Business regulation: understanding business' …

BUSINESS REGULATION

Understanding business' perceptions and behaviour

BEIS Research Paper Number 2019/024

October 2019

Acknowledgements The authors of this report are John Higton and Rachael Archer of CFE Research, and Professor Tim Vorley of the Sheffield University Management School. We would like to thank all of those involved from the Better Regulation Executive (BRE) for their support in the study. Especial thanks is extended the Gertrud Malmersjo, Principal Social Researcher for the BRE.

? Crown copyright 2019 This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit .uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives..uk. Where we have identified any third-party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to us at: enquiries@.uk

Contents

Executive summary _________________________________________________________ 6 Context _________________________________________________________________ 6 Method _______________________________________________________________ 6 Business' perceptions of whether and how regulation is burdensome _______________ 6 Time taken ____________________________________________________________ 7 Costs associated with administration ________________________________________ 7 Why some businesses do not perceive burden_________________________________ 7 The positive impacts of regulation on business activity___________________________ 8 Economic _____________________________________________________________ 8 Social ________________________________________________________________ 8 Administrative __________________________________________________________ 8 The regulatory constraints on business operations and growth ______________________ 8 How government can communicate with businesses to influence these perceptions and behaviours ____________________________________________________________ 9 Behavioural considerations ________________________________________________ 9 Potential avenues for communication based on behavioural principles ______________ 9

Introduction and methodological summary_______________________________________ 11 Context ________________________________________________________________ 11 Aims and objectives ______________________________________________________ 12 Methodology ____________________________________________________________ 12 Report structure _________________________________________________________ 13

Business' understanding and perceptions of regulations ____________________________ 14 Understanding of business regulations________________________________________ 14 Regulated Activities ______________________________________________________ 15 Defining the burden of regulation ____________________________________________ 17 A note on "innovative" businesses _________________________________________ 18 Time spent on administration _______________________________________________ 19 Business lifecycle ______________________________________________________ 19 Exporting_____________________________________________________________ 20 Identifying and understanding the relevant regulations __________________________ 20 Completion of regulatory forms and processes ________________________________ 21 The impact of regulatory change___________________________________________ 23 The influence of cost on perceptions of burden _________________________________ 24 Decisions regarding external support _______________________________________ 24

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Intermediaries as educators ______________________________________________ 26 Businesses that do not perceive regulation as a burden __________________________ 26 How regulations affect business activities _______________________________________ 28 The rationale of regulatory compliance________________________________________ 28

Economic rationales ? those affecting market decisions_________________________ 28 Social rationales ? protecting the public and customers _________________________ 29 Administrative rationales ? collecting data for monitoring ________________________ 30 Regulations as a constraint on business operations and growth ____________________ 32 Undermining business strategy____________________________________________ 32 Behavioural analysis _______________________________________________________ 35 Mapping evidence to the behavioural model ___________________________________ 36 Education | Psychological capability ________________________________________ 36 Education | Reflective motivation __________________________________________ 36 Persuasion | Automatic motivation _________________________________________ 37 Persuasion | Reflective motivation _________________________________________ 37 Incentivisation | Automatic motivation _______________________________________ 38 Incentivisation | Reflective motivation _______________________________________ 38 Coercion | Automatic motivation ___________________________________________ 38 Coercion | Reflective motivation ___________________________________________ 39 Modelling | Automatic motivation __________________________________________ 39 Tailoring communication approaches _________________________________________ 40 Use of gov.uk _________________________________________________________ 40 Alternative sources of information __________________________________________ 40 Examples of effective communication _______________________________________ 41 Considerations for communications __________________________________________ 42 Potential adaptations to communication approaches ___________________________ 43 Annex A: Detailed Methodology _______________________________________________ 44 Aims and objectives ______________________________________________________ 44 Structure for the behavioural elements of the study ______________________________ 44 Primary fieldwork ________________________________________________________ 47 Sampling _____________________________________________________________ 47 Interviewee screener questionnaire ________________________________________ 48 Interview recruitment____________________________________________________ 48 Discussion guides ______________________________________________________ 49 Fieldwork_____________________________________________________________ 49 Analysis _______________________________________________________________ 50

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Transcription and coding_________________________________________________ 50 Qualitative analysis _____________________________________________________ 51 Annex B: COM-B model for communication interventions ___________________________ 52

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Understanding businesses' perceptions and behaviour

Executive summary

Context

The Better Regulation Executive (BRE) leads the regulatory reform agenda across government. It works with government departments to monitor the measurement of regulatory burdens and coordinate their reduction, and to ensure that the regulation which remains is smarter, better targeted and less costly to business.

As a flagship policy of the Government, the Industrial Strategy sets out the long-term plan to boost the productivity and earning power of people throughout the UK. The strategy includes a government commitment to support businesses with regulation that stimulates and facilitates innovation; and to ensure that regulation is as simple as possible.

Method

The research for this study comprised 45-60 minute in depth semi-structured telephone interviews with 30 SME business decision-makers (owner-managers) in the manufacturing or retail sectors and five representatives of a range of intermediary organisations providing advice on different types of regulation, excluding tax. The fieldwork was undertaken in February and March 2019.

The resulting interview transcripts were coded and thematically analysed. The analysis was guided by a behavioural framework based on Michie, Atkins and West's COM-B model (2014)1. In addition to reporting on the thematic findings regarding the study's main aims, the behavioural analysis is used to inform discussion on the implication for government communications regarding regulations. The summary findings below are collated under headings that express the study's aims.

