Journal articles
Ashby JS, Schoon I (2012). Living the dream? a qualitative retrospective study exploring the role of adolescent aspirations across the life span.
Dev Psychol,
48(6), 1694-1706.
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Living the dream? a qualitative retrospective study exploring the role of adolescent aspirations across the life span.
There is a lack of longitudinal research linking adolescent career aspirations to adult outcomes other than career and income attainment. Drawing on Nurmi's (2004) and Salmela-Aro, Aunola, and Nurmi's (2007) life-span model of motivation and using quantitative survey data at ages 16, 23, 33, 42, and 50 years, combined with retrospective interview data at age 50 (collected from 25 members of a British cohort study born in 1958), we aimed to gain a more rounded understanding of the role that adolescent career aspirations play in shaping not only adult career development but also adult identities and well-being. Twenty-two of the 25 participants fulfilled their adolescent career aspirations later in life through achieving (a) the exact career they aspired to or (b) the social status of the career they aspired to. In relation to adult personal identity and well-being, the findings suggest that what matters is not just whether a person aims high at age 16 (i.e. to be a professional or a manager) but also whether the person remembers having strong or meaningful career aspirations. Further themes, gender differences, and implications for policy and future research are discussed.
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Ashby JS, Schoon I, Webley P (2011). Save now, save later?: Linkages between saving behavior in adolescence and adulthood.
European Psychologist,
16(3), 227-237.
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Save now, save later?: Linkages between saving behavior in adolescence and adulthood
Using evidence from an 18-year British follow-up study this paper examines whether saving during adolescence is linked to saving in adulthood. A contextual development model of saving behavior is tested, examining the interplay between socioeconomic family background, parenting style, economic socialization, adult socioeconomic attainments, and saving behavior in adolescence and adulthood. The findings suggest that saving at age 16 is linked to saving at age 34, and that socialization experiences during adolescence, as well as own social status and income, shape the savers that we become. © 2010 Hogrefe Publishing.
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Ashby JS, Haslam SA, Webley P (2009). The distinct role of group-central and group-peripheral norms in taxpaying behaviour.
Journal of Socio-Economics,
38(2), 230-237.
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The distinct role of group-central and group-peripheral norms in taxpaying behaviour
In recent years, a social identity approach has been used to help understand why people do or do not pay tax [see Taylor, 2003; Wenzel, M. 2002. The impact of outcome orientation and justice concerns on tax compliance: the role of taxpayers' identity. Journal of Applied Psychology 87, 629-645; Wenzel, M. 2004. An analysis of norm processes in tax compliance. Journal of Economic Psychology 25, 213-228; Wenzel, M. 2005. Misperception of social norms about tax compliance: from theory to intervention. Journal of Economic Psychology 26, 862-883; Wenzel, M. 2007. The multiplicity of taxpayer identities and their implications for tax ethics. Law & Policy 29, 31-50]. This research, which has focused almost exclusively on national identity, indicates that the more people identify with a group, the more likely they are to adhere to its tax norms and values. However, conformity to group norms may be more nuanced than this, and depend on (a) the meaning or content of the identity in question [e.g. Turner, J.C. 1999. Some current themes in research on social identity and self-categorization theories. In: Ellemers, N. Spears, R. Doojse, B. (Eds.), Social Identity: Context, Commitment, Content. Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 6-34] and (b) whether the norms and values are central or peripheral to the content of that identity. In line with this idea, two studies explored whether the concept and act of taxpaying are more central to what it means to be a member of one's nation than of one's occupational group. Both studies confirm this expectation. Importantly, the findings also suggest that although occupational groups have different norms and values in relation to pre-tax behaviours (e.g. how to deal with extra income), these too can be peripheral to what it means to a group member. If norms are peripheral to identity content, conformity to such norms may be independent of group identification. © 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Ashby JS, Webley P, Haslam AS (2009). The role of occupational taxpaying cultures in taxpaying behaviour and attitudes.
Journal of Economic Psychology,
30(2), 216-227.
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The role of occupational taxpaying cultures in taxpaying behaviour and attitudes
Many individuals embark on their careers as tax novices and become acculturated into their occupational sector's taxpaying culture (i.e. its norms and values) over time. This paper uses a social identity framework to investigate whether perceptions of occupational taxpaying culture and related variables influence not only self-reported tax compliance, and tax minimization, but also how taxpayers position themselves in relation to the tax office. A questionnaire study (N = 511) with an Australian sample measured the way in which participants perceived their occupational taxpaying culture. Linear and logistic hierarchal regression analyses revealed that occupational taxpaying culture is important in explaining stances towards the tax office and tax minimization, even when more "traditional" economic tax variables (e.g. deterrence) are included. However, a more refined measure of culture is needed to determine the role that taxpaying culture plays in tax compliance. The analyses also indicate that the relationship between occupational identity and taxpaying culture is complex. Overall, we build a case for an integrated approach that marries traditional variables with social and cultural ones. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Ashby JS, Webley P (2008). 'But everyone else is doing it': a closer look at the occupational taxpaying culture of one business sector.
Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology,
18(3), 194-210.
Abstract:
'But everyone else is doing it': a closer look at the occupational taxpaying culture of one business sector
When individuals embark on their careers they not only become acculturated into their occupational sectors' day-to-day norms and practices, but also their taxpaying ones. Although the research on taxpaying cultures is still in its infancy, understanding more about taxpaying cultures could improve our understanding of the processes underlying tax compliance. To this end, this study aimed to build a detailed picture of the taxpaying culture (i.e. the norms and values) of one business sector-the hairdressing/beauty industry. Nineteen small business and self-employed hairdressers/beauticians were interviewed and a variant of Grounded theory was used to uncover the main themes that ran through the interviews as a whole. The main themes that emerged-which appear to characterize this sector's culture-include a reliance on accountants/tax advisors, the notion of an acceptable level of cash-in-hand payments, and the use of different mental accounts for different types of income. Although some of these themes have already arisen in the small business literature they have often been couched in individualistic terms. We build a case that these issues are more cultural than individual-they are tied to occupational group membership as they are socially constructed within occupational groups and are a key component of the group's taxpaying culture. Implications and directions for future research are discussed. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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