Management summary Research Study “Effectiveness of ex ante honesty oaths in reducing dishonesty depends on content”
This study examined the effectiveness of honesty oaths—commitments made before an action to encourage honesty—as a tool for reducing dishonest behaviors like tax evasion, which have costly societal impacts. A large-scale online experiment with 21,506 participants from the UK and US assessed 21 different honesty oaths (plus a no-oath control) in a task modeling the decision to evade taxes, where participants faced incentives to act dishonestly.
Results showed that about a half of the oaths reliably increased tax compliance by 4.5–8.5 percentage points, with the most effective oath nearly cutting evasion in half. This indicates that certain oath formulations are effective at promoting honesty, though effectiveness varied based on the specific oath content. Interestingly, while neither experts nor laypeople could reliably predict the most effective oaths, expert predictions were somewhat more accurate.
For managers, these findings highlight that honesty oaths, when thoughtfully designed, can serve as practical interventions to reduce dishonest behaviors within organizations and may help in fostering a culture of integrity. This study underscores the importance of testing and selecting the right type of oath to maximize compliance and ethical behavior.
Target groups of stakeholders: managers, governmental organizations
Citation: Zickfeld, J. H., Ścigała, K. A., Elbæk, C. T., Michael, J., Tønnesen, M. H., Levy, G., … & Mitkidis, P. (2024). Effectiveness of ex ante honesty oaths in reducing dishonesty depends on content. Nature Human Behaviour, 1-19.