The Effect of Perceived Social Fairness on Willingness to Pay for Welfare for the Low-Income Population: The Moderating Role of Social Inclusion

Background and Purpose:

This study investigates the mechanisms underlying public support for the sustainability of redistributive welfare states, with a focus on the impact of perceived societal fairness on individuals’ willingness to pay welfare taxes for low-income welfare programs. Specifically, the study examines how individuals' subjective perceptions of societal fairness (perceived social fairness) influence welfare tax acceptance, and the moderating role of social inclusiveness.

Research Hypotheses:

Hypothesis 1 (H1): Higher perceptions of societal fairness will have a positive (+) effect on individuals' willingness to pay taxes for low-income welfare programs.

Hypothesis 2 (H2): Social inclusiveness will moderate the relationship between perceived societal fairness and individuals' willingness to pay taxes for low-income welfare programs.

Methods:

This study employs a quantitative approach using data from the 2023 Korean Social Integration Survey (KSIS), with a sample size of 8,220 participants. The participants were selected through stratified random sampling to ensure representativeness. The independent variable, perceived societal fairness, is defined as individuals' subjective perception of the overall fairness of resource distribution and opportunity equality in Korean society. The dependent variable, welfare tax acceptance, refers to individuals' willingness to bear additional taxes for funding welfare programs for the poor. The moderating variable, social inclusiveness, is defined as individuals' psychological distance toward various social minority and disadvantaged groups, or their attitudes toward accepting these groups as members of society. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to analyze the data and test the proposed hypotheses.

Results:

The analysis revealed that both perceived social fairness (β = .092, p < .05) and social inclusiveness (β = .288, p < .001) had significant positive effects on welfare tax acceptance. Specifically, trust in social fairness enhanced the legitimacy of welfare taxes, while lower social distance increased positive evaluations of welfare recipients. The interaction term between fairness and inclusiveness showed a significant negative moderating effect (β = - .202, p < .001), indicating that in highly inclusive groups, the importance of fairness perceptions in determining welfare tax acceptance diminished.

Conclusions and Implications:

The study concludes that the formation of welfare tax acceptance is influenced by a complex, interactive relationship between perceptions of fairness and social inclusiveness. In contexts where social distance between income groups is large, policies enhancing fairness perceptions are likely to be more effective in promoting welfare tax acceptance. In more inclusive groups, strategies that foster solidarity-based voluntary tax contributions could be more impactful. These findings suggest that welfare policy strategies should be tailored to the social dynamics of different groups, emphasizing fairness in less inclusive environments and solidarity in more inclusive ones. The study offers practical policy recommendations for designing sustainable welfare systems and promoting social integration.