Strict enforcement or responsive regulation? How inspector-inspectee interaction informs inspectors’ decision-making

In times of a general trend towards more responsive regulation inspectors take inspectees’ needs and demands in account when making decisions. At the same time, inspection services increasingly try to steer the inspectors’ actions by a growing number of instruments. These contradictory signals can make the work of inspectors very difficult. By reviewing relevant literature this chapters illustrates that in the context of these policy developments, not only inspectees’ behavior and characteristics, but also inspectors’ professional role identity, i.e. the way inspectors view their professional role, is critical to explain and predict decision-making on the ground.