•We tested the slippery slope framework of tax compliance in 44 countries.•Both trust and power increase intended tax compliance and mitigate tax evasion.•Trust increases voluntary compliance and ...power increases enforced compliance.•Power enhances voluntary compliance only if citizens trust the authorities.•Effects were relatively stable across the 44 countries.
The slippery slope framework of tax compliance emphasizes the importance of trust in authorities as a substantial determinant of tax compliance alongside traditional enforcement tools like audits and fines. Using data from an experimental scenario study in 44 nations from five continents (N = 14,509), we find that trust in authorities and power of authorities, as defined in the slippery slope framework, increase tax compliance intentions and mitigate intended tax evasion across societies that differ in economic, sociodemographic, political, and cultural backgrounds. We also show that trust and power foster compliance through different channels: trusted authorities (those perceived as benevolent and enhancing the common good) register the highest voluntary compliance, while powerful authorities (those perceived as effectively controlling evasion) register the highest enforced compliance. In contrast to some previous studies, the results suggest that trust and power are not fully complementary, as indicated by a negative interaction effect. Despite some between-country variations, trust and power are identified as important determinants of tax compliance across all nations. These findings have clear implications for authorities across the globe that need to choose best practices for tax collection.
We analyzed 1415 newspaper obituaries of female and male leaders published in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland from 1974 to 2016, covering a time-span of 42 years, to investigate change in ...descriptive and prescriptive gender stereotypes. The obituaries’ content was condensed to four categories:
agency
,
competence
, and
communion
were used to investigate changes in descriptive stereotypes. The category
likability
was used to infer changes in prescriptive stereotypes. Consistent with theories claiming changeability of stereotypes, our results indicate changes in descriptive stereotypes. Female leaders were described as increasingly agentic over time, but not as increasingly competent. Descriptions regarding communion remained unchanged. In contrast, the description of male leaders remained relatively stable at first, followed by changes in recent years, where men were described as decreasingly competent and increasingly communal. Simultaneously, our results support theories suggesting stability of stereotypes over time indicating unchanged prescriptive stereotypes. Accordingly, increases in female leaders’ agency were associated with decreases in likability. In male leaders, increases in communion were associated with decreases in likability. Overall, our results reconcile divided theories regarding the changeability of gender stereotypes. Furthermore, our results emphasize that research and praxis need to enhance attention on prescriptive stereotypes to facilitate female leadership.
This single-center retrospective study analyzed patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP) who underwent endoscopic facet joint denervation (EFJD) between April 2018 and May 2019.
This study was ...designed to investigate the effectiveness of EFJD in treating CLBP.
CLBP is a challenging burden to healthcare systems worldwide. As up to 45% of cases originate from the lumbar facet joints, sufficient therapy strategies must be developed. EFJD offers a precise depiction of the dorsal medial ramus and the facet joint capsule.
In this study, 64 patients who underwent EFJD were included. The main outcome of interest was patients' Visual Analog Scale (VAS) pain score, which was recorded at 3-time points (i.e., before operation and 6 weeks and 12 months after surgery).
EFJD effectively reduced the VAS pain scores by 58% in the short term (6 weeks) and 38% in the long term (12 months). Patients with isolated facet joint osteoarthritis benefited more (p <0.001).
EFJD is a good treatment alternative for CLBP originating from the facet joints, particularly in patients with isolated facet joint osteoarthritis. Moreover, this method can address not only the dorsal medial ramus but also the surrounding tissue (e.g., facet joint capsule, facet joint effusion, and osteophytes) as the origin of CLBP.
The replicability of research findings has recently been disputed across multiple scientific disciplines. In constructive reaction, the research culture in psychology is facing fundamental changes, ...but investigations of research practices that led to these improvements have almost exclusively focused on academic researchers. By contrast, we investigated the statistical reporting quality and selected indicators of questionable research practices (QRPs) in psychology students' master's theses. In a total of 250 theses, we investigated utilization and magnitude of standardized effect sizes, along with statistical power, the consistency and completeness of reported results, and possible indications of
-hacking and further testing. Effect sizes were reported for 36% of focal tests (median
= 0.19), and only a single formal power analysis was reported for sample size determination (median observed power 1 -
= 0.67).
revealed inconsistent
-values in 18% of cases, while 2% led to decision errors. There were no clear indications of
-hacking or further testing. We discuss our findings in the light of promoting open science standards in teaching and student supervision.
