Normative and image motivations for transportation policy compliance

Compliance with laws and regulations intended to protect common pool resources in the urban context is essential in tackling problems such as pollution and congestion. A high level of noncompliance necessitates investigation into motivations behind compliance. The long-held instrumental theory emphasising the dependence of compliance on tangible deterrence measures fails to adequately explain empirical findings. More recently established compliance models incorporate normative, instrumental and image factors as motivations for compliance. We investigate the importance of normative and image motivations for transportation policy compliance, and the influence of the hukou (China’s household registration) on the composition of motivations. Through a case study of Shanghai’s license auction policy to inhibit car growth, we use a structural equation model and data from a survey (n = 1389) of policy attitudes and compliance behaviour. The results show that both locals and migrants comply because of instrumental motivation. However, for locals, normative and image motivations not only influence compliance but do so to a greater degree than instrumental motivations. This stands in stark contrast with the fact that there was no statistical relationship between normative and image motivations and compliance for migrants. The significant contribution of normative and image motivations to compliance in locals bears positive implications for compliance, but the absence of that in migrants is worrying. If only instrumental motivations matter, then the government is really constrained in how it can go about keeping social order. Compliance obtained strictly through social control indicates an unsustainable state of governance. 遵守那些旨在保护城市环境中共享资源的法律法规，对于应对污染和拥堵等问题至关重要。如 果违规现象严重，就需要调查合规背后的动机。长期受到支持的工具理论强调合规依赖于有形 的威慑措施。这一理论未能充分解释经验研宄发现。最近建立的合规模型将规范性、工具性和 形象性因素都纳入了合规动机。我们调查了规范性和形象性动机对于交通政策合规的重要性， 以及户籍对动机构成的影响。在针对上海为抑制车辆增长而推出的牌照拍卖政策的案例研宄中， 我们运用了结构方程模型以及针对政策态度和合规行为开展的一项调查（n = 1389)得到的数据。 结果表明，本地和外地人都出于工具性动机而遵守法规。但是，对于本地人而言，规范性和形 象性动机不但影响合规，而且比工具性动机的影响度更高。与之形成鲜明对比的是，外地人的 规范性和形象性动机与合规行为之间并无具有统计学意义的关联。规范性和形象性动机对于本 地人遵守法规所发挥的重要作用对合规而言具有积极意义，但外地人缺乏规范性和形象性动机 让人担忧。如果唯一重要的是工具性动机，则政府在维持社会秩序方面能做的实在有限。严格 通过社会控制获得的合规表明了一种不可持续的治理状态。