Evaluation of staff compliance with 'influencing' tactics in relation to infection control policy implementation

The efficacy of 'influencing' tactics for inducing compliance to infection control policies was assessed in 20 Hong Kong hospitals. In phase 1, 45 infection control nurses (ICNs) were surveyed on the frequency of use of possible tactics. Twenty-three of the more frequently used tactics were selected for phase 2 in which a random sample of 881 nurses were questioned on whether they would willingly, reluctantly or not comply with these tactics. Based on factor analysis of the responses in phase 2, six dimensions of compliance were identified. These were, in their order of effectiveness in achieving compliance: professional-resources (providing specialized or expert help); professional-respect (esteeming others as fellow professionals); coalition (obtaining staff support), ingratiation (cultivating goodwill), hierarchical (exerting pressure derived from rank) and non-communicative (ignoring or disregarding other's point of view).