The initial preference task (IPT) is an implicit measure that has featured prominently in the literature and enjoys high popularity because it offers to provide an unobtrusive and objective ...assessment of self-esteem that is easy to administer. However, its use for self-esteem assessment may be limited because of weak associations with direct personality measures. Moreover, moderator effects of sample- and study-related variables need investigation to determine the value of IPT-based assessments of self-esteem.
Conventional and grey-literature database searches, as well as screening of reference lists of obtained articles, yielded a total of 105 independent healthy adult samples (N = 17,777) originating from 60 studies. Summary effect estimates and subgroup analyses for potential effect moderators (e.g., administration order, algorithm, rating type) were calculated by means of meta-analytic random- and mixed-effects models. Moreover, we accounted for potential influences of publication year, publication status (published vs. not), and participant sex in a weighted stepwise hierarchical multiple meta-regression. We tested for dissemination bias through six methods.
There was no noteworthy correlation between IPT-based implicit and explicit self-esteem (r = .102), indicating conceptual independence of these two constructs. Effects were stronger when the B-algorithm was used for calculation of IPT-scores and the IPT was administered only once, whilst all other moderators did not show significant influences. Regression analyses revealed a somewhat stronger (albeit non-significant) effect for men. Moreover, there was no evidence for dissemination bias or a decline effect, although effects from published studies were numerically somewhat stronger than unpublished effects.
We show that there is no noteworthy association between IPT-based implicit and explicit self-esteem, which is broadly consistent with dual-process models of implicit and explicit evaluations on the one hand, but also casts doubt on the suitability of the IPT for the assessment of implicit self-esteem on the other hand.
•We investigate whether self-employed taxpayers rely on mental accounting.•Some taxpayers mentally segregate taxes from turnover while others do not.•Segregators report less financial scarcity and ...more positive attitudes towards taxes.
Mental accounting describes a series of cognitive operations that help organize financial activities and facilitate money management. Self-employed taxpayers who make use of a separate mental account for future income tax payments or collected value added tax (VAT) might find it easier to declare their taxes correctly than taxpayers who do not. This study used a questionnaire to investigate whether self-employed taxpayers (N = 350) use mental accounting to manage their income tax and VAT obligations, whether mental accounting relates to tax knowledge, business and personality characteristics, and to what extent mental accounting is related to intended tax behavior. Our results reveal that some taxpayers mentally segregate taxes from turnover (segregators) while others do not (integrators). We found small differences in mental accounting between income taxes and VAT. Moreover, confirmatory factor analyses suggested that tax knowledge and mental accounting are distinct constructs. Segregation of taxes was related to lower impulsivity and more positive attitudes toward taxation. Individuals who stated they segregate taxes due from turnover more often claimed to run financially prosperous businesses. Mental accounting was not related to intentions of evading taxes, but individuals with higher mental accounting scores reported more pronounced levels of tax planning. While our research design does not allow drawing causal inferences, these findings could suggest that increasing self-employed taxpayers’ ability to organize their financial activities might be a promising strategy to strengthen the competitiveness of their businesses.
The highly influential Allingham and Sandmo model of income tax evasion assumes that taxpayers are driven by utility maximization, choosing evasion over compliance if it yields a higher expected ...profit. We test the main assumptions of this so‐called deterrence approach considering both compliance decisions and the process of information acquisition using MouselabWEB. In an incentivized experiment, 109 participants made 24 compliance decisions with varying information presented for four within‐subject factors (the four central model parameters: income, tax rate, audit probability, and fine level). Additionally, explicit expected value information was indicated in one of two conditions. The results reveal that participants attended to all relevant information, a prerequisite for expected value‐like calculations. As predicted by the deterrence model, choices were clearly influenced by audit probability and fine level. Against the model assumptions, the presented parameters were not integrated adequately, indicated by a non‐monotonic increase of evasion with rising expected rate of return from evasion. Additionally, more transitions between information necessary for calculating expected values did not result in higher model conformity, just as presenting explicit information on expected values. We conclude that deterrence information clearly influences tax compliance decisions in our setting but observed deviations from the deterrence model can be attributed to failures to properly integrate all relevant parameters.
