The determinants of tax morale in Pakistan

This paper examines the determinants of tax morale in Pakistan, a country that has struggled with low tax effort over the past decade. We exploit novel data for individual taxpayers collected in 2014 by Pakistan’s Federal Board of Revenue to estimate a binary probit regression model. Our results are generally in line with the findings of the modern empirical literature on tax morale in other countries. Overall, groups with lower labor force participation show more positive attitudes toward tax compliance. Educated respondents exhibit higher tax morale than the illiterate, but only for those with very low or very high educational attainment is tax morale higher than for those with bachelor’s degrees. Tax morale is highest in major industrialized population centers that serve as seats of government. Females show generally higher tax morale than males, however, their attitudes tend to worsen with age to such an extent that elderly females have lower tax morale than elderly males. Our findings on gender suggest potential gains from increasing female labor force participation rates. More generally, addressing the current failures of tax administration and dealing with horizontal inequity arising from administrative weaknesses may contribute materially to improving voluntary compliance.     

Measurement of patient-reported outcomes. 1: The search for the Holy Grail

Abstract

Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are used to collect information directly from patients. They may cover several different types of outcomes ranging from symptoms, functioning, utility, satisfaction, through to quality-of-life (QoL). They generally consist of self-completed questionnaires that can be administered by means of hard copies or in a range of electronic formats. PROMs vary considerably in terms of the constructs they assess, the care with which they are developed, and their scientific quality. However, none of the PROMs available approach the quality of measurement achieved by measures/instruments used in physics. PROs are examples of latent variables. These are not directly observable, but can be inferred from, for example, responses to a questionnaire. The only measure of a latent variable that approaches the quality of measurement achieved by the physical sciences is the Lexile Framework for Reading. This framework is based on a construct theory that grew out of an analysis of several available reading measures. A specification equation was generated that was able to link the construct theory to scores obtained with the Lexile measure. A fundamental requirement of this quality of measurement is that the data collected with the model fit Rasch Measurement Theory (RMT). It is argued that PROM developers should aspire to match this level of measurement sophistication if their instruments are to provide valid insights into the impacts of disease and its treatment.     

Firm-level determinants of tax evasion in transition economies

Business tax evasion is an important issue for governments. Yet the factors that determine business tax evasion have not been sufficiently examined in the literature in general, and in transition contexts in particular. To address this gap, this study uses the WB/EBRD Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS) database with a sample of over 12,692 firms from 26 transition economies. Applying various modelling strategies, we argue that tax evasion is a function of firm-level and institutional-level variables. We contribute to the literature by providing robust evidence showing that the perceived tax burden has a positive impact on tax evasion. We also find that the tax evasive behaviour of firms is positively influenced by low trust in government and in the judicial system as well as by higher perceptions of corruption and higher compliance costs. We find that smaller firms, individual businesses and firms in sectors that are less visible to the tax administration are more likely to get involved in evasive behaviour. Overall, institutional factors play an important role in determining firms’ tax evasion behaviour in transition economies. This finding has important policy implications.     

A basic tool to assess tax administration strength in emerging Europe

Large tax compliance gaps, together with the need to generate additional tax revenue have put a premium on tax administration reform in emerging Europe. The key features of an efficient tax administration are well established, but an objective assessment of the relative strengths and weaknesses of tax administrations have been lacking. This paper proposes a simple index of tax administration strength, based on objective indicators reflecting key organizational and operational aspects of revenue administrations relative to international best practice. A diagnostic test is then conducted to assess the performance of the proposed index in its ability to predict variations in tax collection efficiency in emerging Europe.     

Paper Versus Practice: A Field Investigation of Integrity Hotlines

In an effort to motivate firms to more rapidly detect potential misconduct, legislators, regulators, and enforcement agencies incentivize firms to have integrity or “whistleblowing” hotlines. These hotlines provide individuals an opportunity to report alleged misconduct and seek guidance about how to appropriately respond. Beyond some isolated examples, little is known about the responsiveness of hotlines to actual claims of alleged misconduct. I undertake a field study to investigate how hotlines function in practice by making four different inquiries involving alleged misconduct to nearly 250 firms. I find that one-fifth of firms have impediments (e.g., phone line disconnected, email bounce back, direct to incorrect website) that hinder reporting and approximately 10% of firms do not respond in a timely manner. Overall, this investigation illuminates several differences between integrity hotlines “on paper” and how they actually perform in practice.     

