The way in which street-level bureaucrats relate to rules has intrigued scholars for decades. This article revisits the classic idea that street-level bureaucrats' rule-following identity reflects their personal insecurity and penchant for control. Building on this perspective of emotional needs, we investigate how general self-efficacy, gender, and attitude toward clients affect this identity. We expect general self-efficacy to suppress a strong rule-following identity by stimulating street-level bureaucrats' internal sense of control. We furthermore expect that this relation is stronger for women bureaucrats and bureaucrats who hold a positive attitude to clients. Contrary to expectations, survey data (n = 1407) show that this identity strengthens as general self-efficacy beliefs increase. Gender and attitude to clients do not affect this relationship. These findings suggest that rule-following identity reflects street-level bureaucrats' confidence in their abilities to work complex rule sets to fulfill task requirements, rather than desire for control or to reduce insecurity.

中文翻译：

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在一线探索遵循规则的身份：一般自我效能感、性别和对客户的态度的作用

几十年来，街头官僚与规则的关系一直引起学者们的兴趣。这篇文章重新审视了一个经典的观点，即基层官僚的遵守规则的身份反映了他们的个人不安全感和控制欲。基于这种情感需求的观点，我们调查了一般的自我效能感、性别和对客户的态度如何影响这种身份。我们预计，一般的自我效能感会通过刺激街头官僚的内部控制感来抑制强烈的遵守规则的身份。我们还预计，对于女性官僚和对客户持积极态度的官僚，这种关系会更加牢固。与预期相反，调查数据 ( n = 1407）表明，随着一般自我效能信念的增加，这种认同感会增强。性别和对客户的态度不会影响这种关系。这些研究结果表明，遵守规则的身份反映了街头官僚对他们运用复杂规则集来完成任务要求的能力的信心，而不是对控制或减少不安全感的渴望。