Kenny Dekoster

Stakeholder Perceptions of the Relationship between Corporate Taxation and Corporate Social Responsibility

• Doctoral guidance committee: Prof. dr. Isabelle Verleyen (Ghent University, main supervisor), Prof. dr. Annelies Roggeman (Ghent University, co-supervisor), Prof. dr. Inga Hardeck (Universität Regensburg)

• With the globalisation and digitalisation of our economy and the ever increasing importance of intangible assets, corporate tax planning opportunities have been on the rise. This has simultaneously led to growing media coverage of corporate tax scandals. Anecdotal evidence of tax protests and moral outrage on social media suggest that society members disapprove of companies not paying a fair share of taxes. Nevertheless, corporations still seem to look for ways to lower their corporate tax burden. In doing so, most corporations rely on the advice of tax consultants who often steer them towards aggressive corporate tax planning strategies. The lack of dialogue and understanding between society and business (advisers) may evoke differences in perceptions of social responsibility and may hence give rise to a legitimacy gap. In my dissertation, an experimental approach is used to further explore stakeholder perceptions of corporate tax planning and to identify, and eventually act upon, factors that influence the previously discussed legitimacy gap.