Machiavellianism, social norms, and taxpayer compliance

Abstract

This study is the first to examine the relationships among Machiavellianism, social norms and taxpayer intentions to fraudulently overstate their deductions. We theorize and empirically document that (a) high Machiavellian taxpayers report significantly less ethical social norms, suggesting that reported social norms are influenced by cognitive biases such as social projection and Machiavellian cynicism; (b) reported social norms are, in general, significantly associated with tax evasion intentions; (c) social norms partially mediate the relationship between Machiavellianism and evasion intentions. Our findings imply that experimental research that controls for key personality traits such as Machiavellianism will be necessary to test the effectiveness of potential interventions designed to enhance social norms and tax compliance. Our findings also raise questions regarding the validity of certain social norm measures used in recent studies, particularly in the case of high Machiavellians. In contrast to much prior research, gender was not associated with the likelihood of committing tax fraud in our multivariate models, suggesting that the higher levels of tax compliance often associated with females may be eroding.

Impacts of peers’ unethical behavior on employees’ ethical intention: Moderated mediation by Machiavellian orientation

“…In particular, because misconduct at work often involves ongoing, rather than one‐time, behaviors (Ethics Resource Center, ), personal cognition and the related processes might exert an influence. For example, Machiavellianism, regarded as a cognitive feature (Al Aïn, Carré, Fantini‐Hauwel, Baudouin, & Besche‐Richard, ) involving a manipulative, calculative, self‐interested mindset (Shafer & Wang, ; Shome & Rao, ), might intervene in the negative link between peers’ unethical behavior and employees’ ethical intention.…”

“…Machiavellianism is a personality orientation that involves a pragmatic approach to life (Rauthmann & Will, ). This personal orientation implies the use of unethical moves (Al‐Khatib, Al‐Habib, Bogari, & Salamah, ; Bass, Barnett, & Brown, ; Craft, ; Dahling, Kugumcu, & Librizzi, ; O’Fallon & Butterfield, ; Shafer & Wang, ) to achieve self‐interests (Grover & Enz, ; Kish‐Gephart, Harrison, & Treviño, ), with no regard for the feelings, rights, or needs of other parties (Tang & Tang, ). Accordingly, Machiavellianism could be shaped in contexts in which peers intermittently perform self‐interested acts during social interactions.…”

A relativistic approach to moral judgment in individuals: Review and reinterpretation

“…Relativism scores relate positively with Machiavellianism (e.g., r = .319, Al‐Khatib, Malshe, & Abdulkader, ; r = .45, Gurbuz & Eris, ; r = .328, Ho, Vitell, Barnes, & Desborde, ). Decades of research have confirmed that high Machiavellians are manipulative (Austin, Farrelly, Black, & Moore, ), regularly tell lies (McLeod & Genereux, ), intend to behave in ethically questionable ways (Ruiz‐Palomino, Banon‐Gomis, & Linuesa‐Langreo, ), adhere to questionable social norms (Shafer & Wang, ), and engage in destructive behaviors at work (Galperin, ). Although questionable ethics among Machiavellians suggest the same about high relativists, the implications of high Machiavellianism here may not be so straightforward.…”

“…Relativism scores relate positively with Machiavellianism (e.g., r = .319, -Khatib, Malshe, & Abdulkader, 2008;r = .45, Gurbuz & Eris, 2016;r = .328, Ho, Vitell, Barnes, & Desborde, 1997). Decades of research have confirmed that high Machiavellians are manipulative (Austin, Farrelly, Black, & Moore, 2007), regularly tell lies (McLeod & Genereux, 2008), intend to behave in ethically questionable ways (Ruiz-Palomino, Banon-Gomis, & Linuesa-Langreo, 2019), adhere to questionable social norms (Shafer & Wang, 2018), and engage in destructive behaviors at work (Galperin, 2012 Mach survey items that reflect favorable views of others who are seen as essentially good, kind, hard-working, and brave (Christie & Geis, 1970). High Machiavellians, by definition, would disagree with such items as written (i.e., before scoring is reversed) because they generally have low opinions of others.…”

Machiavellianism in a Synergistic Tax Climate

“…Machiavellianism is a personal factor that shows moral or ethical standards that are believed by individuals. Machiavellianism has received much attention from social science research into ethical and deviant behavior, but Shafer and Wang (2017) stated that Machiavellianism still receives less attention from tax compliance empirical research. Some empirical literature shows that Machiavellianism plays an important role in understanding taxpayers' decisions (Blanthorne & Kaplan, 2008;Ghosh & Crain, 1996;Murphy, 2012;Shafer & Simmons, 2008;Shafer & Wang, 2017;Soliz, 2015).…”