Business' perceptions of whether and how regulation is burdensome

Business' understanding of "regulation" was tied up with any administrative activity that requires some external reporting or documentation. Owner-managers discussed a range of data used to prove adherence or compliance to external requirements in addition to statutory requirements such as compliance with standards, industrial sector bodies, etc. Few separated out their burdens relating to statutory regulations from other administrative activity for external actors. That business owner-managers consider non-government administrative activity in their responses is important because it affects their reaction and views towards the target regulations, and hence their behaviour. Reaction to statutory requirements is therefore usually part of a greater reaction to wider administration.

The interviews highlighted that regulatory compliance burdens are disproportionately felt by smaller businesses, especially where the time and resources required to administer regulations does not change in line with the size of the business. Likewise, it is the smallest businesses that are most adversely affected by changes in regulation. That said, when exploring how specific regulatory burdens impact business, most interviewees understood that regulations existed for a reason and they were necessary.

1 Michie S, Atkins L, West R. (2014) The Behaviour Change Wheel: A Guide to Designing Interventions. London: Silverback

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Understanding businesses' perceptions and behaviour

The administrative burden of regulation is important, especially where compliance is regarded as excessive or unnecessary rules (Bozeman, 1993)2. The interview findings identify two physical constraints to regulatory compliance highlighted by most businesses: the time taken for administration and associated costs.

Time taken

The core issue is that time spent administering regulations could be spent doing other business activities, although the wider issues are more complex and cover: lifecycle ? newer businesses can face a steep learning curve in identifying, understanding and administering regulations; growing business may take on new staff, create specialist roles and/or utilise intermediaries. Burden can lessen once administrative processes embed.

Regulatory process and data submissions were not always perceived as efficient. Ownermanagers identified issues in providing repeat information (the same or very similar information at regular intervals) and submitting the same data for different regulators. Existing technological solutions used in some regulatory domains (pass-porting, once-only data submissions) were suggested as ways to address such burdens.

Changes in regulatory requirements also caused a short-term burden for some ownermanagers as they adapted systems to maintain compliance. Typically, this burden reduced over time.

Costs associated with administration

Costs were considered in relation to the staff time needed for administration, or procuring external support to administer on the businesses behalf. Interviewees also made a few references to fixed costs for the infrastructure and equipment in which they invest to demonstrate compliance.

Analysis indicates that sector is a more significant indicator than business size as to whether a business will enlist external business support: fewer retail businesses used external support compared to manufacturing businesses. The associated regulatory environment is a likely factor in this difference. Retail businesses primarily provide a service (and hence adhere to customer-focused regulations) whereas manufacturing products can require a range of complex regulatory checks on production and products (safety, environmental, standards compliance).

However, intermediaries said smaller businesses were more likely to seek their help on how to administer regulations whereas medium-sized organisations were more interested in addressing specific knowledge gaps within their existing employees' regulatory expertise.

Why some businesses do not perceive burden

Four of the thirty owner-managers interviewed said that 'no regulations are a burden' to them during the screener exercise. They shared a view that regulations play an important role in encouraging businesses to behave consistently. They wished to ensure a 'level playing field' on which all organisations could operate.

2 Bozeman B (1993) A theory of government "red tape", Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 3(3): 273-303.

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Understanding businesses' perceptions and behaviour

The two retailers in this small sub-sample were concerned with the competitive environment in providing services directly to customers. The two manufacturers were more concerned with the health and safety implications for their staff and the impact of manufacture on the environment.

The positive impacts of regulation on business activity

The rationales for, and consequences of, compliance reported by owner-managers are categorised based on how they relate to an OECD categorisation of regulations (OECD, 1997)3: economic regulations directly govern market decisions in some way; social regulations protect the public (and customer) interests; and administrative regulations collect data and information to monitor individual economic decisions.

Economic

Many owner-managers said proving compliance enabled them to maintain or enhance their reputation customers, whether members of the public and/or other businesses in their supply chain or clients. In some cases, proven adherence to regulations acted as a license to practice and some owner-managers associated regulatory compliance with winning business / supply chain contracts.

Complying with regulations is perceived by some businesses as an effective way to compete successfully in the international market place. One aspect of this, is the example of businesses being able to profit from what they consider to be the high esteem with which the UK's regulatory system is perceived internationally.

Social

The overwhelming majority of businesses and intermediaries interviewed recognised the importance regulations play in securing the health and safety of customers and/or their employees. These businesses accepted that regulatory constraints were necessary to reduce the risk of harm occurring for anyone.

Several business owner-managers valued environmental protection regulations. They felt it important that their businesses was conscious of the environmental impact of their services and products. Environmental regulations encourage businesses to reduce waste and ensure the safe disposal of waste products

Administrative

Many interviewees were motivated to comply to avoid sanctions for non-compliance which would have negative consequences on their business's profits and reputation. This incentive to comply with regulations was a strong motivator despite none of the interviewees recalling specific examples of peers who had been sanctioned as a result of non-compliance.

The regulatory constraints on business operations and growth

Several examples came to light where businesses viewed regulations as an obstacle to their business objectives.

3 OECD (1997). The OECD Report on Regulatory Reform: Synthesis. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Paris.

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