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Armed, and Dangerous (?): Motivating Rule Adherence Among Agents of Social Control

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Tom R. Tyler ,
Patrick E. Callahan  and
Jeffrey Frost
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Abstract

A key concern within democracies is effectively regulating the behavior of societies' agents of social control, who have coercive power and considerable discretion over their use of that power. This can result in failures to adhere to the rules, policies, and laws dictating appropriate and lawful behavior. This article explores the effectiveness of motivating rule adherence among law enforcement officers and soldiers by focusing upon whether they believe that organizational authorities are legitimate or that rules and policies are morally right or wrong. The results suggest that both values have an important influence upon rule adherence. Further, aspects of organizational culture that encourage such values are identified and shown to be influential in this setting. Results show that the procedural justice of the organization is central to rule adherence. These findings support the argument that encouraging self-regulation via appeals to the values of law enforcement officers and soldiers is a viable strategy for minimizing misconduct, and they suggest how to effectively implement such approaches.

Type
Articles of General Interest
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 41 , Issue 2 , June 2007 , pp. 457 - 492
Copyright
© 2007 Law and Society Association.

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Footnotes

We thank Wayne Kerstetter and several unnamed supervisors in the groups studied for help in collecting the data. This work was supported by an internal research grant from New York University and by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Program in Business Organizations. We thank Gail Pesyna, Sloan Program director, for her support and encouragement.

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