Katharina Gangl

• Dr.
• Head of Research Group at Institut für Höhere Studien

The European Green Deal includes the promotion of ESG investments (i.e. investments that consider environmental, social and governance criteria) as an important contribution to combating the climate crisis. This policy brief, based on data of a representative sample, examines the role played by sustainable finance literacy (i.e. ESG definitions, in...

We investigate the influence of ethical feedback on decision-makers’ behavior, focusing on the role of emotions in mediating this relationship. We examine how emotions generated by ethical feedback impact subsequent decisions in a laboratory setting with incentivized tasks. We distinguish between the direct informational impact of feedback and its...

Previous research from the United States suggests that having voted for a losing-side candidate in presidential elections is associated with individual feelings of exclusion and social pain, reactions usually observed in interpersonal or small-group instances of exclusion. The current research replicates these findings for voters of losing-side par...

The present research addresses tools that could help reduce littering in society. Four interventions were tested which, based on different processes, should reduce littering: monetary information, the depicted injunctive norm, watching eyes and a nature picture. To test these interventions, a randomized controlled trial (RCT) involving 440 communit...

In a scenario study with 1200 Austrian taxpayers, we examined how tax compliance is affected by the economic crisis related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, we investigated the potential of trust in government, attitude towards taxes, and justice perceptions in mitigating potential effects. The results suggest a strong effect of the economic env...

Die aktuelle Energiekrise verlangt nach einer Änderung unseres täglichen Verhaltens, als Individuen und als Gesellschaft. Erkenntnisse aus der verhaltenswissenschaftlichen Forschung liefern Hinweise, wie Haushalte, öffentliche Institutionen und Unternehmen beim Senken des Energieverbrauchs und der Nutzung erneuerbarer Energiequellen unterstützt wer...

Fostering pro-environmental behavior is central to mitigate climate change. In the present paper four distinct interventions are tested which, based on different processes, should reduce littering: monetary information, depiction of the injunctive norm, watching eyes and a nature picture. To test these interventions, a randomized controlled trial (...

Unclean waste disposal areas resulting from littering are a source of unease to residents and create significant cleaning costs. The aim of this study was to develop behavioral-economic interventions to reduce littering based on a field experiment in around 400 waste disposal areas (frequented by more than 70.000 people). Four interventions in the...

This study leverages a quasi-natural experiment – in 2009, Indonesia established a tax office for high wealth individuals (HWI), increasing the audit probability and monitoring of around 1,200 rich taxpayers in Jakarta. Using 141,097 de-identified 2006–2012 individual tax return records, we develop a set of counterfactuals to assess the post- and p...

A confidence-based climate between public administrations and citizens is essential. This paper argues and provides empirical evidence that depending on the perceived interaction history, different policies are needed to build versus maintain confidence. Applying the extended Slippery Slope Framework of tax compliance, an online and a laboratory ex...

Interpersonal trust is an important source of social and economic development. Over decades, researchers debated the question whether and how public institutions influence interpersonal trust, making this relationship a much-discussed issue for scientific debate. However, experimental and behavioral data and insights on this relationship and the un...

The aim of this report is to derive measures to increase digital skills and competences for Austrian Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) based on an extensive literature research and several empirical studies. In particular, the aim is to propose measures to increase basic digital skills among SMEs. The promotion of basic digital skills is particul...

Tax compliance by the wealthy is relevant not only because their contributions are essential to maintain public budgets and social equality, but because their (non)compliance behaviour and the perceived (un)fairness of their contributions can fuel social unrest. In this paper, after giving a brief history of taxing the wealthy, we review the existi...

Tax compliance by the wealthy is relevant not only because their contributions are essential to maintain public budgets and social equality, but because their (non)compliance behavior and the perceived (un)fairness of their contributions can fuel social unrest. In this article, after giving a brief history of taxing the wealthy, we review the exist...

