Enhancing Tax Compliance through Coercive and Legitimate Power of Tax Authorities by Concurrently Diminishing or Facilitating Trust in Tax Authorities

Both coercion, such as strict auditing and the use of fines, and legitimate procedures, such as assistance by tax authorities, are often discussed as means of enhancing tax compliance. However, the psychological mechanisms that determine the effectiveness of each strategy are not clear. Although highly relevant, there is rare empirical literature examining the effects of both strategies applied in combination. It is assumed that coercion decreases implicit trust in tax authorities, leading to the perception of a hostile antagonistic tax climate and enforced tax compliance. Conversely, it is suggested that legitimate power increases reason‐based trust in the tax authorities, leading to the perception of a service climate and eventually to voluntary cooperation. The combination of both strategies is assumed to cause greater levels of intended compliance than each strategy alone. We conducted two experimental studies with convenience samples of 261 taxpayers overall. The studies describe tax authorities as having low or high coercive power (e.g., imposing lenient or severe sanctions) and/or low or high legitimate power (e.g., having nontransparent or transparent procedures). Data analyses provide supportive evidence for the assumptions regarding the impact on intended tax compliance. Coercive power did not reduce implicit trust in tax authorities; however, it had an effect on reason‐based trust, interaction climate, and intended tax compliance if applied solely. When wielded in combination with legitimate power, it had no effect.     

A Spatial Latent Gaussian Model for Intimate Partner Violence Against Men in Africa

This study used data from the Demographic and Health Surveys to examine the prevalence and correlates of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) against men in Africa. Nationally representative data from 12 countries was analysed using a Spatial Latent Gaussian Model to capture the linear and non-linear nature of covariates while accounting for spatial heterogeneity. The results showed that female perpetrated abuse was significantly associated with education, alcohol consumption, intergenerational cycle of violence, polygamy, wealth, and type of union. As far as age of perpetrator (female) or victim (male) and spousal age difference were concerned, they had a non-linear effect on IPV. Furthermore, the spatial effects highlighted lack of spatial autocorrelation between the prevalence of IPV as one moves from country to country.     

Modeling the international technology transfer process in construction projects: evidence from Thailand

Many developing and newly industrialized countries lack the technical and management capabilities to undertake large and/or complex infrastructure projects. In an effort to more rapidly develop their infrastructure, economies and living standards, many have embarked on a series of international Technology Transfer (TT) initiatives within the construction and other industries. However, these initiatives have not immediately translated into enhanced capabilities and competitiveness within host country firms, resulting in a sustained reliance on foreign firms. In an attempt to improve rates of TT in developing countries, this article proposes a conceptual model for international TT that accommodates the numerous factors believed to impact on the processes effectiveness and derived outcomes. Utilizing the results from a questionnaire survey of 162 industry professionals from Thailand, an international TT model including the significant factors which impact on the TT process and the degree of value added from it, was formulated through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Moreover, the significance of direct and indirect interrelationships between model factors was determined through structural equation modeling. This model included four process enablers, namely, government influence, transferee characteristics, transferor characteristics and relationship building, and one outcome factor named TT value added. Building relationships (i.e. trust, understanding and communication) between the transferor and transferee was determined to be the key predictor of TT-induced value creation for the host construction sector.      

Innovative ambiguities: NGOs’ use of interactive technology in Eastern Europe

This article examines the co-evolution of interactive technology and non-governmental organizations in Eastern Europe. It addresses, on the one side, the emergence of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as actors who exhibit new organizational topographies and, on the other side, the emergence of the Internet and related interactive technologies that not only provide a new medium of representation in a virtual public sphere but also make possible fundamental changes in the character of organization. We explore how organizations of civil society can be a source of organizational and technological innovation necessary for their societies’ ongoing adaptability in a rapidly changing global economy. As such, NGOs can use new technologies within and beyond their existing roles as safety nets (to mitigate the new social problems of emerging market economies) and as safety valves (to give voice to social groups underrepresented in the newly competitive polities) to function as social entrepreneurs exploring new organizational forms as ongoing sources of innovation. Jonathan Bach is a postdoctoral research scholar at the Center for Organizational Innovation at the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy, Columbia University. He is the author ofBetween Sovereignty and Integration: German Foreign Policy and National Identity after 1989. David Stark is Arnold A. Saltzman Professor of Sociology and International Affairs at Columbia University and an external faculty member at the Santa Fe Institute. His current research examines the co-evolution of collaborative organization and interactive technologies in various settings, including new media startups in Manhattan and trading rooms on Wall Street, as well as NGOs in Eastern Europe.     

Connecting social and environmental policy in Australia: Collateral gains or collateral damage?

Climate change research relating to “co‐benefits” suggests that the facilitation of social‐welfare outcomes through environmental policy offers a powerful means of incentivising climate change action. Concerns about social‐welfare, however, are often used to undermine climate change policies, typically through political claims that low‐to‐middle‐income households should not shoulder the costs of greater policy alignment between social and environmental objectives. Integrating the social into the environmental can therefore, on the one hand, lead to “co‐benefits” as each agenda promotes the other in political discourse, or alternatively to collateral damage if the policy objectives are framed as incompatible. This article explores both scenarios through two case studies of energy policy in Australia. The findings show that social‐welfare concerns can be a powerful discursive tool with the potential to facilitate political consensus, but also that this potential is not being fully realised, primarily because environmental concerns suffer when attempts are made to integrate the two areas discursively.     

What is ethically appropriate in Negotiations: An empirical examination of bargaining tactics

Negotiation is an interesting context in which to study ethical judgment. Effective negotiators cannot be completely candid about their preferences, yet some honesty is required for parties to effectively agree. Is there general agreement among negotiators as to which tactics are ethically appropriate and inappropriate? This paper reports analyses of the ratings of 18 marginally ethical tactics by a sample of 320 respondents. Tactic ratings suggest generally strong consensus on those tactics that are appropriate and inappropriate; factor analyses of these ratings suggest tactic groupings that offer partial support for earlier conceptual models. A research agenda is also proposed.