Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T20:15:54.478Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Compliance culture: A conceptual framework

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Lisa Interligi
Lisa Interligi*
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Psychiatry & Psychological Medicine, Monash University, Caulfield East VIC, Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Regulatory reforms and changing community expectations about organizational behaviour have increased the emphasis on the role of culture in organizational compliance. This conceptual paper proposes a framework that captures the complexities of the relationship between compliance and culture by drawing from two theories relevant to organizational culture: Neo-Institutional Theory and the Competing Values Model. By integrating elements of these theories, three core dimensions of compliance culture are identified: legitimacy, permeability and control. These core dimensions provide for a pluralist approach to theorising around compliance culture. In addition to its theoretical contribution, the paper concludes that there may be practical utility in linking organizational compliance outcomes with performance on the three core dimensions. It is also suggested that compliance culture profiles using these dimensions may be used to predict how organisations might need to respond to regulatory reforms.

Keywords

culturecomplianceregulationriskethics
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 16 , Issue 2 , May 2010 , pp. 235 - 249
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Altman, Y & Baruch, Y (1998) Cultural theory and organizations: analytical method and cases, Organization Studies, 19(5):769–85.Google Scholar
AMR Research (2006). AMR Research reports compliance spending will reach $27.3B in 2006, accessed at http://www.amrresearch.com/content/prontversion.asp?pmillid=19239andprint=1 on 6 February 2007.Google Scholar
Anderson, J & Johnson, N (2005) On the relationship between work contexts, mandates and compliance behaviours of supervisors, Journal of Change Management, 5(4):381–90.Google Scholar
Arjoon, S (2006) Striking a balance between rules and principle-based approaches for effective governance: a risks-based approach, Journal of Business Ethics, 68:53–82.Google Scholar
Aycan, Z, Kanungo, R & Sinha, J (1999) Organizational culture and human resource practices: The model of culture fit, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 33:501–26.Google Scholar
Barbuto, J (2000) Influence triggers: A framework for understanding follower compliance, The Leadership Quarterly, 11(3): 365–87.Google Scholar
Barley, S & Kunda, G (1992) Design and devotion: The ebb and flow of rational and normative ideologies of control in managerial discourse, Administrative Science Quarterly, 37:1–30.Google Scholar
Barney, J & Hesterly, W (1996) Organizational economics, in Clegg, S, Hardy, C & Nord, W (Eds.), The handbook of organization studies, Sage, London.Google Scholar
Bicchieri, C (2006) The grammar of society: the nature and dynamics of social norms, Cambridge University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Biddle, B (1986) Recent developments in role theory, Annual Review of Sociology 12:67–92.Google Scholar
Cameron, K, Quinn, R, DeGraff, J & Thakor, A (2006) Competing values leadership, Edward Elgar, Northhampton, MA.Google Scholar
Campbell, J (2007) Why would corporations behave in socially responsible ways? An institutional theory of corporate social responsibility, Academy of Management Review, 32(3):946–67.Google Scholar
Carroll, P & McGregor-Lowndes, M (2002) Managing regulatory compliance, Paper presented at the Current Issues in Regulation: Enforcement and Compliance Conference, Melbourne VIC.Google Scholar
Cialdini, R, Reno, R & Kallgren, C (1990) A focus theory of normative conduct: Recycling the concepts of norms to reduce littering in public places, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58:1015–26.Google Scholar
Clegg, S (1981) Organization and control, Administrative Science Quarterly, 26(4):545–62.Google Scholar
Clegg, S, Courpasson, D & Phillips, N (2006) Power and organizations, Sage, London.Google Scholar
Cusick, A (2004) Organizational development facilitates effective regulation compliance, Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 26(2):106–19.Google Scholar
Dacin, M, Goodstein, J & Scott, W (2002) Institutional theory and institutional change: Introduction to the special research forum, Academy of Management Journal, 45(1):45–57.Google Scholar
Davis, W, Carson, C & Robinson, R (2004) Employment decisions in self-directed work teams: a regulatory compliance perspective, Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 16(4): 179–94.Google Scholar
DiMaggio, P (1997) Culture and cognition, Annual Review of Sociology, 23:263–87.Google Scholar
DiMaggio, P (2001) The twenty-first century firm: Changing economic organization in international perspective, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.Google Scholar
DiMaggio, P & Powell, W (1983) The iron cage revisited: institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields, American Sociological Review, 48:147–60.Google Scholar
Douglas, M & Wildavsky, A (1983) Risk and culture, University of California Press, Berkley, CA.Google Scholar
