Image and Misreporting

Mara Ewers () and Florian Zimmermann
Additional contact information
Mara Ewers: Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft Köln (IW)

No 6425, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: In this paper we ask if reports of private information about skills, abilities or achievements are affected by image concerns. We develop a simple model that illustrates how image utility can lead to misreporting of private information in contexts where truthful reports maximize monetary outcomes. In addition, we test the model's predictions in a controlled lab experiment. In the experiment, all subjects go through a series of quiz questions and subsequently report a performance measure. We vary if reports are made to an audience or not and find evidence for image effects. In the audience treatment, stated reports are significantly higher than in the private treatment. This suggests that overconfident appearance might be a consequence of social approval seeking. We also find that men state higher self-assessments than women. This gender difference seems to be driven by men responding more strongly to the presence of an audience.

Keywords: overconfidence; self-assessment; image concerns; experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 D03 D82 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 31 pages
Date: 2012-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-cta, nep-evo, nep-exp and nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (22)

Published - published in: Journal of the European Economic Association, 2015, 13 (2), 363-380

Downloads: (external link)
https://docs.iza.org/dp6425.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: IMAGE AND MISREPORTING (2015)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6425

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
IZA, Margard Ody, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) IZA, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Holger Hinte ().