Lactation support and the law: A study of organizational legal compliance

Julie Anne Newcamp, Purdue University

Abstract

This study examines how organizations understand and apply the Lactation Support in the Workplace Law. Drawing on theories from law and society and organizational theory, this research examines both how individual decisions are made within organizational contexts as well as the process by which individuals are complying with the law. This study is part of a larger study examining the Lactation Support in the Workplace law and uses in-depth qualitative interviews with human resource and management personnel. I find that their decisions echo each of the individual decision-making perspectives (rational choice, normative, and cognitive) as outlined by Suchman, and are also shaped by organizational factors, such as the concern for legitimacy and internal and external organizational pressures. Furthermore, these decisions are just one step in a four-step process of compliance. Other steps include learning about the law, transforming the law into the organization, and reflection about implementation. This process, however, does not occur uniformly for all participants. Rather, there is variation amongst the participants as to where they are in the process and in the nature of compliance itself.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Hoffmann, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Sociology

COinS