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Previous research has studied both rule- and individual-level determinants of rule abidance of frontline workers, but the effect of managerial communication has not been adequately explored. Based on extant literature on street-level bureaucracy, managerial communication, and behavioral public administration, this study develops a novel framework to theorize the relationship between managerial communication and frontline workers’ willingness to abide by frontline rules. The framework highlights that managerial communication could improve frontline workers’ willingness to abide by rules by directly monitoring their behaviors or indirectly increasing their perceived rule clarity and risk of punishment. Moreover, as organizational size increases, the effect of managerial communication on frontline workers’ willingness to abide by rules decreases. The study uses unique data from a 2018–2019 survey covering 94 frontline managers and 717 frontline workers in local security agencies in mainland China to empirically test the hypotheses.
