Compliance Ethnography: How Small Businesses Respond to the Law in China (Understanding China)

This book explores how small businesses respond to the law. By detailing the intricate ways in which businesses come to comply with or violate legal regulations, it shows a very different picture of compliance that completely changes the way we think about how businesses respond to the law, how we can capture such responses, and what explains their behaviors. The book moves us beyond a static and single-perspective approach to compliance, where firms are seen as obeying or breaking a specific rule at a specific point in time. Instead, it offers a dynamic view of compliance as it manifests in daily business, where firms must comply with a host of legal rules and must do so over a long period of time. This timely book is especially valuable to three main groups: to compliance practitioners and regulatory enforcement agents, who are increasingly forced to consider how compliance management and enforcement practices actually affect compliance; to regulatory governance scholars (in public administration, law, sociology, and management science), for whom compliance is a central aspect; and to scholars of Chinese law, who realize that compliance is a central challenge that the Chinese legal system must overcome.-- Provided by publisher. Contents Acronyms and Abbreviations List of Tables 1 Introduction 1.1 The Problem of Compliance 1.2 Existing Approaches to Study Compliance 1.2.1 The Endogenous Approach and its Limits 1.2.2 The Exogenous Approach and its Limits 1.2.3 The Process Approach and its Limits 1.3 An Ethnographic Approach and Methodology 1.4 A Three-Process Scheme 1.5 Case Selection and Data Collection References Part I Descriptive Analysis of Compliance Behaviors 2 Descriptive Analysis of Compliance Behaviors 2.1 Describing Compliance Behaviors 2.1.1 Process Perspective 2.1.2 A Subjective Perspective 2.2 Classifying Compliance Behaviors 2.3 Characterizing the Subject of Compliance Behaviors 2.4 Structure of the Case Description References 3 An Idealistic Restaurant 3.1 Introduction 3.2 A Different Restaurant 3.3 Meet the Owner 3.4 Getting Ready to the Business 3.5 Learning to Play the Game 3.5.1 Business License 3.5.2 Catering Service License 3.5.3 Fire License 3.5.4 Drainage License 3.5.5 Decoration License 3.5.6 Environmental License 3.5.7 Compliance as Clarification Process for Opening Licenses 3.6 Daily Operation 3.6.1 Pork and Chicken 3.6.2 Dishware Disinfection 3.6.3 Health Certificate 3.6.4 Handwashing 3.6.5 Keeping Nails Short 3.6.6 “Fapiao” Receipts 3.6.7 Compliance as Interactive Process of Restaurant Ideology and Legal Requirements in Daily Operation Norms 3.7 Discussion 3.7.1 Classifying Compliance Behaviors at the Idealistic Restaurant 3.7.2 Characterizing the Subject of Compliance at the Idealistic Restaurant References 4 A Profit-Maximizing Restaurant 4.1 Introduction 4.2 A Small but Profitable Restaurant 4.3 Meet the Owner 4.4 Learning to Dance with the Law 4.4.1 Environmental License 4.4.2 Catering Services License 4.4.3 Fire License 4.4.4 Business License 4.4.5 Taxation License 4.4.6 Opening License Renewal 4.4.7 Compliance Process as Learning Practice Rule in Opening Licenses 4.5 Daily Operation 4.5.1 Dishware Disinfection 4.5.2 Health Certificate 4.5.3 Fapiao Receipts 4.5.4 Washing Hands and Cutting Fingernails 4.5.5 Learning Process in Daily Operation (Non)Compliance Behaviors 4.6 Discussion 4.6.1 Classifying Compliance Behaviors at the Profit-Maximizing Restaurant 4.6.2 Characterizing the Subject of Compliance at the Profit-Maximizing Restaurant References 5 Compliance Pluralism 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Compliance Pluralism 5.3 Compliance Processes 5.4 Characterizing Compliance Subjects 5.5 Conclusion References Part II Explaining Compliance Behaviors 6 Metamorphosis of Legal Knowledge: How Did the Laws Arrive at the Restaurants? 6.1 Introduction 6.2 The Process of Legal Knowledge Formation 6.2.1 Definition of Legal Knowledge 6.2.2 Methods of Acquiring Legal Knowledge 6.3 Legal Knowledge in Restaurants 6.3.1 Limited Doctrinal Legal Knowledge 6.3.2 Abundant Legal Practice Knowledge 6.3.3 Sources of Legal Knowledge in Restaurants 6.3.4 Comprehensive Legal Knowledge 6.4 Effects of Enforcement Encounters 6.5 Conclusion References 7 Toxic Culture: How Did Organizational Norms Mediate the Transition of Laws? 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Organizational Norms and Compliance 7.2.1 Organizational and Social Norms 7.2.2 How Social Norms Influence Compliance 7.2.3 Competition Between and Activation of Organizational and Legal Norms 7.2.4 The Formation of Organizational Norms 7.2.5 Organizational Socialization and Management Processes 7.3 Socialization and Management Processes in Restaurants 7.3.1 Hiring 7.3.2 Training 7.3.3 Monitoring 7.3.4 Evaluating and Rewarding 7.3.5 Problem Resolution 7.4 Organizational Norms in Restaurants and Compliance Behaviors 7.4.1 Organizational Norms at the Idealistic Restaurant 7.4.2 Organizational Norms at the Profit-Maximizing Restaurant 7.4.3 Organizational Norms and Compliance Behaviors 7.5 Interaction Between Legal Norms and Organizational Norms 7.5.1 Activation 7.5.2 Competition 7.6 Conclusion References 8 The Individuals: How Did Individuals Make Compliance Decision? 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Compliance Variables in Theory 8.2.1 Plural Subjective Deterrence 8.2.2 Personal Norms 8.2.3 Descriptive Social Norms 8.2.4 Perceived Obligation to Obey the Law 8.2.5 Capacity 8.3 Dialogue Interview Method 8.4 Measurement of Compliance Behaviors 8.5 Subjective Explanations of Compliance Behavior 8.5.1 For Compliance Behaviors 8.5.2 For Violation Behaviors 8.5.3 Operational Benefit and not Being Responsible 8.6 Interviewees’ Understanding and Perceptions of Each Variable 8.6.1 Plural Subjective Deterrence 8.6.2 Perceived Obligation to Obey the Law 8.6.3 Descriptive Social Norms 8.6.4 Personal Norms 8.6.5 Capacity 8.7 Association Analysis of Compliance Behaviors and Influential Variables 8.8 Comparison Between Subjective Self-Explanation and Variable Association Analysis 8.9 Conclusion References 9 Conclusion 9.1 Introduction 9.2 Summary Findings 9.3 An Integrated Model 9.4 Methodological Implications 9.5 Implications for Regulatory Strategies 9.6 Implications for Addressing Compliance Challenge References Appendix A Laws Concerning Restaurants Involved in This Book Appendix B The Methodology of Case Study Appendix C Supplemental Cases Uncited References