scholarly journals Evaluating the individual- and country-level variations in tax morale

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 816-832 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin C. Williams ◽  
Besnik Krasniqi
Keyword(s):  
Tax Compliance ◽  
State Intervention ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Social Actor ◽  
Actor Model ◽  
Tax Morale ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Country Level ◽  
The One ◽  
The Individual

Purpose Recently, a small but burgeoning literature has argued that tax non-compliance cannot be fully explained using the conventional rational economic actor approach which views non-compliance as occurring when the pay-off is greater than the expected cost of being caught and punished. Instead, a social actor approach has emerged which views tax non-compliance as higher when “tax morale”, defined as the intrinsic motivation to pay taxes, is low. To advance this social actor model, the purpose of this paper is to evaluate the individual and national heterogeneity in tax morale, which is crucial if tax compliance is to be improved. Design/methodology/approach To do this, the authors report data from the 2010 Life in Transition Survey on tax morale in 35 Eurasian countries. Findings Logit econometric analysis reveals, on the one hand, that there is higher tax morale among middle-aged, married, homeowners with children, with a university degree and employed, and on the other hand, that there is higher tax morale in more developed countries with stronger legal systems and less corruption, and higher levels of state intervention in the form of both taxation and expenditure. Research limitations/implications Rather than continue with the rational actor approach, this paper reveals that how an emergent social actor approach can help to more fully explain tax non-compliance and results in a different policy approach focused upon changing country-level economic and social conditions associated with low tax morale and thus non-compliance. Practical implications These results display the specific populations with low tax morale which need targeting when seeking to tackle tax non-compliance. Originality/value This paper provides a new way of explaining and tackling tax non-compliance in Eurasian countries.

scholarly journals Evaluating policy approaches for tackling informal entrepreneurship

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 595-611 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ioana Alexandra Horodnic ◽  
Colin C. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Informal Economy ◽  
Small Businesses ◽  
Social Actor ◽  
Actor Model ◽  
Tax Morale ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Economic Actor ◽  
Informal Entrepreneurship ◽  
Eastern European Countries

Purpose When tackling the informal economy, an emergent literature has called for the conventional rational economic actor approach (which uses deterrents to ensure that the costs of undeclared work outweigh the benefits) to be replaced or complemented by a social actor approach which focusses upon improving tax morale. The purpose of this paper is to explore the effectiveness of these two policy approaches in reducing informal sector entrepreneurship. Design/methodology/approach To evaluate this, data are reported from a 2015 representative survey involving 1,384 face-to-face interviews with owners or managers of small businesses in three South-Eastern European countries, namely, Croatia, Bulgaria and FYR Macedonia. Findings The findings provide support for the “social actor” approach and display that small businesses have a greater propensity to perceive competitors as operating informally when the level of tax morale is lower. Meanwhile, no support for the deterrence measures of the “rational economic actor” model is reported. Research limitations/implications The major limitation of the study is that the paper is not able to display the reasons for the low level of tax morale and horizontal trust. Therefore, further in-depth qualitative research is necessary to explain whether and how the low levels of trust are determined by the failures of various formal institutions. Originality/value This is the first known study on small businesses which analyses simultaneously two distinct policy approaches that aim to reduce participation in informal entrepreneurship.

scholarly journals Explaining participation in undeclared work in France: lessons for policy evaluation

2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 203-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Windebank ◽  
Ioana Alexandra Horodnic
Keyword(s):  
Policy Framework ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
French Population ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Social Actor ◽  
Tax Morale ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Economic Actor ◽  
Undeclared Work

Purpose France is a model of best practice in the European Union as regards policy to combat undeclared work. The purpose of this paper is to take the country as a case study to evaluate the competing explanations of why people engage in undeclared work which underpin such policy, namely, the dominant rational-economic-actor approach and the more recent social-actor approach. Design/methodology/approach To evaluate these approaches, the results of 1,027 interviews undertaken in 2013 with a representative sample of the French population are analysed. Findings The finding is that higher perceived penalties and risks of detection have no significant impact on the likelihood of conducting undeclared work in France. In contrast, the level of tax morale has a significant impact on engagement in the activity: the higher the tax morale, the lower is the likelihood of participation in the undeclared economy. Higher penalties and risks of detection only decrease the likelihood of participation in undeclared work amongst the small minority of the French population with very low tax morale. Practical implications Current policy in France to counter undeclared work is informed principally by the rational-economic-actor approach based on a highly developed infrastructure for detection and significant penalties alongside incentives to declare small-scale own-account work. The present analysis suggests that this approach needs to be supplemented with measures to improve citizens’ commitment to compliance by enhancing tax morale. Originality/value This case study of a country with a well-developed policy framework to combat undeclared work provides evidence to support the social-actor approach for informing policy change.

