The Moderating Effect of Religiosity in the Relationship between Money Ethics and Tax Evasion

Abstract

Past studies on the ethics of tax evasion seems to focus on comparing tax evasion from various demographic, religious or perspective from different countries. Extensive search through the literature revealed that there were no studies on the effect of money ethics toward tax evasion and also the moderating effect of religiosity on this relationship. Hence, the current research is exploratory in nature and is an attempt to expand the empirical base of research findings on the area of tax evasion from a different viewpoint. The objective of the study therefore is to examine the relationship between money ethics and tax evasion as well as investigating the moderating effect of religiosity (intrinsic and extrinsic) on this relationship. The results of the hierarchical regression analyses showed that money ethics was positively related to tax evasion. Additionally, intrinsic religiosity was also found to moderate the relationship between money ethics and tax evasion. However, the result indicated that extrinsic religiosity was not a moderator in this relationship.