Socio-political contexts, identity formation, and regulatory compliance

Abstract

This article attempts to fill the gaps in traditional compliance theories and argues that the actor's identity formulated by socio-political contexts influences the propensity to move toward or away from compliance. Although regulated entities are sometimes instrumentally rational or norms oriented, they also base their behavioral choices on situated judgments in ways that are more varied and changing than existing compliance theories have suggested. The comparative case studies presented here focus on how the socio-political relations of actors are manifested in identities of self and others in interaction and, in turn, translate into compliance choice making. © 2008 Sage Publications.