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. 2012 Sep 18;109(38):15197-200.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.1209746109. Epub 2012 Aug 27.

Signing at the beginning makes ethics salient and decreases dishonest self-reports in comparison to signing at the end

Lisa L Shu  1 , Nina Mazar, Francesca Gino, Dan Ariely, Max H Bazerman
Affiliations

Signing at the beginning makes ethics salient and decreases dishonest self-reports in comparison to signing at the end

Lisa L Shu et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .

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Abstract

Many written forms required by businesses and governments rely on honest reporting. Proof of honest intent is typically provided through signature at the end of, e.g., tax returns or insurance policy forms. Still, people sometimes cheat to advance their financial self-interests-at great costs to society. We test an easy-to-implement method to discourage dishonesty: signing at the beginning rather than at the end of a self-report, thereby reversing the order of the current practice. Using laboratory and field experiments, we find that signing before-rather than after-the opportunity to cheat makes ethics salient when they are needed most and significantly reduces dishonesty.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Reported and actual number of math puzzles solved by condition, experiment 1 (n = 101). Error bars represent SEM.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Reported and actual number of math puzzles solved by condition, experiment 2 (n = 60). Error bars represent SEM.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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