Dunphy, D, Griffiths, A & Benn, S (2007) Organizational change for corporate sustainability: a guide for leaders and change agents of the future (2nd edn), Routledge: New York.Google Scholar
Douglas, M & Wildavsky, A (1982) Risk & culture: an essay on the selection of technical and environmental dangers, University of California Press.Google Scholar
Fernandez-Alles, M & Valle-Cabrera, R (2006) Reconciling institutional theory with organizational theories, Journal of Organizational Changes, 19(4):503–17.Google Scholar
Ferrell, O & Ferrell, L (2006) Managing the risks of business ethics and compliance, accessed from http://www.e-businessethics.com/Managing%20the%20risks%20of%20Business%20Ethics.pdf on 19 February 2007.Google Scholar
Ferris, G, Davidson, S & Perrewe, P (2005) Political skill at work: impact on work effectiveness, Davies-Black, Mountain View, CA.Google Scholar
Gebler, D (2006) Is your culture a risk factor? Business and Society Review, 111(3):337–62.Google Scholar
Goodman, E, Zammuto, R & Gifford, B (2001) The competing values framework: understanding the impact of organizational culture on the quality of work life, Organization Development Journal, 19(3):58–68.Google Scholar
Haines, F & Gurney, D (2003), The shadows of the law: contemporary approaches to regulation and the problem of regulatory conflict, Law and Policy, 25(4):353.Google Scholar
Haines, F & Gurney, D (2004) Regulatory conflict and regulatory compliance: the problems and possibilities in generic models of regulation, In Johnstone, R & Sarre, R (Eds.), Regulation: enforcement and compliance, Australian Institute of Criminology, Canberra ACT.Google Scholar
Hanson, D & White, R (2004) Regimes of risk management in corporate annual reports: a case study of one globalizing company, Journal of Risk Research, 7(4): 445.Google Scholar
Hendry, J (1999) Cultural theory and contemporary management organization. Human Relations, 52(5):557–77.Google Scholar
Hood, C (1998) The art of the state: Culture, rhetoric and public management, Clarendon, Oxford.Google Scholar
Howard, L (1998) Validating the competing values model as a representation of organizational cultures, International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 6(3):231–50.Google Scholar
Johnson, C, Dowd, T & Ridgeway, C (2006) Legitimacy as a social process, Annual Review of Sociology, 32:53–78.Google Scholar
Kalliath, T, Bluedorn, A & Gillespie, D (1999) A confirmatory factor analysis of the competing values instrument, Educational and Psychological Measurement, 59(1):143–58.Google Scholar
Kirkbride, J & Lezta, S (2003) Establishing the boundaries of regulation in corporate governance: Is the UK moving toward a process of collibration? Business & Society Review, 108(4): 463–485.Google Scholar
Kirkbride, J & Lezta, S (2004) Regulation, governance and regulatory collibration: Achieving an ‘holistic’ approach, Corporate Governance, 12(1):85–92.Google Scholar
Kostova, T & Roth, K (2002) Adoption of organizational practice by subsidiaries of multinational corporations: institutional and relational effects, Academy of Management Journal, 45(1): 215–33.Google Scholar
Lamond, D (2003) The value of Quinn's competing values model in an Australian context, Journal of Management Psychology, 18(1):46–59.Google Scholar
Long, C, Sitkin, S, Cardinal, L & Burton, R (2007) An information processing model of organizational control: A computational study. Paper at Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Lotzof, M (2006) Compliance in Australia has continued to evolve over the last 20 years, Journal of Health Care Compliance, 01-Feb: 73.Google Scholar
McCauley, C (1989) The nature of social influence in groupthink: Compliance and internalization, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57(2): 250–260.Google Scholar
Mazar, N & Ariely, D (2006) Dishonesty in everyday life and its policy implications, American Marketing Association, 25(1):117–26.Google Scholar
Martin, K & Cullen, J (2006) Continuities and extensions of ethical climate theory: a meta-analytic review, Journal of Business Ethics, 69: 175–94.Google Scholar
Meyer, A & Zucker, L (1986) Permanently failing organizations. Paper at Yale Complex Organization Workshop, USA.Google Scholar
Michela, J & Burke, W (2000) Organizational culture and climate in transformations for quality and innovation, In Ashkanasy, N, Wilderom, C & Peterson, M (Eds), Handbook of organizational culture & climate, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.Google Scholar
Miller, J (2004) The relationship between organizational culture and environmental scanning: a case study, Library Trends, 43(2):170–205.Google Scholar
Minztberg, H (1994) The rise and fall of strategic planning: Reconceiving roles for planning, plans, planners, Free Press, New York.Google Scholar
Murphy, K (2004) The role of trust in nurturing compliance: a study of accused tax avoiders, Law and Human Relations, 28(2):187–209.Google Scholar
Oliver, C (1991) Strategic responses to institutional processes, Academy of Management Review, 16(1):145–79.Google Scholar
Ostroff, C, Kinicki, A & Tamkins, M (2003) Organizational culture and climate, In Borman, W, Ilgen, D & Klimoski, R (Eds), Handbook of psychology: Industrial and organizational psychology, p. 12, Wiley, Hoboken, NJ.Google Scholar
Ouchi, W (1979) A conceptual framework for the design of organizational control mechanisms, Management Science, 25: 833–48.Google Scholar
