[STBI 08 04 2021] Cheating, social norms, and trust: a cross-country comparison

 

Abstract: We present the findings of an experiment on dishonesty, connected with of a survey on social norms and trust conducted among 493 participants from China, Japan, Germany, Taiwan, and Vietnam. We observe country differences in cheating behaviors by using the matrix task paradigm devised by Mazar et al. (2008). We find that self-stated importance of honesty, as well as acceptance of various hypothetical cheating behavior, has basically no predictive power to actual cheating behavior. Country differences, on the other hand, were substantial. Finally, we find that in-group trust can predict the likelihood of cheating behavior in Asian countries, while this factor is insignificant in Germany. This confirms the existence of country differences with regard to in-group trust, as a predictive factor of dishonesty.

About the presenter: Toan Luu Duc Huynh is a lecturer in Banking and Finance at the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam). His research interests are three main pillars: Behavioral economics with a focus on answering the following questions: (i) why do people fail to do the right thing, especially telling a truth? (ii) What leads to fraudulent, corrupt, and dishonest behaviors? (iii) Do the different cultures shape the different behaviors, particularly in the economic context? Financial economics and behavioral finance with the scope of political behaviors and financial markets movements or the asymmetric information in finance leading to the unethical and inefficient behaviors. Econometric modeling and machine learning within the fields of finance, cryptocurrency finance, sustainable finance, energy finance, and energy economics; the financialization of commodity markets and connectedness to stock and fixed-income markets; and volatility forecasting with application in financial risk management and portfolio optimization