Abstract: One of the core challenges in compliance measurement is to assess and analyze undetected instances of illegal behavior. This chapter discusses interview strategies to best capture such deviant conduct and the factors of influence on it. It discusses two core approaches. First is the informant approach, where multiple rounds of interviews with key informants with deep knowledge of the regulated organization are combined and triangulated to construct a case study of what happened in the organization and what influenced it. Second is the respondent approach, where the same interview is held once with a larger group of similar actors in regulated organizations to understand and compare how these individual actors see compliance and the forces that shape it. The chapter discusses for what purposes each of these approaches is best suited, what their strengths and weaknesses are, and how they can best be conducted. It shows the importance of a pilot study, proper interview design, and thorough preparation in interview techniques used during the actual interview.

Abstract: Drawing on data from two ethnographies on organizational compliance in China, this chapter offers three important insights about what gets lost in traditional quantitative measures of organizational compliance. First, the studies show that compliance is muddled. A close-up view of the actual business responses to the law are hard to capture in binary or numerical terms (or even in more nuanced labeling such as motivational postures or levels of commitment); in everyday practice there are many instances of both rule-obeying and rule-violating behavior. Second, compliance is dynamic and varies at different points in time and in their situational contexts. Third, the studies show that compliance can be a nonlinear process in which compliance occurs even when there is no chain of transmission from governmental regulators to compliance managers to individual workers. The chapter draws out what these insights mean for the study and practice of compliance measurement. Ultimately, there is a strong need for multi-method research that combines understanding complexity through in-depth case studies (combining participant observation with interviews) alongside statistical analysis in quantitative work.

Abstract: A major question in corporate compliance research and practice is how to establish the effectiveness of compliance programs and policies on promoting desirable outcomes. To assess such effectiveness requires proper measurement. This chapter, which is the introduction to an edited volume on corporate compliance measurement, discusses the trade-offs involved in using different quantitative and qualitative approaches to measure corporate compliance and its predictors. It assesses the strengths and weaknesses of different research strategies in terms of their validity in capturing behavioral responses, their ability to establish causality, their precision in showing complexity, their generalizability, and their feasibility and cost-effectiveness. The chapter concludes that a mixed methods approach is the best way to reduce the trade-offs in measurement; using such an approach best accommodates the five quality standards of proper measurement.

Abstract: The opportunity approach to compliance focuses on understanding how rule-breaking behaviour takes place and then tries to reduce the factors that enable rule breaking. This chapter reviews two core criminological theories within the opportunity approach: routine activity theory and situational crime prevention. The chapter assesses empirical evidence as to whether policies based on these theories can reduce rule-violating behaviour. Moreover, it discusses the extent to which the opportunity approach can result in displacement and adaptation effects. And, finally, it explores potential downsides to the opportunity approach such as victim blaming and reductions in autonomy and freedom of choice.

Abstract: Legal knowledge is a core aspect in compliance. For law to shape behaviour, people whose conduct the law tries to influence should know the law. This chapter reviews the body of existing empirical research about legal knowledge. It assesses the extent to which laypersons and professionals know and understand legal rules across various domains including employment, family affairs, criminal justice, education and health care. This body of work shows that ignorance and misunderstanding of the law are common across these domains. There is variation and for some laws, amongst some people and in some jurisdictions, there is more or less legal knowledge. Also, the review shows that there is evidence that people tend to equate their own norms with the rules of the law. The chapter concludes by discussing what these findings mean for compliance and the way our laws try to steer human and organisational conduct. Here it questions compliance approaches that view it as a linear process from rule to behaviour.

Abstract: Compliance has become important in our contemporary markets, societies, and modes of governance across very different public and private domains, stimulating a rich body of empirical work and practical expertise. Yet, so far, we do not have a comprehensive understanding of what compliance is and what mechanisms and interventions play a role in shaping it, or how compliance shapes various fields. Thus far, the academic knowledge of compliance has remained siloed in different disciplinary domains, and along different regulatory and legal spheres and different mechanisms and interventions. This chapter, which is the introduction to The Cambridge Handbook of Compliance, offers a comprehensive view of what compliance is. It takes a broad approach in seeing compliance as the interaction between rules and behavior. It discusses what different mechanisms and interventions are at play in shaping such compliance. And it reflects on the different methods for studying compliance and their inherent limitations.