identified that met previously established inclusion criteria. The guidelines laid out in the PRISMA Statement were followed in order to ensure the quality of the review process. The search yielded 367 published articles, from which articles whose content was not related to sporting competition and fair play were eliminated. The final sample was 163 articles. The articles were and classified according to their thematic categories. The process of categorisation was carried out following in-depth reading of each article, through an inductive procedure. Analyses were initially carried out by two researchers, with a third researcher resolving any disagreements. Articles are grouped according to three main research topics: the theoretical-philosophical conceptualisation of fair play (13.49%), fair play in relation to equal opportunities (36.81%) and fair play from a psychosocial perspective (49.69%). The theoretical-philosophical conceptualisation of fair play highlights that there is no univocal way of understanding this concept. In relation to fair play and equal opportunities, two lines of research are identified. The first is related with rule breaking and financial inequality of sports clubs and, the second is linked to inequality in classification systems (for questions of gender, diversity and the planning of competition schedules). With respect to the consideration of fair play from a psychosocial perspective, examination of goal orientation, motivational climate and intrinsic motivation relating to sportspersonship, stands out. Studies were also identified that were related to sociodemographic aspects of sportspersonship, sportspersonship measurement scales and the analysis of sportspersonship interventions. The present review reveals that the role of fair play extends beyond the field of play.

Impact of Unhealthy Psycho Social Environment on Adolescent Mental Health Causes Emotional and Behavioural Problems

Adolescence is a most crucial period in a person’s life because rapid changes occur in physical, psychological and emotional spheres. Due to the immaturity and emotional turmoil the adolescent undergoes in this period a safe, nurturing environment is essential for the adolescents to grow up in to a well adjusted person. The aim of this study to assess the influence of psychosocial stressors on emotional and behavioral problems of school adolescents. The study conducted at Govt. Higher secondary school for boys and girls at Guduvancheri in Kanchipuram District, Chennai. A mixed method research design was used for collecting data from 8th to 12th standard students’ age between 13-17 years. The stratified random sampling technique was used to collect data from 100 samples with help of the standard tool child behaviour check list (CBCL)YSR 11-18year. The result revealed that in comparing the CBCL score between the male and female adolescents having significant difference in rule breaking behaviour p<0.003 and thought problems p<0.001. Out of 100 samples 10 Adolescents were selected who had emotional and behavioural problems and were sharing their problems and express their stressors. By this personal discussion found out the root stressors such as poor parental relationship (alcoholic father), insecure home environment, peer pressure, inadequate economical support and academic pressure lead them for loneliness, inferiority, hopelessness, anxiety, involvement of immoral behaviors.

Linking personality traits to objective foul records in (semi-)professional youth basketball

Rule breaking behavior in sports (e.g., fouls) can impact the outcome of games, tournaments, or even whole seasons. Although personality traits have been related to different forms of rule breaking behavior across fields, it has hardly been investigated whether personality traits predict rule breaking behavior in sports. We ran a longitudinal study with 242 (semi-)professional basketball players. Specifically, we measured personality traits prior to the start of the season and official foul statistics per player during the season. Out of the basic personality traits from the HEXACO Model of Personality, Conscientiousness accounted for a substantial amount of variability in the committed/called fouls, whereas no robust relations with other traits or a sports-oriented personality trait (i.e., Sports Mental Toughness) were found.

Broke people, broken rules: Explaining welfare fraud investigators’ attributions

There is a notable contrast between welfare clients’ and welfare fraud investigators’ accounts of rule breaking behaviors. Clients describe some actions (or inactions) that constitute rule violations as accidental, and tend to attribute others to situational factors: program rules’ complexity, the exigencies of day-to-day subsistence, and time and energy limitations. Fraud investigators, on the other hand, are comparatively likely to identify rule breaking as deliberate and cite clients’ dispositions to explain the behavior. In part, this disparity reflects the “fundamental attribution error,” the tendency to overestimate dispositional factors’ role in driving others’ behavior. However, evidence from interviews with welfare fraud workers from five US states reveals the impactful administrative and normative factors that encourage them to make and assert attributions of intentionality and dispositional motivation. First, administrative priorities foreground intentional violations: federal authorities financially incentivize deliberate fraud charges, and managers favor these cases, which permit client suspensions and disqualifications. Second, emphasizing internal motivations over situational pressures serves a valuable normative function, establishing punished clients’ blameworthiness and thus defending the legitimacy of both individual fraud workers and the units they compose. These findings demonstrate how policy structures and enforcement practices do not just respond to blameworthy or legally culpable behavior, but help construct narratives of blameworthiness and culpability.

