Gender Differences in Honesty: The Role of Social Value Orientation

25 Pages Posted: 11 Sep 2016 Last revised: 10 Feb 2018

See all articles by Kerstin Grosch

Kerstin Grosch

Vienna University of Economics and Business

Holger Andreas Rau

University of Goettingen (Göttingen)

Date Written: July 1, 2017

Abstract

This paper experimentally analyzes the role of individual social value orientation (SVO) on honest behavior. We focus on a situation where dishonest behavior pays off at somebody else's cost. In which case, distributional preferences might matter for the willingness to act honestly. To examine this link we conduct a laboratory experiment where we first elicit SVO to measure distributional preferences. Afterwards, we implement a die rolling game to elicit dishonest behavior at an individual level. We detect a positive correlation between subjects' SVO angle and honest behavior. Furthermore, the data confirm common gender differences, i.e., women are significantly more honest than men. Additionally, we find that, on average, women have higher SVO angles than men. A mediation analysis reveals that SVO explains the gender effect.

Keywords: Experiment, Gender Differences, Honesty, Social Value Orientation

JEL Classification: C91, D61, D62, J16

Suggested Citation

Grosch, Kerstin and Rau, Holger Andreas, Gender Differences in Honesty: The Role of Social Value Orientation (July 1, 2017). Journal of Economic Psychology 62, 258-267, 2017, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2837134 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2837134

Kerstin Grosch

Vienna University of Economics and Business ( email )

Welthandelsplatz 1
Vienna, 1020
Austria

Holger Andreas Rau (Contact Author)

University of Goettingen (Göttingen) ( email )

Platz der Gottinger Sieben 3
Gottingen, D-37073
Germany

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
213
Abstract Views
1,343
Rank
259,350
PlumX Metrics