Explaining Compliance

Book excerpt: 'Taking a broad view of regulation, and covering a wide range of issues and industries, this collection is the most innovative effort to date to understand the responses of business firms to regulation. The book brings together an impressive group of scholars who analyze the concept of compliance and offer theoretically informed studies of its assumed links to regulation. A must read for both academics and practitioners, this ground-breaking collection firmly establishes a scholarly field of compliance studies.' Ronen Shamir, Tel Aviv University, Israel 'Business responses to regulation is a key area of social science research. Parker and Nielsen's collection brings together an excellent group of scholars with innovative, and I believe highly influential contributions that problematize the relations between regulation and compliance. The collection is a highly welcome addition to our field, that will redefine the research agenda on compliance. A significant achievement that will help to improve policy making and frame the scholarly research agenda for the years to come.' David Levi-Faur, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel and the Free University of Berlin, Germany 'A timely and important set of analyses on how and why businesses respond to regulation in the way that they do from some of the leading authors in the field, covering business responses to both state and non-state regulatory systems.' Julia Black, London School of Economics, UK Explaining Compliance consists of sixteen specially commissioned chapters by the world's leading empirical researchers, examining whether and how businesses comply with regulation that is designed to affect positive behaviour changes. Each chapter consists of reflective summaries on business compliance with different state or voluntary regulation, and the theoretical lessons to be drawn from it. As a whole, the book develops understanding and explanations of how, why and in what circumstances, firms come to comply with regulation, and when they do not. It also uncovers the complexity, ambiguity and transformation of regulation as it is interpreted, implemented and negotiated by firms, their stakeholders and internal constituencies in everyday business life. This unique and detailed resource will appeal to academics, graduate students and senior undergraduates in law, political science, sociology, criminology, economics, and psychology, as well as business and interdisciplinary areas such as law and society, and law and economics. Anyone researching business regulation, corporate social responsibility, regulation and compliance, enforcement and compliance, and public administration, will also find this book beneficial.