Macroeconomic conditions are only an illusion, not the solution, to firm sustainability: unveiling the new dimension of stakeholder well-being

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zahid Irshad Younas ◽  
Mahvesh Khan ◽  
Mamdouh Abdulaziz Saleh Al-Faryan
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Macroeconomic Performance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Macroeconomic Conditions ◽  
Us Economy ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
The One

Purpose The purpose of the study is to explore the misconception that in developed countries, macroeconomic performance lead to sustainable firms or improves stakeholder well-being. The results may be the opposite or even worse. Design/methodology/approach This study examined this misconception using balanced panel data from 1,122 firms from different sectors of the US economy and data on macroeconomic performance from the World Bank. Findings The results of the one-step generalised method of moments indicate that most macroeconomic performance indicators had significant and negative impacts on firm sustainability and stakeholder well-being. Practical implications From a societal perspective, the results illustrate that the fruits of macroeconomic performance of the US economy do not reach stakeholders through firms’ sustainability. Thus, linking the economy’s macroeconomic performance with firm sustainability is vital for sustainably uplifting society and for stakeholder well-being. Originality/value From a policy perspective, this study reveals that the greater focus on macroeconomic performance in the USA over the past decades has resulted in lower firm sustainability because of the malfunctioning of social, economic, environmental and governance factors. This has negatively influenced stakeholder well-being in the country.

scholarly journals Synergistic and Additive Effects of Chromosomal and Plasmid-Encoded Hemolysins Contribute to Hemolysis and Virulence in Photobacterium damselae subsp. damselae

2013 ◽  
Vol 81 (9) ◽  
pp. 3287-3299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amable J. Rivas ◽  
Miguel Balado ◽  
Manuel L. Lemos ◽  
Carlos R. Osorio
Keyword(s):  
Animal Species ◽  
Synergistic Effects ◽  
Additive Effects ◽  
Iron Starvation ◽  
Triple Mutant ◽  
Marine Animals ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Photobacterium Damselae ◽  
The One ◽  
The Individual

ABSTRACTPhotobacterium damselaesubsp.damselaecauses infections and fatal disease in marine animals and in humans. Highly hemolytic strains produce damselysin (Dly) and plasmid-encoded HlyA (HlyApl). These hemolysins are encoded by plasmid pPHDD1 and contribute to hemolysis and virulence for fish and mice. In this study, we report that all the hemolytic strains produce a hitherto uncharacterized chromosome-encoded HlyA (HlyAch). Hemolysis was completely abolished in a singlehlyAchmutant of a plasmidless strain and in adly hlyAplhlyAchtriple mutant. We found that Dly, HlyApl, and HlyAchare needed for full hemolytic values in strains harboring pPHDD1, and these values are the result of the additive effects between HlyApland HlyAch, on the one hand, and of the synergistic effect of Dly with HlyApland HlyAch, on the other hand. Interestingly, Dly-producing strains produced synergistic effects with strains lacking Dly production but secreting HlyA, constituting a case of the CAMP (Christie,Atkins, andMunch-Petersen) reaction. Environmental factors such as iron starvation and salt concentration were found to regulate the expression of the three hemolysins. We found that the contributions, in terms of the individual and combined effects, of the three hemolysins to hemolysis and virulence varied depending on the animal species tested. While Dly and HlyAplwere found to be main contributors in the virulence for mice, we observed that the contribution of hemolysins to virulence for fish was mainly based on the synergistic effects between Dly and either of the two HlyA hemolysins rather than on their individual effects.

scholarly journals Workers’ health and social relations in Italy

2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (5) ◽  
pp. 835-862 ◽  
Author(s):  
Damiano Fiorillo
Keyword(s):  
Health Status ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Work Performance ◽  
Labour Productivity ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Daily Activities ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Objective Health ◽  
Economic Level ◽  
The Individual