Creating a safe haven during the crisis: How organizations can achieve deep compliance with COVID-19 safety measures in the hospitality industry

The COVID-19 health crisis has engendered a set of additional health and safety regulations and procedures (e.g. social distancing) to the hospitality industry. The purpose of this paper is to explore in-depth how organizations can facilitate employees’ deep compliance with these procedures. Employing an instrumental case-study approach, we collected multi-level interview data and archival data in a small-medium sized restaurant in China. The findings reveal that employees’ deep compliance with safety procedures includes a four-stage psychological process, and this process is underpinned by both management safety practices and organizational crisis strategies. As the hospitality industry starts to exit lockdown and ramp up operations, this study offers theoretical and practical insights on how organizations in hospitality can protect the health and safety of their employees and the broader community.     

The Prospect of Ethical Consulting

Ethical consulting is a critical professional activity that is very critical to the very survival of the corporate world and is thus likely to boom within the shortest possible time in the future. This predictive statement is based on the consequential effect of the bankruptcy of Ertron and WorldCom and its aftermath legislature, Sarbanes-Oxley Act （Lander, 2004）. The main issues boarder on how ethics influence organizations＇ operations and to what extend these influences can be coded and managed to enhance objectivity and minimize fraud. The methodology applied in this paper was an exploratory approach under the qualitative design. It encapsulates a thorough review of literature on the subject matter and draws inferences to address the research objectives. It was found that ethical consulting was possible and consultants venturing into the area need to be strategically diversified to enable them to design and develop customized ethical codes for the heterogeneous clientele with appropriate supporting monitoring and compliance procedures.     

Boat-based tourism and bottlenose dolphins in Doubtful Sound,New Zealand: The role of management in decreasing dolphin-boat interactions

Indirect non-lethal effects of wildlife tourism have the potential to compromise the long-term health of animal populations. While appropriate management of impacts is clearly necessary, such management is rarely reported to be effective. Doubtful Sound (New Zealand) has boat-based scenic cruises running year-round. This fjord is also home to an endangered population of bottlenose dolphins, a natural asset for the local tourism industry. A voluntary code of management (COM) was implemented in 2008 to alleviate vessel impacts, establishing guidelines to leave dolphin encounters to chance and restricting vessel traffic in areas of critical habitat. The frequency and duration of interactions decreased substantially since the implementation of the COM. This evidence shows that a science-based voluntary agreement has the potential to mitigate tourism impacts. Nevertheless, due to the small size of the population and its history of low calf survival, a precautionary approach is necessary to further reduce current anthropogenic impacts.     

Impact of Shari’ah on Consumers’ Behavior Toward Sales Promotion Tools: Focus on Egyptian Convenience Products

This study measures to what extent compliance with Shari’ah moderates the relationship between different sales promotion tools—namely, price discount, product demonstration and sampling, buy one get one free (bonus pack), sweepstakes/lucky draws, scratch and win offers, and free samples—and three consumer behavioral responses (product trial, stockpiling, and spending more) for buying convenience products from supermarkets in Egypt. A total of 381 selected Muslim consumers/shoppers were surveyed via face-to-face interviews using a structured questionnaire. Overall correlation analysis between the six proposed sales promotion tools and consumers’ response behavior in general demonstrated a significant relationship. However, some specific tools did not indicate a significant relationship with specific response behaviors. Furthermore, correlation analysis initially indicated that there is a positive significant relationship between all sales promotion tools and compliance with Shari’ah, with the exception of sweepstakes and scratch and win offers, which demonstrated a significant negative relationship. Furthermore, after running linear stepwise regression, the model was fit (62%), indicating the moderating role of compliance with Shari’ah in the relationship between specific sales promotion tools—namely, sweepstakes/games and scratch and win offers—and Muslim consumers’ behavioral responses. Generally speaking, marketers should consider Shari’ah and ethical principles in Islam before creatively crafting promotional tools to attract Muslim consumers, and new tools could be developed with an Islamic orientation to attract Muslim consumers.     

Regulatory performance of audit tournaments and compliance observability

This paper examines the effectiveness of traditional regulatory schemes and newly emerging social information schemes for achieving compliance. Our experiment focuses on two stochastic audit schemes for enforcing regulatory compliance. In the Random Audit mechanism firms are randomly chosen for inspection. In the Tournament Audit mechanism the probability of inspection increases with the degree of estimated underreporting. To study the effects of social information, the experiment varies the observability of identity, output, and compliance decisions. Optimal output is theoretically independent of the auditing scheme, but equilibrium reporting is higher under the Tournament mechanism than Random auditing. Experimental findings are broadly consistent with the theoretical predictions for reporting, but deviate modestly for output. In particular, we find that average output is lower and reporting is higher in the Tournament treatment compared to the Random Audit treatment. At the individual level, a majority of participants misreported in most periods. Social observability does not affect output or reporting significantly in either of the audit treatments.