Client Narcissism and Opinion Shopping for Tax Advice: The Effects of Message Framing and Social Bonds
Presentation
Overview
Overview
Description
Contentious interactions may arise between a tax professional and client upon disagreement over a tax position. In an increasingly competitive tax return preparation market, these contentious interactions can lead to “opinion shopping” and represent a threat to voluntary tax compliance and the public interest. Such unwanted outcomes are likely to be exacerbated in an era witnessing a significant rise in narcissism among the taxpaying public; narcissists are known to not react favorably to dissenting views. To provide a deeper understanding of these effects, we conduct an experiment with 217 experienced U.S taxpayers. Our results have several important implications. We show that clients with high levels of antagonistic narcissism, upon receiving advice against their preferred tax position, are more likely to switch to another tax preparer. We also document two moderators of this manifestation of antagonistic narcissism: [1] pre-existing social bonds between tax client and the tax professional, and [2] negative loss-framed advice. Contributions to the research literature, as well as tax practice and policy, are further discussed.
