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The influence of religiosity on taxpayers' compliance attitudes: empirical evidence from a mixed-methods study in Malaysia

Purpose - This paper aims to explore the role of religiosity in determining taxpayers' attitudes towards tax compliance and discusses likely explanations for the findings in the context of the literature. Design/methodology/approach - A sequential exploratory mixed-methods research design was u...

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Main Authors: Mohd. Ali, Nor Raihana, Pope, Jeff
Format: Article
Published: Emerald Group Publishing 2014
Subjects:
T Technology
Online Access:http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/62968/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ARJ-08-2013-0061
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spelling my.utm.629682017-10-03T06:52:47Z http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/62968/ The influence of religiosity on taxpayers' compliance attitudes: empirical evidence from a mixed-methods study in Malaysia Mohd. Ali, Nor Raihana Pope, Jeff T Technology Purpose - This paper aims to explore the role of religiosity in determining taxpayers' attitudes towards tax compliance and discusses likely explanations for the findings in the context of the literature. Design/methodology/approach - A sequential exploratory mixed-methods research design was used in this study. Data were collected using a self-administered survey which involved approximately 300 individual taxpayers in Malaysia, followed by face-to-face interviews with 14 individual taxpayers. Majority of the respondents in both survey and interviews were salaried taxpayers, and the remaining were self-employed taxpayers. Findings - Religiosity is found to have a minimal but statistically significant positive impact on voluntary tax compliance. This probably can be explained by the strong religious values held by many Malaysians, as well as the concept of giving which has been emphasised in almost all religions. Research limitations/implications - Because this study did not differentiate between religious values and moral values in measuring the source of respondents' internal values, there was a possibility that their internal values may be derived from both sources. Hence, comparing the impact of individuals' religious values with individuals' moral values that have no influence from religion on tax compliance is suggested for future research. Practical implications - A new mechanism is suggested to the Malaysian tax authority in regards to the treatment of religious payment to reduce the sense of inequality among citizens and taxpayers. Originality/value - This study enriches the limited literature of tax compliance from the perspective of developing countries, particularly Malaysia, and adds to the limited literature internationally from a religiosity perspective. Emerald Group Publishing 2014 Article PeerReviewed Mohd. Ali, Nor Raihana and Pope, Jeff (2014) The influence of religiosity on taxpayers' compliance attitudes: empirical evidence from a mixed-methods study in Malaysia. Accounting Research Journal, 27 (1). pp. 71-91. ISSN 1030-9616 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ARJ-08-2013-0061 DOI:10.1108/ARJ-08-2013-0061
institution Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
building UTM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
content_source UTM Institutional Repository
url_provider http://eprints.utm.my/
topic T Technology
spellingShingle T Technology
Mohd. Ali, Nor Raihana
Pope, Jeff
The influence of religiosity on taxpayers' compliance attitudes: empirical evidence from a mixed-methods study in Malaysia
description Purpose - This paper aims to explore the role of religiosity in determining taxpayers' attitudes towards tax compliance and discusses likely explanations for the findings in the context of the literature. Design/methodology/approach - A sequential exploratory mixed-methods research design was used in this study. Data were collected using a self-administered survey which involved approximately 300 individual taxpayers in Malaysia, followed by face-to-face interviews with 14 individual taxpayers. Majority of the respondents in both survey and interviews were salaried taxpayers, and the remaining were self-employed taxpayers. Findings - Religiosity is found to have a minimal but statistically significant positive impact on voluntary tax compliance. This probably can be explained by the strong religious values held by many Malaysians, as well as the concept of giving which has been emphasised in almost all religions. Research limitations/implications - Because this study did not differentiate between religious values and moral values in measuring the source of respondents' internal values, there was a possibility that their internal values may be derived from both sources. Hence, comparing the impact of individuals' religious values with individuals' moral values that have no influence from religion on tax compliance is suggested for future research. Practical implications - A new mechanism is suggested to the Malaysian tax authority in regards to the treatment of religious payment to reduce the sense of inequality among citizens and taxpayers. Originality/value - This study enriches the limited literature of tax compliance from the perspective of developing countries, particularly Malaysia, and adds to the limited literature internationally from a religiosity perspective.
format Article
author Mohd. Ali, Nor Raihana
Pope, Jeff
author_facet Mohd. Ali, Nor Raihana
Pope, Jeff
author_sort Mohd. Ali, Nor Raihana
title The influence of religiosity on taxpayers' compliance attitudes: empirical evidence from a mixed-methods study in Malaysia
title_short The influence of religiosity on taxpayers' compliance attitudes: empirical evidence from a mixed-methods study in Malaysia
title_full The influence of religiosity on taxpayers' compliance attitudes: empirical evidence from a mixed-methods study in Malaysia
title_fullStr The influence of religiosity on taxpayers' compliance attitudes: empirical evidence from a mixed-methods study in Malaysia
title_full_unstemmed The influence of religiosity on taxpayers' compliance attitudes: empirical evidence from a mixed-methods study in Malaysia
title_sort influence of religiosity on taxpayers' compliance attitudes: empirical evidence from a mixed-methods study in malaysia
publisher Emerald Group Publishing
publishDate 2014
url http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/62968/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ARJ-08-2013-0061
_version_ 1643655578153648128
score 13.211869

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