The effect of personality and situational factors on rule-violation intentions

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to replicate and extend a previous study by Kim (1 990). The objectives of this study were: 1) to offer a basis for indirect management based on prosocial behavior theory; 2) to test whether or not "awareness of consequences" information and "sanctions" activate intentions to obey rules; and 3) to test how individual differences in levels of social responsibility affect norm activation in outdoor recreation settings. This research applied the norm-activation model, developed by Schwartz (1 977), to describe how different types of communication (such as awareness of consequences and sanctions) can activate behavioral intentions toward prosocial behavior in outdoor recreation settings. This experiment used a 2X2X2 factorial design. Subjects were given a condensed version of Perloes (1 967) Social Values Questionnaire (SVQ) to measure social responsibility and were blocked according to this measure. Independent variables were awareness of consequences information and sanctions, while the dependent variable was the behavioral intention to obey the rules in specific outdoor recreation settings. During the month of June, 1992, a total of 514 potential subjects completed the condensed version of Perloe's (1967) Social Values Questionnaire (SVQ) This provided the data used in blocking the subjects on the personality trait of social responsibility. Of those 514, 203 (39.5%) were willing to complete a second questionnaire, the Social Dilemma Questionnaire (SDQ). The second section of the data collection occurred in July. From the pool of 203 subjects, 120 were selected to complete the second part of the study. Selection was dependent on the subject's score on the SVQ. The SDQ was completed to get a measure of their behavioral intentions. Subjects were also offered an opportunity to explain their answers in the form of a rationale. Finally, a Post-Experiment Questionnaire was administered to serve as a manipulation check. The results of this study indicate that when placed in a dilemma in which there is a strong temptation to violate a rule, people who receive AC information had a stronger feeling of moral obligation (distinguished as behavioral intention) against breaking rules than those who did not receive such information. Also, the results of the hypothesis test regarding the effect of sanctions on behavioral intentions supported the use of sanctions as a method of reducing rule violations in outdoor recreation settings. However, the results of the hypothesis comparing AC information with a sanction did not discriminate between treatments. That is there was no difference in intentions to violate rules between subjects who received AC information and those exposed to a threatened sanction.