Instrumental and normative pathways to compliance: results from field research on moped drivers

Terpstra, B.L. (2022)

Doctoral Thesis

Laws regulate behaviour. However, human beings do not always obey the law. This makes it important to identify how law enforcement can stimulate compliance. This thesis investigates multiple gaps in the literature on instrumental and normative pathways to compliance and counters some of the limitations in previous research. It contains three empirical studies that answer the following questions. Do citizens update their perceived sanction risk in response to changes in police activity? Does police behaviour that signals higher quality of treatment or decision-making lead to higher perceived procedural justice? How
do instrumental and normative motivations translate into greater compliance with traffic laws?
All results are based on field research conducted with the help of the Dutch National Police between January and August 2017. During this period data was collected at routine traffic control check-points for mopeds. The combination of data gathered through surveys, structured social observations and an experimental manipulation contributes to a better and more precise understanding of pathways to compliance.

• Compliance
• Instrumental pathways
• Normative pathways
• Sanction
• Procedural Justice
• Field Research
• Experiment
• Police
• Survey
• Structured Social Observations

• All authors: Terpstra, B.L.
• Supervisor: Goudswaard, K.P.
• Co-supervisor: Wijk, P.W. van
• Committee: Leun, J.P. van der; Bos, K. van den; Knoef, M.G.; Nieuwbeerta, P.; Zouridis, S.
• Qualification: Doctor (dr.)
• Awarding Institution: Institute of Tax Law and Economics, Faculty of Law, Leiden University
• Date: 2022-03-31
• Title of host publication: Meijers-reeks
• ISBN (print): 9789464216837
• Name: MI-384