The causes and consequences of industry self-policing
By: Jodi L. Short, Michael W. Toffel
Contributors: Toffel, Michael W.; Harvard Business School
Series: Working paper / Harvard Business School -- 08-021; Working paper (Harvard Business School) -- 08-021
Publisher: Harvard Business School
Published: 2007
Place of publication: Boston
Language: eng
Number of pages: 16
Description: Innovative regulatory programs are encouraging firms to police their own regulatory compliance and voluntarily disclose, or "confess," the violations they find. Despite the "winwin" rhetoric surrounding these government voluntary programs, it is not clear why companies would participate and whether the programs themselves do anything to enhance regulatory effectiveness. Tasked with monitoring the legality of its own operations, why would a firm that identifies violations turn itself in to regulators rather than quietly fix the problem? And why would regulators entrust regulated entities to monitor their own compliance and enforce the law against themselves? This paper addresses these questions by investigating the factors that lead organizations to self-disclose violations, the effects of selfpolicing on regulatory compliance, and the effects of self-disclosing on the relationship between regulators and regulated firms. We investigate these research questions in the context of the US Environmental Protection Agency's Audit Policy.
Notes: "September 2007"--Publisher's web site.

Includes bibliographical references.