Bad Apples or Bad Orchards? An Organizational Analysis of Educator Cheating on Standardized Accountability Tests

Using an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, we analyze quantitative administrative and survey data and qualitative archival data to examine the organizational character of standardized test cheating among educators in Georgia elementary schools. Applying a theoretical typology that identifies distinct forms of rule breaking in bureaucratic organizations, we find that teacher-focused, individual-level explanations for cheating are inadequate, particularly in the context of large-scale cheating outbreaks. Our findings suggest cheating scandals tend to arise when rule-breaking decisions shift toward higher levels of the educational bureaucracy, and school and district leaders enact multiple strategies to motivate coordinated cheating efforts among lower-level educators. In these scenarios, a “bad apples” explanation focused on rogue teachers fails to account for the systematic organizational underpinnings of standardized test cheating. We describe the institutional and organizational predictors of organized adult cheating on standardized tests, and we conclude with a discussion of our findings’ implications for education policy and research.

Does servant leadership moderate the link between strategic human resource management on rule breaking and job satisfaction?

In today’s competitive environment and global world, where the boundaries have disappeared as a result of the continuous development in communication and technology, the attitudes and behaviours of the employees in their organisations are becoming more important in terms of employees’ performance, strategic human resources management (SHRM), leadership roles of senior managers. In this study, the effects of (SHRM) and servant leadership on ‘rule breaking’ behaviours and ‘job satisfaction’ of the employees in their organisation have been examined. Our findings and analyses show that private organisations are afraid of losing customers in competitive environments and therefore their employees go beyond the determined procedures to sustain the interests of their organisation. Future studies should focus on the attitudes and behaviors of individuals in order to develop new theoretical concepts and better studies related to human resources and leadership styles. The sample population of our study consists of 385 white-collar employees working in the public and private sectors in the Central Anatolia region. 228 were employed in the private sector and 157 in the public sector. Findings were subjected to factor and reliability analyses using SPSS AMOS 22 program, hypotheses were tested by regression analysis and the results were analysed and evaluated.

The Prevalence of Internalizing and Externalizing Behavior Problems and Their Relationship with Demographic Characteristics in Children Surviving the 2017 Earthquake in West of Iran

Background: Natural disasters may lead to personal and social dysfunction in children. Objectives: The present study was conducted to determine the prevalence of behavioral problems and their relationship with demographic characteristics in children surviving the 2017 earthquake in western Iran. Methods: This was a cross-sectional-analytical study. The statistical population included all children surviving the 2017 earthquake in western Iran. The sample size included 335 subjects selected by convenience sampling. The Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist (Parent Form) was the tool used to collect data and chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests were used to analyze the data. Results: The rule breaking (5.3%) and somatic complaints (2.4%) were the most and least prevalent behavioral problems in children, respectively. General behavior problems (8.3%), internalizing behavior problems (7.4%), and externalizing behavior problems (7.1%) were the most prevalent, respectively. Gender had a significant statistical relationship with somatic complaints and attention problems; loss of home with rule breaking, internalizing behavior problems, and general behavior problems; the number of children in a family with anxiety; age of the father with social problems, aggression, internalizing and externalizing behavior problems; the father’s educational level with withdrawal; mother’s educational level with attention problems, aggression, externalizing behavior problems and general behavior problems; and economic status with aggression (p <0.05) were apparent. Conclusion: Given the significant prevalence of behavioral and psychiatric disorders in children who survived the earthquake, identifying children at risk is important for the prevention, early diagnosis, and treatment of aforementioned problems in these children.

Workplace fiddles in the shipping industry

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the ways in which workers employ rule breaking, rule bending and deviations from management defined norms in the workplace and the impact this has on their occupational health and safety (OHS) experiences.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses qualitative semi-structured interviews conducted with 37 seafarers working on board four vessels engaged in international trade. The data were recorded, transcribed and thematically analysed using NVivo software.FindingsThe findings indicate that seafarers utilised workplace fiddles – which included rule breaking, rule bending and deviating from management defined norms – in order to engender a workable system in which they could remain safe but also profitable to those who controlled their labour. Moreover, the findings suggest that shore-side management deflected the responsibility for rule violations by deferring many of the decisions regarding features of life on board – such as the scheduling of work hours – to the senior officers on board.Originality/valueThe paper sheds light on where, in practice, responsibility for OHS lies in the international shipping industry, an industry in which workers experience relatively high rates of work-related fatalities, injuries and mental health conditions.

