Effectiveness of ex ante honesty oaths in reducing dishonesty depends on content

verfasst von

Janis H. Zickfeld, Karolina A. Ścigała, Christian T. Elbæk, John Michael, Mathilde H. Tønnesen, Gabriel Levy, Shahar Ayal, Isabel Thielmann, Laila Nockur, Eyal Peer, Valerio Capraro, Rachel Barkan, Simen Bø, Štěpán Bahník, Daniele Nosenzo, Ralph Hertwig, Nina Mazar, Alexa Weiss, Ann Kathrin Koessler, Ronit Montal-Rosenberg, Sebastian Hafenbrädl, Yngwie Asbjørn Nielsen, Patricia Kanngiesser, Simon Schindler, Philipp Gerlach, Nils Köbis, Nicolas Jacquemet, Marek Vranka, Dan Ariely, Jareef Bin Martuza, Yuval Feldman, Michał Białek, Jan K. Woike, Zoe Rahwan, Alicia Seidl, Eileen Chou, Agne Kajackaite, Simeon Schudy, Ulrich Glogowsky, Anna Z. Czarna, Stefan Pfattheicher, Panagiotis Mitkidis

Abstract

Dishonest behaviours such as tax evasion impose significant societal costs. Ex ante honesty oaths—commitments to honesty before action—have been proposed as interventions to counteract dishonest behaviour, but the heterogeneity in findings across operationalizations calls their effectiveness into question. We tested 21 honesty oaths (including a baseline oath)—proposed, evaluated and selected by 44 expert researchers—and a no-oath condition in a megastudy involving 21,506 UK and US participants from Prolific.com who played an incentivized tax evasion game online. Of the 21 interventions, 10 significantly improved tax compliance by 4.5 to 8.5 percentage points, with the most successful nearly halving tax evasion. Limited evidence for moderators was found. Experts and laypeople failed to predict the most effective interventions, though experts’ predictions were more accurate. In conclusion, honesty oaths were effective in curbing dishonesty, but their effectiveness varied depending on content. These findings can help design impactful interventions to curb dishonesty.

Organisationseinheit(en)

Institut für Umweltplanung
Umweltverhalten und Planung

Externe Organisation(en)

Aarhus University
University of Milano-Bicocca
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)
Max-Planck-Institut zur Erforschung von Kriminalität, Sicherheit und Recht
Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI)
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU)
Norwegian School of Economics (NHH)
University of Economics, Prague
Max-Planck-Institut für Bildungsforschung
Universität Bielefeld
University of Navarra
University of Plymouth
Hochschule des Bundes für öffentliche Verwaltung Brühl
Hochschule Fresenius gGmbH Idstein
Universität Duisburg-Essen
École d’Économie de Paris
Universite Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne
Charles University
Duke University
Bar-Ilan University
University of Wroclaw
Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Universität Kaiserslautern-Landau (RPTU)
University of Virginia
Universität Ulm
Münchener Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wirtschaftswissenschaft - CESifo GmbH
Johannes Kepler Universität Linz (JKU)
Jagiellonian University
Reichman University
Boston University (BU)

Typ

Artikel

Journal

Nature Human Behaviour

Publikationsdatum

21.10.2024

Publikationsstatus

Elektronisch veröffentlicht (E-Pub)

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Sozialpsychologie, Experimentelle und kognitive Psychologie, Behaviorale Neurowissenschaften

Elektronische Version(en)

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-024-02009-0 (Zugang: Geschlossen)