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When and Why Contexts Predict Unethical Behavior: Evidence From a Laboratory Bribery Game

In economic unethical decision-making experiments, one important methodological investigation is what types of contexts should be used to frame the instructions. Within the experimental economics community, using neutral-context instructions instead of loaded-context instructions is the mainstream p...

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Autores principales: Wang, Sining, Chen, Tao
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8299706/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34305730
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.675319
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author Wang, Sining
Chen, Tao
author_facet Wang, Sining
Chen, Tao
author_sort Wang, Sining
collection PubMed
description In economic unethical decision-making experiments, one important methodological investigation is what types of contexts should be used to frame the instructions. Within the experimental economics community, using neutral-context instructions instead of loaded-context instructions is the mainstream practice. Because the loaded contexts may impact behavior in an unpredictable manner and therefore, put experimental control at risk. Nevertheless, using the loaded-context instructions could be advantageous in several ways. A properly framed context can help to facilitate learning and gain ecological validity. The challenge is whether we can identify when and why the loaded context may alter behavior. In this paper, we aim to test if being familiar with a loaded context can systematically influence unethical decisions in a bribery game. We conduct a laboratory bribery game experiment with three different treatments: the neutral-context treatment, the familiar-context treatment, and the unfamiliar-context treatment. Using the neutral-context treatment as a benchmark, we find that participants in the familiar-context treatment express stronger negative attitudes toward corruption. Attitudes toward unethical behavior are the same in the neutral-context treatment and the unfamiliar-context treatment. Behaviorally, the participants in the familiar-context treatment are much less likely to engage in corrupt activities. The neutral-context treatment and the unfamiliar-context treatment produce the same behavioral outcome.
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spelling pubmed-82997062021-07-24 When and Why Contexts Predict Unethical Behavior: Evidence From a Laboratory Bribery Game Wang, Sining Chen, Tao Front Psychol Psychology In economic unethical decision-making experiments, one important methodological investigation is what types of contexts should be used to frame the instructions. Within the experimental economics community, using neutral-context instructions instead of loaded-context instructions is the mainstream practice. Because the loaded contexts may impact behavior in an unpredictable manner and therefore, put experimental control at risk. Nevertheless, using the loaded-context instructions could be advantageous in several ways. A properly framed context can help to facilitate learning and gain ecological validity. The challenge is whether we can identify when and why the loaded context may alter behavior. In this paper, we aim to test if being familiar with a loaded context can systematically influence unethical decisions in a bribery game. We conduct a laboratory bribery game experiment with three different treatments: the neutral-context treatment, the familiar-context treatment, and the unfamiliar-context treatment. Using the neutral-context treatment as a benchmark, we find that participants in the familiar-context treatment express stronger negative attitudes toward corruption. Attitudes toward unethical behavior are the same in the neutral-context treatment and the unfamiliar-context treatment. Behaviorally, the participants in the familiar-context treatment are much less likely to engage in corrupt activities. The neutral-context treatment and the unfamiliar-context treatment produce the same behavioral outcome. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-07-09 /pmc/articles/PMC8299706/ /pubmed/34305730 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.675319 Text en Copyright © 2021 Wang and Chen. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Wang, Sining
Chen, Tao
When and Why Contexts Predict Unethical Behavior: Evidence From a Laboratory Bribery Game
title When and Why Contexts Predict Unethical Behavior: Evidence From a Laboratory Bribery Game
title_full When and Why Contexts Predict Unethical Behavior: Evidence From a Laboratory Bribery Game
title_fullStr When and Why Contexts Predict Unethical Behavior: Evidence From a Laboratory Bribery Game
title_full_unstemmed When and Why Contexts Predict Unethical Behavior: Evidence From a Laboratory Bribery Game
title_short When and Why Contexts Predict Unethical Behavior: Evidence From a Laboratory Bribery Game
title_sort when and why contexts predict unethical behavior: evidence from a laboratory bribery game
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8299706/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34305730
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.675319
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