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When do severe sanctions enhance compliance? The role of procedural fairness

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  • Verboon, Peter
  • van Dijke, Marius

Abstract

Building on theoretical notions that severe sanctions (more than mild ones) can communicate that sanctioned behavior is morally unacceptable, we argued that particularly authorities who enact the sanction procedures in a fair manner stimulate compliance with their decisions. This is because such authorities should be considered legitimate to communicate what is morally acceptable and unacceptable. This interactive effect of sanction size and procedural fairness on compliance should thus be mediated by moral evaluations of the authority. A field survey and an experiment revealed support for these predictions. These results thus support a non-instrumental perspective on the effectiveness of sanction severity in increasing compliance with authorities.

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  • Verboon, Peter & van Dijke, Marius, 2011. "When do severe sanctions enhance compliance? The role of procedural fairness," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 120-130, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joepsy:v:32:y:2011:i:1:p:120-130
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    4. Kastlunger, Barbara & Lozza, Edoardo & Kirchler, Erich & Schabmann, Alfred, 2013. "Powerful authorities and trusting citizens: The Slippery Slope Framework and tax compliance in Italy," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 36-45.
    5. Karol Kempa & Hannes Rusch, 2019. "Dissent, sabotage, and leader behaviour in contests: Evidence from European football," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(5), pages 500-514, July.
    6. Siglé, Maarten & Goslinga, Sjoerd & Speklé, Roland & van der Hel, Lisette & Veldhuizen, Robbert, 2018. "Corporate tax compliance: Is a change towards trust-based tax strategies justified?," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 3-16.
    7. Pieter T. M. Desmet & Franziska Weber, 2022. "Infringers’ willingness to pay compensation versus fines," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 53(1), pages 63-80, February.
    8. Hartl, Barbara & Hofmann, Eva & Kirchler, Erich, 2016. "Do we need rules for “what's mine is yours”? Governance in collaborative consumption communities," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(8), pages 2756-2763.
    9. Jonathan Farrar & Tisha King, 2023. "To Punish or Not to Punish? The Impact of Tax Fraud Punishment on Observers’ Tax Compliance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 183(1), pages 289-311, February.
    10. Warren, Danielle E. & Schweitzer, Maurice E., 2021. "When weak sanctioning systems work: Evidence from auto insurance industry fraud investigations," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 68-83.
    11. Pickhardt, Michael & Prinz, Aloys, 2014. "Behavioral dynamics of tax evasion – A survey," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 1-19.
    12. Laetitia B. Mulder, 2018. "When sanctions convey moral norms," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 46(3), pages 331-342, December.
    13. Hartmann, Andre J. & Gangl, Katharina & Kasper, Matthias & Kirchler, Erich & Kocher, Martin G. & Mueller, Martin & Sonntag, Axel, 2022. "The economic crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic has a negative effect on tax compliance: Results from a scenario study in Austria," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    14. Siglé, Maarten A. & Goslinga, Sjoerd & Speklé, Roland F. & van der Hel, Lisette E.C.J.M., 2022. "The cooperative approach to corporate tax compliance: An empirical assessment," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 46(C).
    15. Barbara Hartl & Eva Hofmann & Katharina Gangl & Martina Hartner-Tiefenthaler & Erich Kirchler, 2015. "Does the Sole Description of a Tax Authority Affect Tax Evasion? - The Impact of Described Coercive and Legitimate Power," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(4), pages 1-19, April.

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