"The purpose of this paper is to provide for a systematic analysis of illegal behavior in the area of labor and employment law, by drawing on insights from other fields of social science. This paper begins by setting out the various notions of our motivations for obeying the law, and classifies these motivations into two categories: instrumental motivations and non-instrumental motivations. It also establishes that although there is a tendency to pay too much attention to instrumental motivations when discussing desirable legal systems and policies, non-instrumental motivations actually play significant roles in our decision-making and behavior. We then examine conditions under which people tend to engage in illegal behavior, taking into consideration the characteristics of the situations that labor and employment law covers. “Altruistic illegal behavior” is particularly common in the workplace, and it is important to address how to deter or control such behavior. This paper concludes by suggesting that in order to prevent the vicious circle of violations and clampdowns, it is necessary to adopt legal systems and policies that appropriately harness our non-instrumental motivations, rather than attempting to rely on direct sanctions alone."

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