Are We Playing the Same Game? Translating Fairness Content

Traduttore, traditore. An act of translation is always an act of betrayal. For years, language has been shown to impact individual perception and decision-making. Some argue that preferences and evaluations may be modulated as a result of linguistic contexts (Vidal et al., 2021). Therefore, when translating assessments across languages and cultures, it is important to verify that the validity of these tests is preserved. With the rise of automation, it has become more common for hiring processes to include various assessments (Assessments, 2023). These assessments include gamified implementations of the Trust Game (Berg et al., Games Econ Behav 10:122–142) and the Dictator Game (Forsythe et al. Games Econ Behav 6:347–369, 1994), which follow a three-factor model. Though utilized globally, these assessments are built on English language response patterns. Therefore, this research aims to disentangle the effects of language in observed behaviors of fairness, altruism, and decision-making speed. Factorial invariance testing reveals overall equal factor loadings when comparing Spanish to English across six countries. Small intercept differences in fairness ratings have been identified in Spain for European Spanish-speaking participants against English- speaking participants. Possible elaborations and future mitigations of these differences in other populations are briefly discussed.