Misconduct in organizations (such as fraud, stealing, deception, and harming others) is not only a matter of some “bad apples” but also related to the organizational context (“bad barrels”), which can facilitate either ethical or unethical behaviors. Given the financial crisis and recurring corporate ethics scandals, policymakers, regulators and or...

A constructive, highly professional relationship between tax authorities and taxpayers is essential for tax compliance. The aim of the present paper was to explore systematically the determinants of this relationship and related tax compliance behaviors based on the extended slippery slope framework. We used in-depth qualitative interviews with 33...

Elgar Research Agendas outline the future of research in a given area. Leading scholars are given the space to explore their subject in provocative ways, and map out the potential directions of travel. They are relevant but also visionary. Presenting state-of-the-art reviews on classical and novel research fields in economic psychology, this Resea...

Tax honesty means to give up short-term self-interest for the good of the community. States need sufficient tax funds to finance public goods such as health care or education. Tax psychology has the aim to understand citizens’ tax behaviour and to analyse the psychological processes, which determine tax honesty. The present book chapter gives an ov...

Economic psychology studies the fundamentals of perception and understanding of economic phenomena, economic thought and behaviour. It is an interdisciplinary field of research, strongly overlapping with behavioural economics. Scholars in the field laid the foundations more than a century ago, studying work and organizational behaviour, consumer de...

Decades of leadership research have shown that the two classical leadership styles of consideration and initiating structure robustly predict positive work outcomes, such as satisfaction or performance. In contrast, relatively little is known about whether these leadership styles also predict the emergence of leadership, and which factors might mod...

Tax authorities utilize a wide range of instruments to motivate honest taxpaying ranging from strict audits to fair procedures or personalized support, differing from country to country. However, little is known about how these different instruments and taxpayers’ trust influence the generation of interaction climates between tax authorities and ta...

Tax authorities utilize a wide range of instruments to motivate honest taxpaying ranging from strict audits to fair procedures or personalized support, differing from country to country. However, little is known about how these different instruments and taxpayers' trust influence the generation of interaction climates between tax authorities and ta...

Although tax non-filing and the resulting tax evasion are a challenge to public welfare, particularly in developing countries, scholarly knowledge on taxable citizens who do not register as taxpayers, also known as the ‘ ghosts ‘, is minimal. To expand this knowledge base, this empirical chapter compares rich self-employed individuals identified as...

Digitalization reduces the transaction costs of interacting with citizens and of collecting and analysing administrative data. These possibilities allow to foster an evidence-based tax administration that constantly tests and advances administrative processes. The result would be an ever-increasing professionalism of the tax administration, which f...

Cooperation in social systems such as tax honesty is of central importance in our modern societies. However, we know little about cognitive and neural processes driving decisions to evade or pay taxes. This study focuses on the impact of perceived tax authority and examines the mental chronometry mirrored in ERP data allowing a deeper understanding...

Although tax non-filing and the resulting tax evasion are a challenge to public welfare, particularly in developing countries, scholarly knowledge on taxable citizens who do not register as taxpayers, also known as the ‘ghosts’, is minimal. To expand this knowledge base, this empirical paper compares rich self-employed individuals identified as non...

The execution of coercive and legitimate power by an authority assures cooperation and prohibits free-riding. While coercive power can be comprised of severe punishment and strict monitoring, legitimate power covers expert, and informative procedures. The perception of these powers wielded by authorities stimulates specific cognitions: trust, relat...

Photos of fictional country and Austrian flags Photos of Australian and Austrian national landscapes

Although it seems reasonable to assume that activating patriotism might motivate citizens to cooperate with the state in reaching societal goals, the empirical evidence supporting this contention is based mostly on correlational rather than experimental studies. In addition, little is known on whether patriotism can be manipulated without simultane...

