Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Behavioural economics

Professional identity can increase dishonesty

Nature volume 516, pages 48–49 (2014)Cite this article

Subjects

An experiment shows that although bank employees behave honestly on average, their dishonesty increases when they make decisions after having been primed to think about their professional identity. See Letter p.86

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Primed by the profession.

Tama/Getty

References

  1. Cohn, A., Fehr, E. & Maréchal, M. A. Nature 516, 86–89 (2014).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Akerlof, G. A. & Kranton, R. E. Identity Economics: How Our Identities Shape Our Work, Wages, and Well-Being (Princeton Univ. Press, 2010).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  3. Chen, Y. & Li, S. X. Am. Econ. Rev. 99, 431–457 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Goette, L., Huffman, D. & Meier, S. Am. Econ. Rev. 96, 212–216 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Benjamin, D. J., Choi, J. J. & Strickland, A. J. Am. Econ. Rev. 100, 1913–1928 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Fischbacher, U. & Föllmi-Heusi, F. J. Eur. Econ. Assoc. 11, 525–547 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Gneezy, U. Am. Econ. Rev. 95, 384–394 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Ariely, D. The Honest Truth About Dishonesty (Harper Collins, 2012).

    Google Scholar 

  9. Reicher, S. D., Spears, R. & Postmes, T. Eur. Rev. Soc. Psychol. 6, 161–198 (1995).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Lefebvre, M., Pestieau, P., Riedl, A. & Villeval, M. C. Int. Tax Public Finance http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10797-014-9318-z (2014).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Marie Claire Villeval is at GATE, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and University of Lyon, 69007 Lyon, France. She is also a member of the CORTEX Laboratory of Excellence.,

    Marie Claire Villeval

Authors
  1. Marie Claire Villeval
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marie Claire Villeval.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Villeval, M. Professional identity can increase dishonesty. Nature 516, 48–49 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14068

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14068

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing