Replication: Erat and Gneezy’s white lies paradigm

J. Jobu Babin and Haritima S. Chauhan

Journal of Economic Psychology, 2024, vol. 102, issue C

Abstract: Not all lies are for self-benefit. Replicating the famous Erat and Gneezy (2012) “white lies” paradigm in a setting that resembles the remote workplace, we expand to explore shirking and beliefs about group behavior. Aggregate misreporting is highest when doing so benefits a salient charity; plausible lies are abundant but abate as workers inflate reports to implausible, maximal outcome white lies. Male workers misreport uniformly and more than females in the black lies control. When benefits go to a just cause, females misreport at least as much, if not more, than males. Shirking is widespread yet significantly less common when benefiting a just cause, as workers more readily complete the task but subsequently lie about the performance. Workers’ beliefs about group lying are correlated with their reporting, particularly in the white lies case.

Keywords: Self-reporting; Altruistic lying; Misreporting; Just cause; Experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C99 D91 J4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:joepsy:v:102:y:2024:i:c:s0167487024000126

DOI: 10.1016/j.joep.2024.102704

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