When Teachers Break the Rules: Imitation, Reciprocity, and Community Structure in the Transmission of Ethical Behavior

Moses Shayo and Victor Lavy

No 26070, RFBerlin Discussion Paper Series from ROCKWOOL Foundation Berlin (RFBerlin)

Abstract: We study how teachers' rule violations in grading affect students' ethical behavior. Using administrative data from high-stakes exams, combining teacher-assigned internal scores with externally graded national exam scores, we track teacher grading violations and subsequent student cheating. We explore three potential mechanisms: imitation (learning that rules can be broken), positive reciprocity (responding favorably to favorable treatment), and negative reciprocity (retaliating against unfavorable treatment). Exploiting within-student variation in exposure to different teachers, we find students are significantly more likely to cheat when teachers break the rules to their detriment (systematically undergrading), consistent with both imitation and negative reciprocity. However, when teachers systematically overgrade, responses vary by community structure. In heterogeneous communities, overgrading increases student cheating, suggesting imitation dominates. In homogeneous communities, students respond by cheating less, consistent with positive reciprocity dominating. This pattern holds across multiple homogeneity measures, including surname concentration and residential clustering. Survey measures of mutual respect and support between students and teachers confirm this pattern.

Keywords: Teachers ethical behavior; Grading Rules; Student's cheating; Imitation; Reciprocity; Community Structure; Transmission of Ethical Behavior (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I20 J00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-03
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Related works:
Working Paper: When Teachers Break the Rules: Imitation, Reciprocity, and Community Structure in the Transmission of Ethical Behavior (2026)
Working Paper: When Teachers Break the Rules: Imitation, Reciprocity, and Community Structure in the Transmission of Ethical Behavior (2026)
Working Paper: When Teachers Break the Rules: Imitation, Reciprocity, and Community Structure in the Transmission of Ethical Behavior (2026)
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