The obligation to obey the law: exploring National Differences

Benjamin van Rooij; Adam Fine; Shaul Shalvi; Yuval Feldman; Eline Scheper; Wu Yunmei; Margarita Leib; Qian Cheng; Zhang Wanhong

doi:10.1007/s10611-024-10148-8

The obligation to obey the law: exploring National Differences

Benjamin van Rooij, Adam Fine, Shaul Shalvi, Yuval Feldman, Eline Scheper, Wu Yunmei, Margarita Leib, Qian Cheng, Zhang Wanhong

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

People vary in the extent to which they generally feel obligated to obey the law. The Obligation to Obey the Law (OOL) plays a major role in how people respond to legal rules and whether they comply or violate such rules. Most existing research on OOL has been non-comparative. The present paper explores national differences in OOL by analyzing data from a survey conducted among a convenience sample (n = 716) of law students in the Netherlands, the US, Israel, and China. In contrast to what existing research on procedural justice and OOL would lead us to expect, the data do not reveal significant differences in OOL across markedly different national populations. It explores why no such differences have been found and what the implications of these findings are for our understanding of OOL and compliance more broadly.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	415-432
Number of pages	18
Journal	Crime, Law and Social Change
Volume	82
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-024-10148-8
State	Published - 1 Sep 2024
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Compliance
Law enforcement
Legitimacy
Obligation to obey the law
Policing
Procedural justice

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Pathology and Forensic Medicine
General Social Sciences
Law

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10.1007/s10611-024-10148-8

Cite this

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title = "The obligation to obey the law: exploring National Differences",

abstract = "People vary in the extent to which they generally feel obligated to obey the law. The Obligation to Obey the Law (OOL) plays a major role in how people respond to legal rules and whether they comply or violate such rules. Most existing research on OOL has been non-comparative. The present paper explores national differences in OOL by analyzing data from a survey conducted among a convenience sample (n = 716) of law students in the Netherlands, the US, Israel, and China. In contrast to what existing research on procedural justice and OOL would lead us to expect, the data do not reveal significant differences in OOL across markedly different national populations. It explores why no such differences have been found and what the implications of these findings are for our understanding of OOL and compliance more broadly.",

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AU - van Rooij, Benjamin

AU - Fine, Adam

AU - Shalvi, Shaul

AU - Feldman, Yuval

AU - Scheper, Eline

AU - Yunmei, Wu

AU - Leib, Margarita

AU - Cheng, Qian

AU - Wanhong, Zhang

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2024.

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Y1 - 2024/9/1

N2 - People vary in the extent to which they generally feel obligated to obey the law. The Obligation to Obey the Law (OOL) plays a major role in how people respond to legal rules and whether they comply or violate such rules. Most existing research on OOL has been non-comparative. The present paper explores national differences in OOL by analyzing data from a survey conducted among a convenience sample (n = 716) of law students in the Netherlands, the US, Israel, and China. In contrast to what existing research on procedural justice and OOL would lead us to expect, the data do not reveal significant differences in OOL across markedly different national populations. It explores why no such differences have been found and what the implications of these findings are for our understanding of OOL and compliance more broadly.

AB - People vary in the extent to which they generally feel obligated to obey the law. The Obligation to Obey the Law (OOL) plays a major role in how people respond to legal rules and whether they comply or violate such rules. Most existing research on OOL has been non-comparative. The present paper explores national differences in OOL by analyzing data from a survey conducted among a convenience sample (n = 716) of law students in the Netherlands, the US, Israel, and China. In contrast to what existing research on procedural justice and OOL would lead us to expect, the data do not reveal significant differences in OOL across markedly different national populations. It explores why no such differences have been found and what the implications of these findings are for our understanding of OOL and compliance more broadly.

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KW - Law enforcement

KW - Legitimacy

KW - Obligation to obey the law

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The obligation to obey the law: exploring National Differences

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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