Cheng, K. C., Chung, S. H., and Ni, F. Y. 2016. Social Pressures, Commitments and Tax Officials’ Dysfunctional Behaviors: An Experimental Study. NTU Management Review, 26 (2): 211-238. https://doi.org/10.6226/NTUMR.2016.JUN.R.08029
Kuo-Chih Cheng, Professor, Department of Accounting, National Changhua University of Education
Shao-Hsi Chung, Associate Professor, Department of Business Administration, Meiho University
Feng-Yu Ni, Professor, Department of Business Administration, National Sun Yat-sen University
Abstract
The study proposes that social pressures (including superior pressure and peer pressure) cause dysfunctional behaviors of tax officials (i.e., low auditing quality and high turnover intention), and commitments (including organizational commitment and professional commitment) moderate the relationship between social pressures and the dysfunctional behaviors. The experimental research method was adopted. The participants consisted of 117 tax officials who were randomly divided into two experimental groups (one with superior pressure plus outside pressure and the other with peer pressure plus outside pressure) and one control group (with only outside pressure). The results showed that social pressures, especially superior pressure, caused lower auditing quality and higher turnover intention. In the presence of high professional commitment or high organizational commitment, social pressures still cause dysfunctional behaviors. However, the effect of outside pressure on turnover intention is mitigated in the presence of high professional commitment. Suggestions as to how to decrease social pressure sources are provided based on these results.
Keywords
social pressurecommitmentdysfunctional behavior