<p>Truth-telling in one-time, undetected cheating scenarios and the moderating role of religiosity have been widely studied. However, less is known about how religiosity influences honesty when individuals face repeated opportunities to cheat undetected. This study addresses three questions in that context: (1) Will truth-telling decline with repeated opportunities to cheat? (2) Does religiosity influence behavior under such conditions? (3) Can religiosity mitigate a decline in honesty? These were investigated by implementing a die-rolling task in which participants' payoffs depended on self-reported outcomes of privately rolled dice. One group rolled the die once (one-shot die-rolling game), while the other rolled it ten times (repeated die-rolling game), with the payoff based on a randomly selected roll. Misreporting higher values increased the payoff. The reported values were analyzed with the self-reported scores on religiosity. Results showed that religiosity did not significantly deter dishonesty in the one-shot game or the first round of the repeated game. In the repeated game, dishonesty increased among both religious and less religious participants. However, the more religious group showed greater resistance to the erosion of honesty over time. Religiosity thus appears to predict ethical resilience more than initial honesty. In a multi-religious society like Malaysia, integrating shared moral values from various faiths into education may help foster both character development and ethical resilience.</p>

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Self-reported religiosity and erosion of honesty in an unmonitored environment with repeated opportunities to cheat: experimental evidence from Malaysia

  • Tze Wei Ooi,
  • Kean Siang Ch’ng,
  • Narayanan Suresh

摘要

Truth-telling in one-time, undetected cheating scenarios and the moderating role of religiosity have been widely studied. However, less is known about how religiosity influences honesty when individuals face repeated opportunities to cheat undetected. This study addresses three questions in that context: (1) Will truth-telling decline with repeated opportunities to cheat? (2) Does religiosity influence behavior under such conditions? (3) Can religiosity mitigate a decline in honesty? These were investigated by implementing a die-rolling task in which participants' payoffs depended on self-reported outcomes of privately rolled dice. One group rolled the die once (one-shot die-rolling game), while the other rolled it ten times (repeated die-rolling game), with the payoff based on a randomly selected roll. Misreporting higher values increased the payoff. The reported values were analyzed with the self-reported scores on religiosity. Results showed that religiosity did not significantly deter dishonesty in the one-shot game or the first round of the repeated game. In the repeated game, dishonesty increased among both religious and less religious participants. However, the more religious group showed greater resistance to the erosion of honesty over time. Religiosity thus appears to predict ethical resilience more than initial honesty. In a multi-religious society like Malaysia, integrating shared moral values from various faiths into education may help foster both character development and ethical resilience.