TY - JOUR
T1 - Effectiveness of ex ante honesty oaths in reducing dishonesty depends on content
AU - Zickfeld, Janis H.
AU - Ścigała, Karolina A.
AU - Elbæk, Christian T.
AU - Michael, John
AU - Tønnesen, Mathilde H.
AU - Levy, Gabriel
AU - Ayal, Shahar
AU - Thielmann, Isabel
AU - Nockur, Laila
AU - Peer, Eyal
AU - Capraro, Valerio
AU - Barkan, Rachel
AU - Bø, Simen
AU - Bahník, Štěpán
AU - Nosenzo, Daniele
AU - Hertwig, Ralph
AU - Mazar, Nina
AU - Weiss, Alexa
AU - Koessler, Ann Kathrin
AU - Montal-Rosenberg, Ronit
AU - Hafenbrädl, Sebastian
AU - Nielsen, Yngwie Asbjørn
AU - Kanngiesser, Patricia
AU - Schindler, Simon
AU - Gerlach, Philipp
AU - Köbis, Nils
AU - Jacquemet, Nicolas
AU - Vranka, Marek
AU - Ariely, Dan
AU - Martuza, Jareef Bin
AU - Feldman, Yuval
AU - Białek, Michał
AU - Woike, Jan K.
AU - Rahwan, Zoe
AU - Seidl, Alicia
AU - Chou, Eileen
AU - Kajackaite, Agne
AU - Schudy, Simeon
AU - Glogowsky, Ulrich
AU - Czarna, Anna Z.
AU - Pfattheicher, Stefan
AU - Mitkidis, Panagiotis
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited 2024.
PY - 2025/1
Y1 - 2025/1
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85207022864&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41562-024-02009-0
DO - 10.1038/s41562-024-02009-0
M3 - ???researchoutput.researchoutputtypes.contributiontojournal.article???
C2 - 39433937
AN - SCOPUS:85207022864
SN - 2397-3374
VL - 9
SP - 169
EP - 187
JO - Nature Human Behaviour
JF - Nature Human Behaviour
IS - 1
ER -