Rule formalization, gender, and gender congruence: examining prosocial rule breaking for internal and external stakeholders

Abstract

Rules play a crucial role in the public sector to ensure the effective provision of public services and the equitable treatment of all citizens. What factors influence whether employees abide by or break rules? More specifically, how do characteristics of the rules and the rule giver influence rule compliance? To address these questions, we employ an experiment to examine the influence of rule formalization, gender, and gender congruence on rule following in two different contexts. We find formalization increases rule compliance as employees are more likely to follow written rules than unwritten, verbal rules. Although gender and gender congruence are not significant, we raise several issues for research and practice in this area and find individual characteristics that influence rule following are different for men and women. Public managers and organizations should put rules in writing to ensure effective and equitable outcomes and promote organizational values to guide employee discretion.