Investigating the Influence of Self-Control on Rule-breaking: Advancing Empirical Tests on Situational Action Theory Through Rigorous Operationalizations and Experimental Designs

This dissertation tackles a core problem in Situational Action Theory (SAT): the mismatch between SAT’s concept of self-control ability and the indicators commonly used to measure it. Prior SAT studies have primarily relied on the Low Self-Control Scale (LSCS), a tool developed for Gottfredson and Hirschi’s Self-Control Theory, not SAT. Because SAT defines self-control ability as a situational capacity, or the ability to adhere to personal morality when facing external pressures, using a trait-based LSCS produces a concept–indicator discrepancy. This misalignment limits empirical validity, creates distorted findings, and reinforces the broader “jingle problem,” where superficially identical terms mask fundamentally different concepts. To resolve this, the dissertation argues that SAT research needs a new measure consistent with SAT’s micro-level action theory. Because SAT explains behavior through the convergence of person, setting, and moment, valid measurement requires designs that assess how individuals act in specific situations. This micro-situational perspective is often not captured through standard surveys that ask about general tendencies or retrospective behaviors detached from their settings. Instead, SAT requires designs that approximate or manipulate situational conditions while observing individual decision-making in those contexts. The dissertation, therefore, develops a new Self-Control Ability Scale tailored to SAT’s conceptualization and tests it using research designs that create spatiotemporal convergence. These include factorial survey vignettes that systematically vary moral norms within concrete scenarios, and behavioral experiments that observe real rule-breaking opportunities. Such designs allow SAT’s action-generating mechanism to be examined under controlled situational conditions, making it possible to test when and how self-control ability matters. Through this combined measurement and design strategy, the dissertation advances a conceptually consistent and empirically rigorous approach to studying self-control within SAT.