Unethical Behavior and Group Identity in Contests

Julien Benistant () and Marie Claire Villeval
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Julien Benistant: GATE Lyon Saint-Étienne - Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon - Saint-Etienne - ENS de Lyon - École normale supérieure de Lyon - Université de Lyon - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - UCBL - Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 - Université de Lyon - UJM - Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Étienne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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Abstract: Using a real-effort experiment, we study whether group identity affects unethical behavior in a contest game. We vary whether minimal group identity is induced or not, whether individuals have to report their own outcome or the outcome of their competitor, and whether pairs of competitors share the same group identity or not. We show that individuals misreport in the same proportion and to the same extent by inflating their outcome or by decreasing their opponent's outcome, except when any possible scrutiny by the experimenter is removed. Regardless of the possibility of scrutiny by the experimenter, misreporting is affected neither by the competitor's group identity nor by the individual's beliefs about others' misreporting behavior. This suggests that in competitive settings, unethical behavior is mainly driven by an unconditional desire to win.

Keywords: Lying; sabotage; group identity; competition; experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-evo, nep-exp and nep-soc
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-01592007v2
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Unethical behavior and group identity in contests (2019)
Working Paper: Unethical Behavior and Group Identity in Contests (2019)
Working Paper: Unethical Behavior and Group Identity in Contests (2019)
Working Paper: Unethical Behavior and Group Identity in Contests (2017)
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