At the Regulatory Front Lines
Inspectors' Enforcement Styles and Regulatory Compliance
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6294271 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Peter May (0000-0001-8501-6500, corresponding author), P J May |
| Year | 2003 |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 117-139 |
| Publication date | 2003-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1053-1858 • E-ISSN: 1477-9803 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1093/jopart/mug014 |
| OpenAlex | W4247000930 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 151 |
| References cited | 12 |
This study contributes to the understanding of how those street‐level bureaucrats who are at the front lines of regulatory enforcement help to bring about compliance with regulations. Hypotheses concerning the impact of inspectors' differing enforcement styles on compliance are examined for data concerning municipal enforcement of building codes. Building inspectors vary in their day‐to‐day style of interaction with homebuilders with respect to facilitation—how helpful and supportive they are—and with respect to formalism—how rigid and picky they are. We fail to find a direct effect of differing enforcement styles on compliance. However, enforcement styles influence homebuilders' knowledge of rules and the degree of cooperation between homebuilders and inspectors. We attribute the limited impact of enforcement style to inconsistencies in inspection that tend to immunize homebuilders to stylistic differences among inspectors. This suggests a downside to “responsive regulation” as a preferred mode of regulatory enforcement: such inconsistencies undermine regulatees' understanding of rules and the development of shared expectations concerning compliance
Business · Compliance (psychology · Enforcement · Front (military · Front line · Political science · Regulatory focus theory · Regulatory reform · Engineering · Law, Economics, and Judicial Systems · Psychology · Regulation and Compliance Studies · Wildlife Conservation and Criminology Analyses · Law · Social Psychology
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How vertical and horizontal visibility shape street-level bureaucrats’ enforcement styles
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Beyond deterrent enforcement styles
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Mapping Trust Dynamics
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Service Motivation under Political Pressure
Explaining variations in enforcement strategy
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Does enforcement style influence citizen trust in regulatory agencies? An experiment in six countries
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The (un)intended effects of street-level bureaucrats’ enforcement style
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Compliance Motivations
Performance‐Based Regulation and Regulatory Regimes
Beyond Endogeneity
Variations in Regulatory Enforcement Styles
Street‐Level Leadership
Regulatory Issue Networks in a Federal System
Regulatory Enforcement Styles
Can Government Facilitate Cooperation? An Informational Model of Osha Enforcement
Making Sense Out of Regulatory Enforcement
Regulatory Enforcement in Local Government in Japan
Reconsidering Styles of Regulatory Enforcement
Voluntary Compliance and Regulatory Enforcement
Appeals to Civic Virtue Versus Attention to Self-Interest
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Does Regulatory Enforcement Work? A Panel Analysis of Osha Enforcement
| Unique citing works | 104 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 6,57 |
| Citation span | 2003 - 2026 (24) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | Yes |
| Citation types | Neutral: 147 |