Publications (FIS)

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

authored by: 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.
Organisation(s): Institute of Environmental Planning
Environmental Behaviour and Planning
External Organisation(s): Aarhus University
University of Milan - Bicocca (UNIMIB)
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)
Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law
Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI)
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Norwegian School of Economics (NHH)
University of Economics, Prague
Max Planck Institute for Human Development
Bielefeld University
University of Navarra
University of Plymouth
Federal University of Applied Sciences for Public Administration
Hochschule Fresenius University of Applied Sciences
University of Duisburg-Essen
Paris School of Economics
Universite Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne
Charles University
Duke University
Bar-Ilan University
University of Wroclaw
University of Kaiserslautern-Landau (RPTU)
University of Virginia
Ulm University
Munich Society for the Promotion of Economic Research - CESifo GmbH
Johannes Kepler University of Linz (JKU)
Jagiellonian University
Reichman University
Boston University (BU)
Type: Article
Journal: Nature Human Behaviour
Publication date: 21.10.2024
Publication status: E-pub ahead of print
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Social Psychology, Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Behavioral Neuroscience
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-024-02009-0 (Access: Closed)

BibTeX

@article{5ff3cb3128e245e3bb4b52f861f19d96,
title = "Effectiveness of ex ante honesty oaths in reducing dishonesty depends on content",
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{\textquoteright} 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.",
author = "Zickfeld, {Janis H.} and {\'S}ciga{\l}a, {Karolina A.} and Elb{\ae}k, {Christian T.} and John Michael and T{\o}nnesen, {Mathilde H.} and Gabriel Levy and Shahar Ayal and Isabel Thielmann and Laila Nockur and Eyal Peer and Valerio Capraro and Rachel Barkan and Simen B{\o} and {\v S}t{\v e}p{\'a}n Bahn{\'i}k and Daniele Nosenzo and Ralph Hertwig and Nina Mazar and Alexa Weiss and Koessler, {Ann Kathrin} and Ronit Montal-Rosenberg and Sebastian Hafenbr{\"a}dl and Nielsen, {Yngwie Asbj{\o}rn} and Patricia Kanngiesser and Simon Schindler and Philipp Gerlach and Nils K{\"o}bis and Nicolas Jacquemet and Marek Vranka and Dan Ariely and Martuza, {Jareef Bin} and Yuval Feldman and Micha{\l} Bia{\l}ek and Woike, {Jan K.} and Zoe Rahwan and Alicia Seidl and Eileen Chou and Agne Kajackaite and Simeon Schudy and Ulrich Glogowsky and Czarna, {Anna Z.} and Stefan Pfattheicher and Panagiotis Mitkidis",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited 2024.",
year = "2024",
month = oct,
day = "21",
doi = "10.1038/s41562-024-02009-0",
language = "English",
journal = "Nature Human Behaviour",
issn = "2397-3374",
publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",
}