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether social relations are associated with the health of workers. It uses two types of health status measures – self-reported and more objective health – and it considers two types of social relationships: individual social relations, measured through the frequency of meetings with friends; and contextual social relations, the average frequency with which people meet friends at the community level. Design/methodology/approach A probit model is estimated from the worker sample accounting for the possibility of selecting individuals in the labour market (selection equation). Then expanded probit models (including inverse Mills ratio) are used on both self-reported and more objective health measures using new data from an income and living conditions survey carried out in 2006 by the Italian Statistics Office. Robustness checks are employed to deal with possible problems when interpreting the results. Findings The study finds that social relations are correlated with health status of workers with differences among health outcomes. Social relations at the individual level are positively correlated with self-perceived health (SPH), negatively associated with chronic condition (CC) but not related to limitations in daily activities. Contextual social relations are negatively linked with CC and limitations in daily activities but not correlated with SPH. Research limitations/implications Although the results are consistent with the argument that individual and contextual social relations influence workers’ health, the author cannot prove causality. Social implications Improving the health of workers could reduce health inequalities and could increase work performance. The implication at a macro-economic level of an improvement in the health conditions of workers is relevant in Italy, where the level of labour productivity is low compared to the other developed countries (OECD, 2013). Policy makers should consider the benefits, both at social and economic level, of public policies designed to improve the social and physical infrastructure of social relations. Originality/value This paper is the first to relate individual and contextual social relations simultaneously to workers’ health. Moreover, it makes several other contributions to this area: it control for unobserved worker heterogeneity; it uses both subjective self-reported health as well as a more objective measure of health based on CC and limitations in activities of daily living; it adopts a multilevel approach to examine in the same framework the individual and contextual relationship of social relations with individual health status of workers, in so doing, filling a gap in the literature on social capital and public health.

scholarly journals Beyond the formal/informal employment dualism: evaluating individual- and country-level variations in the commonality of quasi-formal employment

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Williams ◽  
Besnik Krasniqi
Keyword(s):  
Social Protection ◽  
Informal Institutions ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Country Level ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Formal Employment ◽  
The Individual

PurposeTo transcend the view of employment as either formal or informal, this paper evaluates the prevalence of quasi-formal employment where formal employers pay formal employees an unreported (“envelope”) wage in addition to their formal reported salary. To explain the individual-level variations in quasi-formal employment, the “marginalisation” thesis is evaluated that this practice is more prevalent among vulnerable groups and to explain the country-level variations, and a neo-institutionalist theory is evaluated that it is more prevalent where formal institutional failures lead to an asymmetry between the formal laws and regulations and the unwritten socially shared rules of informal institutions.Design/methodology/approachTo evaluate the individual- and country-level variations in the prevalence of quasi-formal employment, a multi-level logistic regression is provided of data from special 2019 Eurobarometer survey 92.1 involving 11,793 interviews with employees across 28 European countries (the 27 member states of the European Union and the United Kingdom).FindingsOf the 3.5% of employees (1 in 28) who receive under-reported salaries, the marginalisation thesis is supported that it is largely vulnerable population groups. So too is the neo-institutionalist explanation that quasi-formal employment is more common in countries where the non-alignment of formal and informal institutions is greater, with the formal institutional failings producing this identified as lower levels of economic development, less modernised state bureaucracies and lower levels of taxation and social protection.Practical implicationsThe policy implication is that tackling quasi-formal employment requires not only enforcement authorities to improve the risk of detection of this illegal wage practice but also governments to change wider macro-level structural conditions. These are outlined.Originality/valueContemporary new evidence is provided of the prevalence of quasi-formal employment along with how this illegal wage practice can be explained and tackled.

scholarly journals Security and attitudes toward globalization: A multilevel analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 805-822
Author(s):  
James E. Cameron ◽  
Lucie Kocum ◽  
John W. Berry
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Development ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Economic Security ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
National Economic ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Survey Responses ◽  
National Economic Security

Globalization implicates a number of social psychological processes and outcomes, including openness to ideas, products, and people from outside one’s national boundaries. Drawing from theory and research on intergroup threat, the researchers posited that people will be more open to connections between their nation and others if they feel their economic situation and culture are relatively secure. They found some support for these hypotheses in 2 sets of archival survey responses collected by the Pew Global Attitudes Project in 2002 (40 countries; N = 34,073) and 2009 (25 countries; N = 22,500). Personal economic security and perceived national economic security were associated with more positive attitudes toward globalization in both survey years. However, country-level variables—development status (as indexed by the United Nations’ Human Development Index) and aggregated economic and cultural security—moderated the individual-level effects in several ways. Individual perceptions of national economic security more strongly predicted attitudes toward globalization in more favourable climates (e.g., in more developed countries, and at higher levels of country-level national economic security). Individual-level cultural security was positively associated with attitudes toward globalization in countries with higher levels of socioeconomic development, but negatively related to those attitudes in less developed nations. The results provide some new perspectives on individual and collective factors that inform the perceived benefits of globalization.

