Honesty in the Digital Age

Last registered on July 23, 2018

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Honesty in the Digital Age
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0003152
Initial registration date
July 13, 2018

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
July 23, 2018, 4:14 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
University of Michigan

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
ETH Zurich
PI Affiliation
University of Zurich

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2013-10-01
End date
2014-11-01
Secondary IDs
Abstract
Modern communication technologies enable efficient exchange of information, but often sacrifice
direct human interaction inherent in more traditional forms of communication. This raises the
question of whether the lack of personal interaction induces individuals to exploit informational
asymmetries. We conducted two experiments with 866 subjects to examine how human versus
machine interaction influences cheating for financial gain. We find that individuals cheat about
three times more when they interact with a machine rather than a person, regardless of whether
the machine is equipped with human features. When interacting with a human, individuals are
particularly reluctant to report unlikely favorable outcomes, which is consistent with social image
concerns. The second experiment shows that dishonest individuals prefer to interact with a machine
when facing an opportunity to cheat. Our results suggest that human interaction is key to mitigating
dishonest behavior and that self-selection into communication channels can be used to screen for
dishonest people.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Cohn, Alain, Tobias Gesche and Michel Marechal. 2018. "Honesty in the Digital Age." AEA RCT Registry. July 23. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.3152-1.0
Former Citation
Cohn, Alain, Tobias Gesche and Michel Marechal. 2018. "Honesty in the Digital Age." AEA RCT Registry. July 23. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/3152/history/32075
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Subjects performed coin tosses and reported their outcomes via different communication channels.
Intervention Start Date
2013-10-01
Intervention End Date
2014-11-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
number of successful coin tosses
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We varied two factors using a two-by-two factorial design: (i) whether subjects reported their outcomes to a person or a machine, and (ii)
whether the interaction involved oral or written communication.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
computer
Randomization Unit
individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
866
Sample size: planned number of observations
866
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
between 86 and 161
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials