Industry Self‐Regulation: An Institutional Perspective

Throughout the advanced countries of the world self‐regulatory regimes are being introduced. This article suggests that, at least in some contexts, industry self‐regulation can be an effective and efficient means of social control that has been largely ignored by economics (which has a focus on individual rather than group behavior) and prematurely discounted by mainstream regulatory theory. The article examines the strengths and to a lesser extent the weaknesses of industry self‐regulation from five closely related yet distinct vantage points: mediating institutions; industrial morality; institutionalizing responsibility; institutions responding to external pressure; and the roles of the state and third parties.