From policy to practice: a theory-driven analysis of organizational compliance behavior
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2025-07-01
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en
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Abstract
Compliance of organizations with new legislation is essential for the effectiveness of regulation,
yet empirical insight into why organizations do or do not comply remains limited. This study
investigates compliance behavior of organizations via the practical case of the Wet Bestuur en
Toezicht Rechtspersonen (“WBTR”) implementation, a Dutch governance reform that targets
foundations and associations. While legal compliance is formally required by July 2026, early
variation in the organizational responses raises questions about the underlying factors
influencing compliance behavior (to implement new regulation). To explain these differences,
the research draws on five theoretical perspectives, namely resource availability, institutional
pressure, aspirational gap, principal-agent alignment and implementation prioritization, and
tests their explanatory power using a quantitative survey. Data is collected from over 700 Dutch
foundations and associations by directly or indirectly (via umbrella organizations) distributing
the survey to these organizations. The regression analyses revealed that resource capacity,
perceived institutional pressure/expectations, internal alignment and prioritization of
governance reforms significantly influence the level of compliance. The strongest predictor was
found to be prioritization, while behavior aspiration-based factors (BTOF) showed limited
independent explanatory value. The findings contribute to (legal) compliance literature by
offering an integrated review of the internal and external factors that drive and shape
organizational responses to reforming governance-regulation. From this research practical
implementations were drawn for regulators and to support organizations, aiming to promote
effective implementation of legal reforms. This research highlights the importance of the
(internal) organizational context in translating the policies into practice and therefore offers a
framework to anticipate compliance outcomes in future regulatory efforts
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen