Dishonesty and Selection into Public Service

Hanna, Rema; Wang, Shing-Yi

doi:10.3386/w19649

Cited by 41 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…This contrasts with other recent studies of dishonesty in the lab and in the field which target much more specific populations (open air sellers in List, 2009; bankers in Cohn et al, 2014; prisoners in Cohn et al, 2015;graders in Armantier and Boly, 2013; nurses in Hanna and Wang, 2015). Regarding the risk of self-selection, comparisons with data collected by the !…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 80%

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Cheating in the Lab Predicts Fraud in the Field. An Experiment in Public Transportations

2016

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. The Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn is a local and virtual international research center and a place of communication between science, politics and business. IZA is an independent nonprofit organization supported by Deutsche Post Foundation. The center is associated with the University of Bonn and offers a stimulating research environment through its international network, workshops and conferences, data service, project support, research visits and doctoral program. IZA engages in (i) original and internationally competitive research in all fields of labor economics, (ii) development of policy concepts, and (iii) dissemination of research results and concepts to the interested public. Terms of use: Documents in D I S C U S S I O N P A P E R S E R I E S Cheating in the Lab Predicts Fraud in the Field: An Experiment in Public TransportationsIZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author. We conduct an artefactual field experiment using a diversified sample of passengers of public transportations to study attitudes towards dishonesty. We find that the diversity of behavior in terms of dis/honesty in laboratory tasks and in the field correlate. Moreover, individuals who have just been fined in the field behave more honestly in the lab than the other fare-dodgers, except when context is introduced. Overall, we show that simple tests of dishonesty in the lab can predict moral firmness in life, although frauders who care about social image cheat less when behavior can be verified ex post by the experimenter.JEL Classification: B41, C91, C93, K42

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 80%

“…The experiment most closely related to our study is that of Hanna and Wang (2015), run in India. It shows that nurses who report more favorable outcomes in a die rolling task are more likely to be absent from work.…”

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confidence: 99%

Cheating in the Lab Predicts Fraud in the Field. An Experiment in Public Transportations

2016

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“…A study in India measures the propensity to cheat among 669 final-year college students in the city of Bangalore using a dice game [12]. It also measures pro-sociality using a dictator game, similar to the one described above for the Zambia study [11].…”

Section: What Can Be Done To Improve Recruitment In the Public Sector?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Are workers motivated by the greater good?

Tonin¹

2015

izawol

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ProsEmployees work harder and are more motivated when their job is associated with a social cause. Many people are willing to give up some of their private compensation to contribute to the greater good. Survey results show that socially responsible firms are more attractive to jobseekers. Attracting a motivated workforce is particularly important for the public sector. In the public sector, randomized controlled trials suggest that extrinsic incentives (pay, career options) do not crowd out intrinsic motivation to serve the public interest. ELEVATor PiTcHEmployees show more commitment to an employer that promotes the greater good, and they work harder too. Moreover, many people are willing to give up some of their compensation to contribute to a social cause. Being able to attract a motivated workforce would be particularly important for the public sector, but this goal remains elusive. Indeed, there is evidence for the public sector that paying people more or underlining the career opportunities (as opposed to the social aspects) associated with public sector jobs is instrumental in attracting a more productive workforce, without having a negative impact on intrinsic motivation. AUTHor'S MAin MESSAGEEmpirical evidence shows that organizations that support a social cause have an advantage in motivating employee effort. Jobseekers, customers, and investors view such companies as more attractive. The public sector, however, is generally not very successful in attracting particularly motivated workers. Experimental studies show that using extrinsic incentives (better pay and career prospects) to recruit public sector workers can attract more productive people without negatively affecting the intrinsic motivation to serve the public interest. This suggests that human resources practices from the private sector can also be successfully deployed in the public sector. consWhat represents a good cause may be subjective, and a good match in terms of mission between workers and their firm is crucial. Attracting a motivated workforce can be challenging, and the public sector appears to have had limited success. Highlighting the social aspects of a job in the public sector may not be an effective way to recruit motivated workers. The evidence on workers' motivation is limited, affecting the generalizability of study findings. Are workers motivated by the greater good?Workers care about employers' social causes, but the public sector does not attract particularly motivated employees Keywords: corporate philanthropy, employee motivation, public sector, recruitment KEY FinDinGS MoTiVATionUnderstanding what motivates workers is vital for enhancing productivity and designing effective compensation and retention policies. There is growing recognition that workers may be motivated to perform an activity even if they receive no apparent reward except the activity itself; that is, besides extrinsic rewards such as bonuses and promotions, intrinsic motivation also matters. In particular, a concern about the social cause pursued by ...

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“…Another recent working paper by Hanna and Wang (2014) studies cheating in a sample of government nurses in India. They found that nurses who cheated more in a dice task also tended to show up at work less often.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%