Ouchi, W (1980) Markets, bureaucracies, and clans, Administrative Science Quarterly, 24:129–41.Google Scholar
Pache, A (2007) Organizational responses to conflicting institutional demands. Proceedings of the Academy of Management, Briarcliff Manor, NY.Google Scholar
Panayotopoulou, L, Bourantas, D & Papalexandris, N (2003) Strategic human resource management and its effects on firm performance: an implementation of the competing values framework, International Journal of Human Resource Management, 14(4):680–99.Google Scholar
Parker, C (2002) The open corporation: Evaluation of corporate self-regulation of responsibility. Paper at 2002 IIPE Biennial Conference, Brisbane QLD.Google Scholar
Peters, T & Waterman, R (1982) In search of excellence: Lessons from America's best-run companies, Harper & Row, New York.Google Scholar
Petts, J, Herd, A, Gerard, S & Horne, C (1999) The climate and culture of environmental compliance within SMEs, Business Strategy and the Environment, 8:14–30.Google Scholar
Pfeffer, J (1997) New directions for organizational theory: Problems and prospects, Oxford University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Pfeffer, J & Salancik, G (2003) The external control of organizations: a resource dependent perspective, Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA.Google Scholar
Quinn, R (1988) Beyond rational management: Mastering the paradoxes and competing demands of high performance, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA.Google Scholar
Quinn, R & Rohrbaugh, J (1983) A spatial model of effectiveness criteria: Towards a competing values approach to organizational analysis, Management Science, 29:363–77.Google Scholar
Rasmussen, M (2006) The prescription for risk and compliance myopia. Paper for Forrester Research.Google Scholar
Rousseau, DM 1989, ‘Psychological and implied contracts in organizations’ Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 2:121–39.Google Scholar
Rousseau, D (1990) Assessing organizational culture: The case for multiple methods, In Scheider, B (Ed.), Organizational climate and culture, pp. 153–92, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA.Google Scholar
Sanders, K & van Emmerik, H (2004) Does modern organization and governance threaten solidarity? Journal of Management and Governance, 8:351–72.Google Scholar
Schein, E (1983) The role of the founder in creating organizational culture. Organizational Dynamics, 12:13–28.Google Scholar
Schein, E (1990) Organizational culture, American Psychologist, 45(2):109–19.Google Scholar
Schein, E (1992) Organizational culture and leadership: A dynamic view, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA.Google Scholar
Schein, E (2000) Sense and nonsense about culture and climate, In Ashkanasy, N, Wilderom, C & Peterson, M (Eds.), Handbook of organizational culture & climate, pp. xxiii–xxx,: Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.Google Scholar
Scott, W R (1995) Institutions and organizations, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.Google Scholar
Scott, W R (2004) Reflections of a half-century of organizational sociology, Annual Review of Sociology, 30:1–21.Google Scholar
Simon, H (1957) A behavioral model of rational choice, In Models of man, social and rational: Mathematical essays on rational human behavior in a social setting, Wiley, New York.Google Scholar
Snell, R (2004) Should we call it an ethics program or a compliance program? Journal of Health Care Compliance, 03-Apr:1–2.Google Scholar
Stackman, R, Pinder, C & Connor, P (2000) Values lost: Redirecting research on values in the workplace, In Ashkanasy, N, Wilderom, C & Peterson, M (Eds.), Handbook of organizational culture & climate, pp. 37–54, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.Google Scholar
Suchman, M (1995) Managing legitimacy: strategic and institutional approaches, Academy of Management Review, 20(3):571–610.Google Scholar
Sundarasaradula, D & Hasan, H (2005) A unified open systems model for explaining organisational change. Paper at 2nd Biennial Information Systems Foundation's ‘Constructing and Criticising’ Workshop, The Australian National University, Canberra ACT.Google Scholar
ten Have, S, ten Have, W, Steven, F, van der Elst, M & Pol-Coyne, F (2003) Key management model, FT Prentice-Hall, London.Google Scholar
Thompson, M, Ellis, R & Wildavsky, A (1990) Cultural theory, Westview Press, Boulder, CO.Google Scholar
Tajfel, H & Turner, J (1979) An integrative theory of intergroup conflict, In Austin, W & Worchel, S (Eds), The social psychology of intergroup relations, Brooks-Cole, Monterey, CAGoogle Scholar
Tolbert, P & Zucker, L (1996) The institutionaliz-ation of institutional theory, in Clegg, S, Hardy, C & Nord, W (Eds.), Handbook of organizational studies, pp. 170–190, Sage, London.Google Scholar
Tyler, T (2003) Procedural justice, legitimacy, and the effective rule of law, Crime Justice, 30:431–505.Google Scholar
Tyler, T (2006) Psychological perspectives on legitimacy and legitimation, Annual Review of Psychology, 57:375–400.Google Scholar
Verschoor, C (2006) Interactions between compliance and ethics, Strategic Finance (06):23–24.Google Scholar
Weber, M (1968), Economy and society (vols I–III), Bedminster Press, New York.Google Scholar
Zucker, L (1987) Institutional theories of organizations, Annual Review of Sociology, 13:443–464.Google Scholar