Confessions of a pirate: Gender difference in survey prime to increase honest reporting

Survey data is essential for marketing and scientific research. However, recent evidence suggests that men and women may underreport undesirable behavior to different degrees and for different motivations, making it difficult for marketers to trust consumer data. Two survey experiments were conducted to test priming effects aimed at minimizing social desirability bias, hypothesizing a gender difference in efficacy. Using digital piracy as an example of an underreported behavior, Study 1 shows that a positive cues condition, which is designed to provide respondents with convenient rationalizations, increases undesirable behavior reporting. Negative primes have a greater inhibitory effect on men’s reporting of undesirable behavior compared to women’s, thus reversing the gender reporting gap. Study 2 explores the relationship between measured social desirability bias, positive cues, and gender. We find that the treatment has the strongest effect on men and only significantly affects participants with high social desirability bias. When considering both studies (N = 1,734) we estimate that the positive cues treatment increases the amount of piracy participants are willing to report by 42%. Market researchers are recommended to add positive cues before questions about undesirable behavior, especially in the case of men. Furthermore, sequential undesirable behavior questions are likely to increasingly inhibit men’s reporting, suggesting that market researchers should randomize these sensitive questions.