Interaction of Toxoplasma gondii infection and elevated blood lead levels on children’s neurobehavior

A chronic infection caused by Toxoplasma gondii was considered asymptomatic in immunologically healthy humans, but results from animal and epidemiological studies led to a reconsideration of this assumption. The objective of this study was to evaluate the seroprevalence of T. gondii infection and its possible effects on the behavior of school-aged children in Bahia, Brazil. Serum anti-body determinations were performed by Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). Blood lead levels (BLL) were measured by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS). The evaluation of a child’s behavior was assessed using the Child Behavior Check List (CBCL). Multivariate models applying logistic regression were used to test the association of chronic T. gondii infection and BLL with behavioral outcomes in children. Seroprevalence for anti-T. gondii IgG antibody was 43.7 % (95 %-CI: 35.8–51.9). Significant associations between chronic T. gondii infection and total behavioral problems (OR = 2.50; 95 %-CI: 1.06–5.88), internalizing spectrum problems (OR = 4.35; 95 %-CI: 1.11–17.14) and rule breaking (OR = 2.61; 95 %-CI: 1.12–6.05) were observed. A possible interaction between toxoplasmosis prevalence and lead exposure was detected. Children with above the median BLL and positive for IgG anti-T. gondii showed a 5.51-fold increase (95 %-CI: 1.75–17.38) in the chance of displaying disobedient behavior. The results suggest that T. gondii infection may be contributing to the high indices of behavioral changes. Moreover, these findings are the first evidence for a possible interaction between chronic T. gondii infection and elevated blood lead levels on children’s neurobehavior.

Bucking the system: Mitigating psychiatric patient rule breaking for a safer milieu

This article examines patients' understandings of rule breaking in the hospital setting. This work is important to inpatient psychiatric nursing because considering patients' perspectives about their own rule breaking can help nurses provide more therapeutic and safer patient care. The study finds that rule breaking behaviors are often a manifestation of patient resistance to institutionalization and loss of power. These behaviors are also related to nursing practice, as patients closely observe staff and look for gaps in the system to get away with or circumvent the rules. These findings suggest rule breaking behaviors can be reduced not by trying to further curtail the patient's autonomy but, rather, by changing the rules and/or how they are administered by staff to accommodate patients' perspectives and needs for freedom. Also, nurses must be clear in communicating with patients about the rationale for rules, and be consistent in how they enforce them.

How temporal leadership boosts employee innovative job performance

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine how temporal leadership relates to employee innovative job performance through pro-social rule breaking for efficiency (PSRB_E) and vigor. As such, it draws from both motivational and affective perspectives to investigate the way in which leaders manage employees' time to boost employee innovation at work.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopts a two-source survey with coworker dyads from multiple organizations in China. Two hundred and three focal employees rated temporal leadership, time pressure and vigor. Each focal employee was rated by a coworker on PSRB_E and innovative job performance. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and bootstrapping techniques are used to examine the hypothesized relationships with theRpackage for latent variable analysis (i.e. lavaan).FindingsThe results suggest that temporal leadership positively relates to employees' innovative job performance through the mediations of their PRSB_E and vigor, respectively.Originality/valueThis study is one of the first that sought to understand the effect of temporal leadership on employee innovative job performance. It also casts light upon the motivational and affective mechanisms underlying such a linkage.

Psychiatric co- morbidity among learning-disabled children

Abstract Background Despite a strong reciprocal association between dyslexia and behavioral problems in children, their co-occurrence is often under-recognized and under-treated resulting in less than optimal outcomes in all areas including academic emotional outcomes. Aim of the Work The primary goal of this study was to identify the co-morbid behavioral problems in dyslexic children and delineate its types to minimize its burden on dyslexic children; in order to design a better management plan. Patients and Methods This study was conducted on 62 dyslexic children between the ages of 6 to 10.5 years, belonging to different socioeconomic standards. They were subjected to the Learning Disabilities assessment protocol (including Modified Arabic Dyslexia Screening Teat , MADST )of the Phoniatrics Unit, Ain Shams University also they were subjected to the Arabic version of the Childhood Behavior Checklist (CBCL) which was conducted at the Psychiatric Unit, Ain Shams University. Results Reading disabilities was positively correlated with total behavioral problems, internalizing behavioral problems, anxiety, depression, social and attention problems, while there was no significant association with somatic, thoughts problems and externalizing behavior (aggression and rule breaking behavior). Conclusion this study showed that reading disabilities is associated with behavioral problems, which may affect the efficiency of there habilitation program

Rallying the Troops and Defending against Sanctions: A Government Body Breaking Decision‐Making Rules to Fund Entrepreneurial Ventures

AbstractCritical to top management’s organizing efforts are the formal rules for how organizational members are to make decisions. However, employees can break top management’s decision‐making rules. Although scholars have investigated rule breaking at the individual and group levels of analysis, research is needed into how members come together as a group to break an organization’s decision‐making rules, and how groups’ rule breaking persists. To address this important research gap, we draw from a real‐time qualitative investigation of both the breaking and following of decision‐making rules to develop a group model that: (1) explains how an individual can trigger his or her group to break decision‐making rules to generate perceived benefits for the group and/or others external to the organization, (2) provides insights into the mechanisms by which rule breaking persists, and (3) highlights the norms of developing and perpetuating groups’ breaking decision‐making rules.