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Cited by 2,875Ethics in Business and EducationDeception detection and forensic psychologyAcademic integrity and plagiarism

The Dishonesty of Honest People: A Theory of Self-Concept Maintenance

Mazar, Nina, Amir, On, Ariely, Dan·2008·Journal of Marketing Research
DOI 10.1509/jmkr.45.6.633
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Abstract

People like to think of themselves as honest. However, dishonesty pays—and it often pays well. How do people resolve this tension? This research shows that people behave dishonestly enough to profit but honestly enough to delude themselves of their own integrity. A little bit of dishonesty gives a taste of profit without spoiling a positive self-view. Two mechanisms allow for such self-concept maintenance: inattention to moral standards and categorization malleability. Six experiments support the authors’ theory of self-concept maintenance and offer practical applications for curbing dishonesty in everyday life.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1509/jmkr.45.6.633

Cites

6 of 6 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Priming can encourage/discourage honest/dishonest behaviour, including in an information security context.

    “and this change can encourage/discourage honest/dishonest behaviour (Mazar et al. (2008), including in an information security context (Sharma et al., 2021).”

    From The influence of ethical principles and policy awareness priming on university students’ judgements about ICT code of conduct compliance (2022) · cites this paper as Mazar et al. (2008)

  • Our study lends weight to studies that show priming is not necessarily effective for activating system 2 thinking either for students or in a cybersecurity context.

    “Our study contributes to the emerging, but competing, evidence on the effectiveness of priming in a cybersecurity context, and lends weight to studies that show it is not necessarily effective for activating system 2 thinking discussed earlier either for students (as found by Mazar et al. (2008)) or in a cybersecurity context (as found by Junger et al. (2017)).”

    From The influence of ethical principles and policy awareness priming on university students’ judgements about ICT code of conduct compliance (2022) · cites this paper as Mazar et al. (2008)

  • To the extent that participation in the online classroom is based on intrinsic motivations, students rarely blatantly cheat.

    “To the extent that participation in the online classroom is based on intrinsic motivations (such as a desire to learn), students rarely blatantly cheat [Mazar et al. 2008].”

    From Peer and self assessment in massive online classes (2013) · cites this paper as Mazar et al. 2008

  • Social psychology studies show that people often act dishonestly when given the opportunity, including cheating, fraudulent accounting despite honesty values, failure to help when in a hurry, and lying for small money.

    “The field of social psychology is replete with studies showing how difficult individuals find it to exercise qualities such as honesty. When given the opportunity to cheat in the knowledge they will not be found out, people have been found to be dishonest (Mazar et al. 2008); people will engage in fraudulent accounting despite having strong values around honesty (Brief et al. 1996); trainee”

    From Having Burned the Straw Man of Christian Spiritual Leadership, what can We Learn from Jesus About Leading Ethically? (2017) · cites this paper as Mazar et al. 2008

  • Religious concepts have been shown to improve self-regulation and self-control, suggesting that the rituals common to many religions are associated with the ongoing goals of impulse control and self-monitoring.

    “Third, religious concepts, which are closely linked to ritual practice and prayer, have been shown to improve selfregulation and self-control (e.g., Fishbach, Friedman, & Kruglanski, 2003;Laurin, Kay, & Fitzsimons, 2012;Mazar, Amir, & Ariely, 2008;Rounding, Lee, Jacobson, & Ji, 2012;Shariff & Norenzayan, 2007;Xygalatas, 2013; but see Good, Inzlicht, & Larson, 2015), suggesting that the rituals”

    From The Psychology of Rituals: An Integrative Review and Process-Based Framework (2018) · cites this paper as Mazar, Amir, & Ariely, 2008

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Authors
Mazar, N., Amir, O., & Ariely, D.
Affiliations
  • Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto
  • University of California San Diego (US)
  • Duke University (US)
Corresponding author
  • Amir, On
  • Ariely, Dan
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Marketing Research
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2008-12
Volume
45
Issue
6
Pages
633-644
ISSN
  • 0022-2437 (ISSN-L)
  • 1547-7193
DOI
10.1509/jmkr.45.6.633
OpenAlex
W2136838186
Cited by
2,875
References
6
Citations by year
2026: 123 · 2025: 138 · 2024: 146 · 2023: 188 · 2022: 217 · 2021: 210 · 2020: 295 · 2019: 231 · 2018: 271 · 2017: 207 · 2016: 166 · 2015: 184 · 2014: 158 · 2013: 136 · 2012: 80
FWCI
90.83
Type
journal article
Language
en
Update notices
expression_of_concern (2024-09-20)
Open access
closed
Licence
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations
Journal of Marketing Research (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Information Systems and Management › Ethics in Business and Education
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Deception detection and forensic psychology
  • Social Sciences › Safety Research › Academic integrity and plagiarism
Keywords
self-concept maintenance, dishonesty, self-perception, integrity, moral norms, self-deception, self-image

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