Influence of justice, culture and love of money towards ethical perception on tax evasion with gender as moderating variable

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is to evaluate the influence of justice, culture and love of money on ethical perceptions about tax evasion. As well as gender will strengthen the influence of justice, culture and love of money on ethical perceptions about tax evasion. Design/methodology/approach The primary data were collected and analyzed using a popular component-based model called partial least square (PLS). PLS consists of two sub-models, measurement model or outer model and structural model or inner model. The measurement model shows how real or observable variables are latent variables to be measured. While the structural model shows the level of estimation between latent or construct variables. Findings The statistical analysis showed that neither the coefficient of gender (moderating variable) nor the interaction between gender and the exogenous variable are significant. Solimun (2010) explained that such moderating variable is called homologizer moderation (potential moderation). Homologizer moderation refers to variable that may potentially become a moderating variable influencing relationship between predictor (exogenous) and dependant variable (endogenous). This variable has no interaction with predictors or can be said to be insignificant on the dependent variable. In this study, gender is a potential moderating variable (homologizer moderation). Gender can potentially become a moderating variable influencing relationship between justice, culture and love of money and ethical perception on tax evasion. Gender does not have interaction with justice, culture and love of money or significant influence toward ethical perception on tax evasion. Originality/value There are very few studies on tax evasion from an ethical point of view so this study is not only important but also interesting because it shows that tax evasion is a classic problem taking place in nearly all countries that apply taxation system; cultural difference results in different views on ethical perceptions on tax evasion (Basri, 2015); this study uses the local wisdom of Balinese people, namely, Tri Hita Karana and thus, this study becomes relatively new; justice is one of the non-economic variables of tax compliance behavior (Darmawan, 2012), so that the researcher is interested in conducting further research on the effect of justice toward ethical perception on tax evasion; there are very few studies discussing love of money (Hnisz et al., 2013); therefore, research on the effect of love of money toward ethical perception on tax evasion is of necessity and the findings of previous studies that are inconsistent. The researcher predicted that there are contingency factors that influence the relationship between justice, culture and love of money toward ethical perceptions on tax evasion. As suggested by Baridwan (2012), gender, the moderating variable in this study, refers to masculine and feminine character as a dimension of social culture; this study is carried out in the Tax Service Office (KPP Pratama) of Badung Utara because during the 2015 tax year, KPP Pratama Badung Utara was one of the KPPs in Bali DGT Regional Office which experienced a decline in realization of revenues and a sharp decline in growth.