Date of Award

6-15-2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Organizational Unit

Daniels College of Business

First Advisor

Nathan Waddoups

Second Advisor

Lisa M. Victoravich

Third Advisor

Sharon Lassar

Fourth Advisor

Michael D. Sousa

Keywords

Government spending, Morality, Tax-compliance

Abstract

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.

Copyright Date

6-2024

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

All Rights Reserved
All Rights Reserved.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Kristina L. Kesselring

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

English (eng)

Extent

74 pgs

File Size

3.2 MB

Download

Available for download on Thursday, August 13, 2026



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