In recent years, there have been substantial efforts to combat corporate tax avoidance. These efforts have been propelled in part by mediatized case studies, conducted by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other groups, on the tax avoidance practices of multinational enterprises. These case studies have been criticized because they allegedly lack quality, but this criticism has not been assessed academically. This research seeks to address that gap. It proposes a new methodology to analyze the quality of these case studies systematically. We construct ten indicators related to alleged weaknesses and use these to assess 14 case studies involving Dutch corporate entities. We find that the quality of these case studies is affected negatively by a lack of adequate data. Thus, if companies and governments enhance transparency, this could increase the quality of case studies by NGOs and other groups. In addition to this, we find that the NGOs and other groups themselves can sometimes increase the quality of their case studies by investing in technical expertise and adopting practices that foster objectivity. The methodology developed for this study could also be of use for other topical debates, such as disclosure requirements and corporate social responsibility reporting. Whereas we were able to address challenges related to internal validity, the external validity of the findings could still be improved by extending the selection of case studies.

中文翻译：

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衡量避税案例研究质量的方法：来自荷兰的调查结果

近年来，在打击企业避税行为方面做出了大量努力。这些努力的部分原因是由非政府组织 (NGO) 和其他团体进行的关于跨国企业避税行为的中介案例研究。这些案例研究因据称缺乏质量而受到批评，但这种批评尚未在学术上进行评估。这项研究旨在解决这一差距。它提出了一种新的方法来系统地分析这些案例研究的质量。我们构建了与所谓的弱点相关的 10 个指标，并使用这些指标来评估涉及荷兰公司实体的 14 个案例研究。我们发现这些案例研究的质量受到缺乏足够数据的负面影响。因此，如果公司和政府提高透明度，这可以提高非政府组织和其他团体案例研究的质量。除此之外，我们发现非政府组织和其他团体本身有时可以通过投资于技术专长和采用促进客观性的做法来提高案例研究的质量。为本研究开发的方法也可用于其他主题辩论，例如披露要求和企业社会责任报告。尽管我们能够解决与内部有效性相关的挑战，但仍可以通过扩展案例研究的选择来提高研究结果的外部有效性。我们发现，非政府组织和其他团体本身有时可以通过投资于技术专长和采用促进客观性的实践来提高案例研究的质量。为本研究开发的方法也可用于其他主题辩论，例如披露要求和企业社会责任报告。尽管我们能够解决与内部有效性相关的挑战，但仍可以通过扩展案例研究的选择来提高研究结果的外部有效性。我们发现，非政府组织和其他团体本身有时可以通过投资于技术专长和采用促进客观性的实践来提高案例研究的质量。为本研究开发的方法也可用于其他主题辩论，例如披露要求和企业社会责任报告。尽管我们能够解决与内部有效性相关的挑战，但仍可以通过扩展案例研究的选择来提高研究结果的外部有效性。