Does Resource Scarcity Increase Self-Serving Dishonesty? Most People Wrongly Believe So
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Does Resource Scarcity Increase Self-Serving Dishonesty? Most People Wrongly Believe So. / Lilleholt, Lau; Scigala, Karolina Aleksandra; Zettler, Ingo.
I: Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, Bind 152, Nr. 7, 2023, s. 1887-1906.Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › fagfællebedømt
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Does Resource Scarcity Increase Self-Serving Dishonesty? Most People Wrongly Believe So
AU - Lilleholt, Lau
AU - Scigala, Karolina Aleksandra
AU - Zettler, Ingo
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Does resource scarcity increase people's inclination to engage in self-serving dishonesty? Whereas some theories suggest so, we found no evidence for this across four studies, but a fifth study revealed that most people (wrongly) believe that it does. More precisely, based on three well-powered preregistered online experiments (overall N = 4,193), complemented by two pilot studies (N = 51 and N = 49, respectively) and one manipulation check study (N = 424), we provide evidence that neither exogenously induced resource scarcity nor priming people into a scarcity mindset influences people's inclination to engage in self-serving dishonesty. Furthermore, by linking country-level poverty data to a country-level indicator of self-serving dishonesty based on a recent meta-analysis comprising 47 countries and more than 44,000 participants, we found that people living in poorer countries are no more inclined to engage in self-serving dishonesty than people living in richer countries. Finally, we found that most people-and especially men and people low in Agreeableness versus Anger-wrongly believe that people living in poorer countries are more willing to engage in self-serving dishonesty (N = 658). Overall, our investigation adds new evidence to the burgeoning literature on the link between resource scarcity (in the form of poverty) and unethical behavior (in the form of self-serving dishonesty).
AB - Does resource scarcity increase people's inclination to engage in self-serving dishonesty? Whereas some theories suggest so, we found no evidence for this across four studies, but a fifth study revealed that most people (wrongly) believe that it does. More precisely, based on three well-powered preregistered online experiments (overall N = 4,193), complemented by two pilot studies (N = 51 and N = 49, respectively) and one manipulation check study (N = 424), we provide evidence that neither exogenously induced resource scarcity nor priming people into a scarcity mindset influences people's inclination to engage in self-serving dishonesty. Furthermore, by linking country-level poverty data to a country-level indicator of self-serving dishonesty based on a recent meta-analysis comprising 47 countries and more than 44,000 participants, we found that people living in poorer countries are no more inclined to engage in self-serving dishonesty than people living in richer countries. Finally, we found that most people-and especially men and people low in Agreeableness versus Anger-wrongly believe that people living in poorer countries are more willing to engage in self-serving dishonesty (N = 658). Overall, our investigation adds new evidence to the burgeoning literature on the link between resource scarcity (in the form of poverty) and unethical behavior (in the form of self-serving dishonesty).
KW - resource scarcity
KW - poverty
KW - scarcity
KW - self-serving dishonesty
KW - dishonesty
KW - PROCESSING TREE MODELS
KW - INCOME INEQUALITY
KW - R PACKAGE
KW - POVERTY
KW - TRUTH
KW - HONEST
KW - WEALTH
KW - CRIME
KW - POOR
KW - RISK
U2 - 10.1037/xge0001355
DO - 10.1037/xge0001355
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 37166842
VL - 152
SP - 1887
EP - 1906
JO - Journal of Experimental Psychology: General
JF - Journal of Experimental Psychology: General
SN - 0096-3445
IS - 7
ER -
ID: 350943200