Making Tax eForms Less Taxing—Comparing Evaluation Measures of User-Experience, Usability, and Acceptance in Public Sector eForms

Is mandatory disclosure an effective panacea for buyer beware?

“…Given the complex nature of the information provided, it is necessary from the purchaser's perspective to provide signals and contextual information to guide understanding of the form overall with clearly structured and easily accessible information. It is possible to do this by presenting disclosures in categories that are less reliant on legal source of origin, more meaningful to users, and more visually salient (Zoubir et al, 2022;Passera and Haapio, 2013;Berger-Walliser et al, 2017;Jenkins, 2011). The visual design of the document can also be enhanced by the use of labels, coloured tables, icons and images (Hogarth and Merry, 2011;Jenkins, 2011).…”

“…Permitting disclosure after the contract has been concluded, as is the case in SA, requires the purchaser to review a decision already made, whereas insights from behavioural law and economics show that once a contract is formed, purchasers will view their decision as a "done deal." Consequently, purchasers committed to the purchase of a property are unlikely to search for information that may disconfirm their beliefs, resulting in an unwillingness to diverge from their initial contractual choice despite the availability of information indicating their choices will be more costly than initially realised (Zamir and Teichman, 2018;Hoffman and Wilkinson-Ryan, 2013;Stern et al, 2020).…”