Hsee and Zhang (2004) argued that when people face a decision and must predict future affective states, they are often in a joint evaluation (JE) mode where direct comparisons between different ...choice options are relatively easy. When actually experiencing (or predicting affective states for) only one of these options, people are usually in single evaluation (SE) mode where direct comparisons are more difficult. This situational difference in evaluation mode was observed to lead to overpredictions of positive affect (happiness) when people were in JE in comparison to SE for options that were quantitatively different, but there were no overpredictions for options that were qualitatively different. This effect was coined distinction bias. In the present paper, we replicated (and extended on) Studies 1 and 2 from Hsee and Zhang with 824 MTurk participants. In Study 1 we replicated the original findings: Relative to people in SE, people in JE overpredicted the happiness derived from quantitatively different hypothetical scenarios (i.e., selling 80 vs 160 books, or 160 vs 240 books), but did not overpredict the difference between qualitatively different hypothetical scenarios (i.e., selling 0 books vs 80 books; 0 being the implicit reference point that makes the two scenarios qualitatively different). Study 2 failed to find support for the original findings: People in JE did not consistently overpredict happiness for quantitatively different scenarios (i.e., copy-pasting 25 negative words vs 10 negative words, or 10 positive words vs 25 positive words). Taken together, the present paper provides mixed support for distinction bias.
•People can easily compare the relevant features of multiple options in an array.•Presented with a single option, comparisons are less easy.•People thus overpredict differences in affective outcomes for options in an array.•Two replications provide mixed support for this theory of distinction bias.
•We conducted two studies on the role of emotions in tax compliance behavior.•Qualitative results reveal high relevance of specific emotions in the tax context.•Quantitative results show that ...emotions influence tax compliance decisions.•We conclude that emotions should be considered when designing tax policies.
Two studies, using both qualitative and quantitative methods, showed that tax decisions elicit different emotions, which have an impact on compliance. Study 1 used focus groups with self-employed (N = 7) and employed (N = 9) taxpayers as well as tax auditors (N = 8) to identify the emotions that are relevant in the taxation context and to single out typical situations in which these emotions are elicited. Study 2 (N = 523) quantified the prevalence and effects of specific emotions that are experienced during the process of paying taxes. We manipulated positive and negative experiences during the process of paying taxes using different scenarios in an experimental survey among a representative sample of self-employed and employed Austrian taxpayers. The results of both studies revealed that specific emotions that are relevant in the process of paying taxes can be clustered, on the one hand, in positive emotions in general and, on the other hand, in specific, negative feelings of self-blame, anger, and fear. Both self-employed and employed participants reported higher compliance intentions after having positive experiences with the tax authorities as compared to negative ones (Study 2). Importantly, these effects were mediated by anger-related, self-blame-related, and positive emotions. Hence, we conclude that emotional experiences play an important role in tax compliance decisions and that, therefore, it is crucial to take the taxpayers’ subjective perceptions into consideration when designing policies to promote compliance.
•We identify potential problems regarding anonymity in standard tax experiments.•We test the effect of enhanced anonymity during sign-up, the actual experiment, and payment on relative compliance.•We ...do not observe a difference in relative tax compliance between regular and enhanced anonymity.•Enhanced anonymity does not interact with effects of tax rate, audit probability, and fine level on tax compliance.
In the domain of classical economic games, it has previously been suggested that deviations from purely rational behavior could be explained by a lack of experimenter-subject anonymity. In fact, some experiments show that contributions and prosocial behavior increase when participants feel observed. In the present study, we investigate whether measures of enhanced anonymity, beyond a conventional standard, are necessary in the particular case of tax behavior experiments. This issue might be pivotal for both the validity and generalizability of existing published studies as well as for designing future studies. We suspect social desirability to be even more relevant in experiments on tax compliance, which often apply a context-rich setting, entailing a strong ethical component. Interestingly, certain common experimental practices reflect potential breaches of anonymity during sign-up, the actual task, and the payment phase. Accordingly, we tested whether (1) tax compliance is higher under conditions of regular anonymity compared to enhanced anonymity, and (2) whether this anonymity manipulation moderates established effects of tax-related parameters, such as audit probability and fine rate. Despite an enhanced perception of anonymity due to our manipulation, we did not observe a difference in relative tax compliance between the regular and enhanced anonymity conditions. Additionally, enhanced anonymity did not interact with the effects of tax rate, audit probability, and fine level on tax compliance. We conclude that commonly used procedures in tax experiments are sufficient to guarantee a satisfactory level of anonymity.
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