When Happy People Make Society Unhappy: Incidental Emotions Affect Compliance Behavior

Hechtner F, Fochmann M, Mohr P, Kirchler E (2023)

Publication Language: English

Publication Type: Other publication type

Publication year: 2023

Journal

Social Science Research Network Elsevier

URI: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3259071

DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3259071

Open Access Link: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3259071

Abstract

Emotions affect judgments and decision making. Our paper presents the first study to show that incidental background emotions (i.e., emotions not related to the actual decision) influence individuals’ tax compliance attitudes and behavior. A large-scale survey of 22,220 German taxpayers and a controlled laboratory experiment provide evidence that positive background emotions reduce willingness to comply compared to aversive (negative) background emotions. The participants in our survey show less favorable tax compliance attitudes on weekends, which are usually associated with more positive background emotions. These findings are supported by the results of a controlled laboratory experiment in which background emotions were induced by standardized pictures. Individuals chose more often to evade taxes after being exposed to positive emotions compared to aversive emotions.

Authors with CRIS profile

Frank Hechtner Lehrstuhl für Betriebswirtschaftliche Steuerlehre

Involved external institutions

Freie Universität Berlin DE Germany (DE) Universität Wien / University of Vienna AT Austria (AT)

How to cite

APA:

Hechtner, F., Fochmann, M., Mohr, P., & Kirchler, E. (2023). When Happy People Make Society Unhappy: Incidental Emotions Affect Compliance Behavior.

MLA:

Hechtner, Frank, et al. When Happy People Make Society Unhappy: Incidental Emotions Affect Compliance Behavior. 2023.

BibTeX: Download