Key factors in tourism management to improve competitiveness in Latin America

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
José Manuel Guaita Martínez ◽  
Paula Serdeira Azevedo ◽  
José María Martín Martín ◽  
Rosa María Puertas Medina
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Transport Infrastructure ◽  
Distance Method ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Synthetic Indicator ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Latin American Countries

PurposeThis paper analyzes tourism competitiveness in Latin America, providing a country-level ranking of tourism competitiveness. The study also identifies which areas of management to focus on in order to increase competitiveness in each case.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on the variables used by the World Economic Forum (WEF) to measure tourism competitiveness. The DP2 distance method is used to create a synthetic indicator. This method helps identify which areas best explain differences in competitiveness between countries.FindingsIn tourism, the most competitive Latin American countries are Costa Rica, Chile, Panama, Mexico and Uruguay. The areas that best explain the differences between countries relate to cultural and natural resources, the implementation of information and communication technologies (ICTs), international openness and transport infrastructure. These are therefore priority areas for tourism managers.Practical implicationsThis paper provides detailed analysis for each country. The situation in each country is presented in terms of the key areas highlighted by the analysis. This approach can aid the individual decisions of companies and public managers, thus enhancing tourism competitiveness. This greater competitiveness can strengthen the tourism sector, which is crucial in uncertain times.Originality/valueBased on a synthetic indicator, this research offers the first country-level analysis of tourism competitiveness in Latin America. The study is also novel in its ability to detect the areas where action should be taken to improve tourism competitiveness. This analysis offers an alternative to the WEF Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI), which has certain weaknesses. The results can help enhance tourism competitiveness in Latin American countries through the specific recommendations presented in this paper.

Forestry insurance preference among tree growers in the Ashanti Region of Ghana: a tobit and multi-nomial regression approach

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Oppong Mensah ◽  
Jacqueline Joyce Twintoh ◽  
Ernest Christlieb Amrago ◽  
Anthony Donkor ◽  
Samuel Afotey Anang
Keyword(s):  
Developed Countries ◽  
Tobit Model ◽  
Forest Plantation ◽  
Agricultural Insurance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Ashanti Region ◽  
The Developed Countries ◽  
The One ◽  
Previous Occurrence

PurposeThe study analyses the preference for forestry insurance amongst tree growers in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Specifically, the authors examine the factors influencing the amount of forestry insurance and the choice for forestry insurance types.Design/methodology/approachA total of one hundred and seventy (170) tree growers were sampled for the study. The tobit model, multi-nomial regression and Kendall's tau were employed to analyse the factors affecting the amount for forestry insurance, the choice for forestry insurance types and the perils to forest quality, respectively.FindingsThe results of the study indicate that the incidence of bush fire and theft were the key perils that affect forest quality. In total, 52.94% of respondents preferred forest plantation fire insurance as named-peril insurance whereas 70.59% preferred a combination of forest plantation fire, windstorm and consequential loss insurance as multi-peril insurance. The majority (89.4%) of the respondents were willing to pay an amount between Ghc 10.00–49.00 (US$ 2–8) per stand. On the one hand, results of the tobit model reveal age, income, experience in forest management, land ownership and the previous occurrence of fire as the factors affecting the amount for forestry insurance. On the other hand, the multi-nomial results indicate the previous occurrence of fire, gender, forest size, income and risk aversion significantly influenced the choice for forestry insurance types, namely named peril and multi-peril.Originality/valueSeveral studies exist for forestry insurance in the developed countries. However, in West Africa specifically, Ghana, studies on forestry insurance appear to be non-existent. Above and beyond, this study, therefore, adds to the paucity of research on forestry insurance in Ghana and serves as a framework for agricultural insurance institutions such as the Ghana Agricultural Insurance Pool (GAIP) and World cover and other agricultural insurance institutions globally.

How an organization's ethical climate contributes to customer satisfaction and financial performance

2014 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyoung Koo Moon ◽  
Byoung Kwon Choi
Keyword(s):  
Customer Satisfaction ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Financial Performance ◽  
Ethical Climate ◽  
Organizational Innovation ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Positive Influence ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Climate Influences ◽  
The Individual

Purpose – Researchers in the field of business ethics have posited that an organization's ethical climate can benefit for employees as well as organizations. However, most of the prior research has been conducted at the level of the individual, not organization. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to examine how an organization's ethical climate has a positive influence on two its performance indicators – customer satisfaction and financial performance – with a perspective of organizational innovation. Design/methodology/approach – The data were collected from 29 subsidiaries of a conglomerate in South Korea. Hypotheses were tested using the partial least squares (PLS). Findings – The result showed that an organization's ethical climate was positively related to customer satisfaction as well as financial performance, and this relationship was mediated by perceived organizational innovation. Additionally, the positive influence of an ethical climate on employees’ perceived organizational innovation was mediated by their organizational commitment and the climate for innovation. Originality/value – With a focus on innovation, the study explained how an organization's ethical climate influences customer satisfaction and financial performance. Furthermore, as was the case in studies conducted in other developed countries, the results derived from South Korea sample demonstrated that an ethical climate is critical for organizational performances in developing countries.

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