National culture and firm-level tax evasion

A significant research stream provides evidence that institutional, demographic, and attitudinal factors influence the likelihood of tax evasion. Assessments of culture's role in tax evasion are far more scarce and limited. Absent are investigations of how theoretically derived culture variables predict tax evasion likelihood. Institutional anomie theory (IAT) informs this research gap, suggesting cultural values that likely influence deviant firm behaviors. Accordingly, a cross-cultural perspective examines the influence of important cultural forces (individualism, achievement orientation, assertiveness, humane orientation) on tax evasion, simultaneously controlling for institutional, demographic, and attitudinal factors. Multilevel analysis, with both country- and firm-level data, examines actual reports of firm tax illegal evasion from over 3000 companies in 31 countries using hierarchical generalized linear modeling. After controlling for the above-mentioned factors, a subset of influential cultural values stipulated by IAT surfaces to predict tax evasion. Findings suggest a number of theoretical and practical cross-cultural research implications.

► Cultural values influence the likelihood of illegal tax evasion.
► Institutional anomie theory is used for cultural value selection.
► Increases in human orientation and collectivism reduce tax evasion as hypothesized.
► Higher achievement orientation and assertiveness reduce tax evasion, counter to expectations.
► Differences between achievement and assertive orientations versus ascription orientations.