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

TLDR

In democracies, regulating agents of social control—who wield coercive power and discretion—is crucial because their failures to adhere to rules, policies, and laws can undermine lawful behavior. The study investigates whether law enforcement officers and soldiers’ belief in the legitimacy of organizational authorities or the moral rightness of rules influences their rule adherence. The authors assess rule adherence by examining officers’ and soldiers’ perceptions of authority legitimacy and moral correctness of rules. Both legitimacy and moral values significantly influence rule adherence, with procedural justice and organizational culture fostering these values, supporting self‑regulation as a viable strategy to reduce misconduct.

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.