Generating Voluntary Compliance Across Doctrines and Nations: Interlocking the Behavioral and Regulatory Aspects of Governments’ Ability to Trust Public' Cooperation, Ethicality and Compliance

Introduction

The distinct advantages of enhancing the public’s voluntary compliance (VC) with regulations have made it an advantageous form of governance. However, its use is limited by the extent to which governments and regulators can trust the public without jeopardizing regulatory purposes and harming other social values.

Objectives

Identifying and analyzing the antecedents of VC across doctrines and countries can enhance our theoretical understanding of the underlying nature of the interaction between countries and their residents. It can also evaluate the relative efficacy of behaviorally based regulatory tools.

Proposed Model

This project proposes, examines, and develops a new conceptual model and a methodology that will facilitate a systematic comparison of the relative efficacy across different doctrines and nations.

Factors Considered

This model will take into account:

1. National factors
2. Organizational factors
3. Situational factors
4. Individual factors

It will draw on and combine material from the fields of Compliance, Regulation, Behavioral Public Policy, Behavioral Ethics, Trust & Social Norms on how to advance public VC.

Empirical Exploration

We will empirically explore if and to what extent VC and greater trustworthiness by the public can be achieved across countries (high vs. low trust) using regulatory tools such as:

• Nudges
• Pledges
• Incentives
• Sanctions
• Morality

This exploration will be conducted in the context of the situations of tax, environment, COVID-19, and ethics.

Expected Outcomes

The comprehensive picture of VC that will emerge from this project will include not just effect sizes, but also factors such as:

• The proportion of those who comply
• The sustainability of compliance
• The impact on social norms
• The likelihood of positive externalities (e.g., trust enhancement) following the enactment of a specific regulatory tool

Conclusion

Better insights into VC can help elucidate the descriptive and normative understanding of the nature of the interaction between countries and their residents.