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Lying in a foreign language?

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  • Alempaki, Despoina
  • Doğan, Gönül
  • Yang, Yang

Abstract

We experimentally investigate whether using a foreign language affects social and personal norms on dishonesty, and whether language dependent norms explain lying behaviour. Participants can inflate their relative performance in a real effort task, and thereby increase their own payoff at a cost to another. As our main treatment manipulation, we vary the language of the experiment, that is conducted either in one's native or a foreign language. We find that dishonesty is generally perceived as more socially inappropriate in one's native language. However, we do not find a systematic foreign language effect on lying behaviour.

Suggested Citation

  • Alempaki, Despoina & Doğan, Gönül & Yang, Yang, 2021. "Lying in a foreign language?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 946-961.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:185:y:2021:i:c:p:946-961
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2020.10.027
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    Cited by:

    1. Clist, Paul & Hong, Ying-yi, 2023. "Do international students learn foreign preferences? The interplay of language, identity and assimilation," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Lying; Norm compliance; Personal norms; Social norms; Laboratory experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • C90 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - General
    • C92 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Group Behavior

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