Over the past few years, economic and political stimuli have driven many governmental legislative policy changes. Funding for government initiatives primarily comes from federal tax dollars; thus, legislators regularly deliberate on the importance of taxpayer compliance. This study investigated the impact of morality and social influence (activated through the purpose of a government spending bill) on taxpayer compliance. Prior research indicates that taxpayers with higher morality levels will be more tax-compliant. However, can government spending initiatives moderate an individual’s morality and make the taxpayer less compliant? Using a between-subjects experimental design with one measured variable (morality) and one manipulated variable (social influence), results confirm a taxpayer with a higher score on the DIT-2 morality scale is more tax compliance. In addition, the moderating effect of legislative spending creates a disordinal interaction between morality and taxpayer compliance when government spending is directed toward social initiatives. This study will extend the research surrounding taxpayer compliance by highlighting behavioral consequences associated with the content of government spending bills.
","abstract_html":"<p>Over the past few years, economic and political stimuli have driven many governmental legislative policy changes. Funding for government initiatives primarily comes from federal tax dollars; thus, legislators regularly deliberate on the importance of taxpayer compliance. This study investigated the impact of morality and social influence (activated through the purpose of a government spending bill) on taxpayer compliance. Prior research indicates that taxpayers with higher morality levels will be more tax-compliant. However, can government spending initiatives moderate an individual’s morality and make the taxpayer less compliant? Using a between-subjects experimental design with one measured variable (morality) and one manipulated variable (social influence), results confirm a taxpayer with a higher score on the DIT-2 morality scale is more tax compliance. In addition, the moderating effect of legislative spending creates a disordinal interaction between morality and taxpayer compliance when government spending is directed toward social initiatives. This study will extend the research surrounding taxpayer compliance by highlighting behavioral consequences associated with the content of government spending bills.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Kesselring, Kristina L."],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Nathan Waddoups","Lisa M. Victoravich","Sharon Lassar","Michael D. Sousa"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2024,"date_issued":"2024-06-15T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2024-06-15T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:01:48Z","subjects":["Government spending","Morality","Tax-compliance","Accounting","Business","Business Law, Public Responsibility, and Ethics","Taxation"],"languages":["English (eng)"],"rights":["Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
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"],"dc:subject":["Government spending","Morality","Tax-compliance","Accounting","Business","Business Law, Public Responsibility, and Ethics","Taxation"],"dc:title":["Social Policy and Compliance: An Experimental Study on Taxpayer Behavior"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ph.D."]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:01:48Z"}