Antecedents to taxpayer compliance : essays exploring the influence of personality and culture

Abstract

The topic and “problem of tax compliance is as old as taxes themselves” (Andreoni, Erard, & Feinstein, 1998, p. 816). This statement helps explain why tax compliance issues remain such popular topics in the stream of academic and practitioner research. Much of the past research on tax compliance or non-compliance can be grouped into three main categories that relate to deterrence, economic reasons, and social or psychological theories (Cuccia, 1994). In a review of extant literature in these areas, research gaps remained to which this dissertation contributed. Specifically, gaps related to the relationship between tax compliance and personality traits, as well as a deeper understanding of the moderating influence of national culture on known influential variables related to tax compliance intentions were assessed. Two separate but interrelated studies were conducted to shed new light on the tax compliance issue: One study used survey data collected from individuals that file taxes in the United States while the other study employed secondary data from available archival sources (i.e., wave six of the World Values Survey). Various statistical techniques were employed including multilevel analysis (hierarchical linear modeling) as well as multivariate linear regression. Findings indicate that personality, specifically the trait of extraversion, bears a relationship with taxpayer non compliance intentions. Furthermore, results provide support for certain national cultural dimensions (masculinity, individualism, and uncertainty avoidance) having a moderating influence between several demographic predictors and taxpayer compliance intentions. Implications and limitations of this research are also provided.