Following the classic economic model of tax evasion, taxpayers base their tax decisions on economic determinants, like fine rate and audit probability. Empirical findings on the relationship between economic key determinants and tax evasion are inconsistent and suggest that taxpayers may rather rely on their beliefs about tax authority's power. Des...

Tax compliance represents a social dilemma in which the short-term self-interest to minimize tax payments is at odds with the collective long-term interest to provide sufficient tax funds for public goods. According to the Slippery Slope Framework, the social dilemma can be solved and tax compliance can be guaranteed by power of tax authorities and...

Tax compliance is assumed to be shaped by three main motivations to comply: enforced, voluntary, and committed motivation. Taxpayers, who hold an enforced motivation to comply, only pay taxes because of audits and fines for non-compliance. Voluntary motivated taxpayers respect the law and pay taxes because it is the easiest option. Committed motiva...

Empirical evidence on the impact of public authorities’ coercive power on compliance of citizens is inconsistent. In some studies, coercive power had a positive effect and in other studies it had a weak or negative effect on compliance. This inconsistency may be related to the double-edged nature of coercive power. Cluster analysis of data from a r...

Although tax non-filing and the resulting tax evasion are a challenge to public welfare, particularly in developing countries, scholarly knowledge on taxable citizens who do not register as taxpayers, also known as the ‘ghosts’, is minimal. To expand this knowledge base, this empirical paper compares rich self-employed individuals identified as non...

We conduct a field experiment on tax compliance, focusing on newly founded firms. As a novelty the effect of tax authorities’ supervision on timely tax payments is examined. Interestingly, results show no positive overall effect of close supervision on tax compliance.

Both coercion, such as strict auditing and the use of fines, and legitimate procedures, such as assistance by tax authorities, are often discussed as means of enhancing tax compliance. However, the psychological mechanisms that determine the effectiveness of each strategy are not clear. Although highly relevant, there is rare empirical literature e...

Research on tax behavior has recognized the necessity of changing tax authorities’ approach from an enforcement to a service orientation. However, empirical investigations of the effect of perceived service orientation on tax compliance are scarce. The present study draws conclusions from survey data of representative samples of 807 Dutch private t...

Research on tax behavior has recognized the necessity of changing tax authorities’ approach from enforcement to service orientation. However, empirical investigations of the impact of perceived service orientation on tax compliance are scarce. The present study draws conclusions from survey data of representative samples of 807 Dutch private taxpay...

Strict enforcement and supportive procedures by tax authorities are often discussed as means of enhancing tax compliance. However, it is still not clear how these strategies influence tax compliance. The extended “slippery-slope framework” postulates that coercive power and legitimate power lead to tax compliance, albeit by leading the taxpayer alo...

Nach dem Fall von Lehman Brothers in den USA, der weltweit diskutierten Finanz- und nachfolgenden Wirtschaftskrise, ist die Staatsverschuldung zum medialen Dauerbrenner geworden. Um die Verschuldung und Überschuldung europäischer Staaten zu entschärfen, werden Maßnahmen diskutiert, die von ausgabenseitigen Einsparungen bis zur Erhöhung bestehender...

The present study investigates experts’ and laypeople’s social representations of the financial and economic crisis widely discussed in the media after the fall of Lehman Brothers in 2008. Financial experts (n = 156) and laypeople (n = 153) with low versus high confidence in the economic recovery spontaneously associated thoughts and beliefs to the...

According to the Slippery Slope Framework (SSF; Kirchler, Hoelzl, and Wahl, 2008), tax compliance depends on power of tax authorities and trust in tax authorities. The framework, however, remains silent on the dynamics between power and trust and how these affect the interaction climate between authorities and taxpayers. The aim of the present pape...

According to the Slippery Slope Framework (SSF; Kirchler, Hoelzl, & Wahl, 2008), tax compliance depends on the power of tax authorities and trust in the tax authorities. The framework, however, remains silent on the dynamics between power and trust, i.e., how power and trust increase or decrease each other, and how this affects the tax climate betw...