Compliance with rules: Some social determinants

Studied adherence to rules as a function of patterns of interdependence inherent in rulemaker-individual interactions as well as of properties pertaining to rule enforcement procedures. Data from 96 undergraduates who played a simulated business game show that individuals observed rules more closely in correspondent than in noncorrespondent rulemaker-individual interactions. In the former, adherence to rules was positively related to the extent of individuals' participation in the rule-making procedure and negatively related to the specificity with which rules were defined. These 2 trends were reversed in a noncorrespondent rulemaker-individual interaction. Finally, an effect attributable to the presence or absence of surveillance was found in the noncorrespondent conditions but not in the correspondent conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).