Managerial Communication and Frontline Workers’ Willingness to Abide by Rules: Evidence From Local Security Agencies in China

• Author: Fan Yang,Menghan Zhao,Youlang Zhang
• DOI: 10.1177/0275074020983798
• Published date: 01 May 2021
• Date: 01 May 2021
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0275074020983798

American Review of Public Administration

2021, Vol. 51(4) 293 –307

© The Author(s) 2021

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DOI: 10.1177/0275074020983798

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Article

Introduction

Frontline workers’ rule abidance is important to maintain the

operation of public organizations; it also sustains the legiti-

macy of organizational authority and affects organizational

performance (Assadi & Lundin, 2018; Blau, 1963; DeHart-

Davis et al., 2013; Maynard-Moody & Musheno, 2003; Scott,

1997; Weber, 1946). Frontline workers in public organizations

are street-level bureaucrats who interact directly with citizens

and have considerable discretion in their jobs (Keulemans &

Groeneveld, 2020; Lipsky, 1980; Maroulis, 2017; Tummers

et al., 2015). Despite the widespread practical importance of

street-level bureaucrats abiding by frontline rules (e.g., poli-

cies, regulations, or norms), researchers have observed that

actual abidance varies greatly across public organizations

(DeHart-Davis, 2009b; Gofen, 2014; Maynard-Moody &

Musheno, 2003; Oberfield, 2010; Tummers et al., 2012). This

begs the question, “Why are frontline workers in some public

organizations more willing to abide by rules than those in

other public organizations?” Answering this question can pro-

vide scholars and practitioners with important insights into the

patterns of street-level bureaucratic decisions, the dynamics of

street-level management, and the potential determinants of

policy implementation or service delivery in the public sector

(Gassner & Gofen, 2018; Keulemans & Groeneveld, 2020).

Previous studies have explored the factors that facilitate

or hinder street-level bureaucrats’ rule abidance in the pub-

lic sector by examining the effects of rule attributes (DeHart-

Davis, 2009a, 2009b), bureaucrats’ situational perceptions

(Baviskar & Winter, 2017; Fleming, 2020; Raaphorst,

2018), and bureaucrats’ personal characteristics (DeHart-

Davis, 2007; Portillo & DeHart-Davis, 2009). However,

little attention has been paid to the role of managerial com-

munication (i.e., the formal or informal transmission of

information between managers and workers, such as face-

to-face meetings or email directives; Bell & Martin, 2014;

Simon, 1997) in shaping bureaucrats’ rule abidance, espe-

cially in frontline agencies that interact directly with citi-

zens. One potential reason for this omission in the extant

literature is that previous research tends to assume that

street-level workers have communicated with frontline

managers sufficiently before they make decisions regarding

frontline rules; another possible reason is that an empirical

983798ARPXXX10.1177/0275074020983798The American Review of Public AdministrationZhang et al.

research-article2021

1Renmin University of China, Beijing, China

2East China University of Political Science and Law, Shanghai, China

Corresponding Author:

Fan Yang, East China University of Political Science and Law, Shanghai,

China.

Email: 1308924459@qq.com

Managerial Communication and

Frontline Workers’ Willingness to

Abide by Rules: Evidence From

Local Security Agencies in China

Youlang Zhang1, Fan Yang2, and Menghan Zhao1

Abstract

Previous research has studied both rule- and individual-level determinants of rule abidance of frontline workers, but

the effect of managerial communication has not been adequately explored. Based on extant literature on street-level

bureaucracy, managerial communication, and behavioral public administration, this study develops a novel framework to

theorize the relationship between managerial communication and frontline workers’ willingness to abide by frontline rules.

The framework highlights that managerial communication could improve frontline workers’ willingness to abide by rules by

directly monitoring their behaviors or indirectly increasing their perceived rule clarity and risk of punishment. Moreover,

as organizational size increases, the effect of managerial communication on frontline workers’ willingness to abide by rules

decreases. The study uses unique data from a 2018–2019 survey covering 94 frontline managers and 717 frontline workers

in local security agencies in mainland China to empirically test the hypotheses.

Keywords

managerial communication, rule abidance, street-level bureaucracy, local governance, China