The effect of priming on fraud: evidence from a natural field experiment

Parampreet  Bindra; Graeme Pearce

doi:10.1111/ecin.13088

The effect of priming on fraud: evidence from a natural field experiment

Parampreet Bindra
, Graeme Pearce^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Economics (Business School)

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

We present a natural field experiment to examine if priming can influence behavior in a market for credence goods. 40 testers took 600 taxi journeys in Vienna, Austria, and using a between–subject design we vary the script they spoke, each designed to prime either honesty, dishonesty, or a competitor. We find that the honesty prime increases taxi fares by 5.5% relative to a baseline, the result of overcharging rather than overtreatment. Priming dishonesty and a competitor have no impact on fares. We find that the effects of priming on behavior are likely to be small compared to information asymmetries.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1854-1874
Journal	Economic Inquiry
Volume	60
Issue number	4
Early online date	30 Apr 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.13088
Publication status	Published - 1 Oct 2022

Keywords

Credence goods
Field experiments
Fraud
Priming

Access to Document

10.1111/ecin.13088Licence: CC BY

Bindra_2022_EI_Effect-priming-fraud-evidence-natural-field-experiment_CCBY
Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Economic Inquiry published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Western Economic Association International. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Final published version, 582 KBLicence: CC BY

Handle.net

Persistent link to portal record

Cite this

@article{085e732cab9b4445bb4c09dfb4f97d45,

title = "The effect of priming on fraud: evidence from a natural field experiment",

abstract = "We present a natural field experiment to examine if priming can influence behavior in a market for credence goods. 40 testers took 600 taxi journeys in Vienna, Austria, and using a between–subject design we vary the script they spoke, each designed to prime either honesty, dishonesty, or a competitor. We find that the honesty prime increases taxi fares by 5.5\% relative to a baseline, the result of overcharging rather than overtreatment. Priming dishonesty and a competitor have no impact on fares. We find that the effects of priming on behavior are likely to be small compared to information asymmetries.",

keywords = "Credence goods, Field experiments, Fraud, Priming",

author = "Parampreet Bindra and Graeme Pearce",

note = "Funding: This project was funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), through the SFB F63.",

year = "2022",

month = oct,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1111/ecin.13088",

language = "English",

volume = "60",

pages = "1854--1874",

journal = "Economic Inquiry",

issn = "0095-2583",

publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd",

number = "4",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - The effect of priming on fraud

T2 - evidence from a natural field experiment

AU - Bindra, Parampreet

AU - Pearce, Graeme

N1 - Funding: This project was funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), through the SFB F63.

PY - 2022/10/1

Y1 - 2022/10/1

N2 - We present a natural field experiment to examine if priming can influence behavior in a market for credence goods. 40 testers took 600 taxi journeys in Vienna, Austria, and using a between–subject design we vary the script they spoke, each designed to prime either honesty, dishonesty, or a competitor. We find that the honesty prime increases taxi fares by 5.5% relative to a baseline, the result of overcharging rather than overtreatment. Priming dishonesty and a competitor have no impact on fares. We find that the effects of priming on behavior are likely to be small compared to information asymmetries.

AB - We present a natural field experiment to examine if priming can influence behavior in a market for credence goods. 40 testers took 600 taxi journeys in Vienna, Austria, and using a between–subject design we vary the script they spoke, each designed to prime either honesty, dishonesty, or a competitor. We find that the honesty prime increases taxi fares by 5.5% relative to a baseline, the result of overcharging rather than overtreatment. Priming dishonesty and a competitor have no impact on fares. We find that the effects of priming on behavior are likely to be small compared to information asymmetries.

KW - Credence goods

KW - Field experiments

KW - Fraud

KW - Priming

U2 - 10.1111/ecin.13088

DO - 10.1111/ecin.13088

M3 - Article

SN - 0095-2583

VL - 60

SP - 1854

EP - 1874

JO - Economic Inquiry

JF - Economic Inquiry

IS - 4

ER -

The effect of priming on fraud: evidence from a natural field experiment

Abstract

Keywords

Access to Document

Handle.net

Fingerprint

Cite this