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Fear and caring: Procedural justice, trust, and collective identification as antecedents of voluntary tax compliance

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  • Gobena, Lemessa Bayissa
  • Van Dijke, Marius

Abstract

We investigated the interactive roles of procedural justice of the tax authority, trust in the tax authority, and identification with the nation in predicting voluntary tax compliance. Drawing from fairness heuristic theory and relational models of justice, we predicted that the relationship between procedural justice and voluntary tax compliance that has been found particularly among citizens with low (vs. high) trust in the tax authorities is restricted to citizens who weakly (vs. strongly) identify with the nation. The results of a field study with samples of Ethiopian and US taxpayers as respondents largely support our predictions. This research integrates the role of important and well-studied social psychological factors that shape voluntary tax compliance and reveals support for the hypothesis in a developing (i.e., Ethiopia) and a developed (i.e., US) nation – nations with strongly divergent tax climates.

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  • Gobena, Lemessa Bayissa & Van Dijke, Marius, 2017. "Fear and caring: Procedural justice, trust, and collective identification as antecedents of voluntary tax compliance," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1-16.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joepsy:v:62:y:2017:i:c:p:1-16
    DOI: 10.1016/j.joep.2017.05.005
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    3. Fišar, Miloš & Reggiani, Tommaso G. & Sabatini, Fabio & Špalek, Jiří, 2020. "Media Bias and Tax Compliance: Experimental Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 12938, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Mzalendo, Ryoba & Chimilila, Cyril, 2020. "Tax administration, Taxpayer’s Reciprocity and Compliance in Tanzania: Empirical Evidence from a Survey," African Journal of Economic Review, African Journal of Economic Review, vol. 8(2), July.
    5. Fatas, Enrique & Nosenzo, Daniele & Sefton, Martin & Zizzo, Daniel John, 2021. "A self-funding reward mechanism for tax compliance," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    6. Argentiero, Amedeo & Cerqueti, Roy & Sabatini, Fabio, 2021. "Does social capital explain the Solow residual? A DSGE approach," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 35-53.
    7. Sandra Aulia & Haula Rosdiana & Inayati Inayati, 2022. "Trust, Power, and Tax Risk into the “Slippery Slope”: A Corporate Tax Compliance Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-18, November.
    8. Oluwafadekemi S. Areo & Obindah Gershon & Evans Osabuohien, 2020. "Improved Public Services and Tax Compliance of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in Nigeria: A Generalised Ordered Logistic Regression," Asian Economic and Financial Review, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 10(7), pages 833-860, July.
    9. Nur Sayidah & Sri Suryaningsum & Sri Luna Murdianingrum & Aminullah Assagaf & Hadi Sugiyanto, 2020. "The Justice of Tax Amnesty and Tax Compliance: Empirical Study in Indonesia," International Journal of Financial Research, International Journal of Financial Research, Sciedu Press, vol. 11(6), pages 116-128, December.
    10. Netta Barak‐Corren & Yael Kariv‐Teitelbaum, 2021. "Behavioral responsive regulation: Bringing together responsive regulation and behavioral public policy," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(S1), pages 163-182, November.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Procedural justice; Cognition-based trust; Identification with the nation; Voluntary tax compliance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H26 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Tax Evasion and Avoidance

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