Rules and decision making: assessing compliance through an institutional lens

Abstract

In this paper, the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework is applied to organize an inquiry of regulatory compliance motivations. Compliance motivations are examined using questionnaire and interview data collected among members of the aquaculture community in Florida State. The findings indicate that regulatees are more likely to comply with regulations (1) when they perceive enforcement personnel as being knowledgeable; (2) when they have a desire to maintain a good reputation with their peers; and (3) when they possess a strong sense of guilt associated with non-compliance. This paper contributes to an understanding of compliance motivations in two ways; first, by examining the relative influence of motivations emerging from regulatory, community, and individual contexts, and second, by applying an institutional framework that supports the complementary analysis of motivations associated with each of these different realms.