A framework for understanding individual response to regulation

Regulations to encourage behaviour change are often used by governments to achieve policy objectives. The success of regulations depends on the commitment of individuals to change behaviour in ways that comply with regulatory obligations. Understanding and predicting the motivation of individuals to change their behaviour is critical in assessing the likely effectiveness of proposed regulations. In this paper we present a novel framework for understanding and predicting the motivation of an individual to comply with regulations. The framework is based on two central ideas. The first idea uses the involvement construct to predict the motivation of individuals to comply. The second idea separates the influence of the regulation on individuals' motivation to comply from the influence of the underlying policy issue on the motivation of individuals to comply. Through application to a case study we show the framework's merit in predicting an individual's possible behavioural responses to a regulation and how it assists regulatory agencies develop strategies to enhance compliance. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.