How legal awareness shapes developers’ data compliance behavior: A deterrence theory perspective

As China’s digital regulatory framework continues to evolve, understanding what drives software developers’ data compliance behavior becomes increasingly important. Drawing on deterrence theory from a behavioral, law-in-action perspective, this study examines how data legal awareness influences data compliance behavior through perceived sanction certainty and perceived sanction severity, and how perceived compliance culture moderates these mediating pathways. Survey data collected from software developers were analyzed using structural equation modelling. The results indicate that data legal awareness promotes data compliance behavior directly and indirectly through perceived sanction certainty and perceived sanction severity, with certainty exerting a stronger mediating effect than severity. Perceived compliance culture significantly strengthens the effect of data legal awareness on perceived sanction certainty, while its moderating effect on perceived sanction severity receives only limited support. Theoretically, these findings extend deterrence theory to the data compliance domain by specifying the cognition–perception–behavior pathway and identifying the moderating role of compliance culture. Practically, the findings offer implications for how regulatory authorities allocate enforcement resources and how organizations design compliance management systems.