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Does resource scarcity increase self-serving dishonesty? Most people wrongly believe so.

Lau Lilleholt1, Karolina Aleksandra Ścigała2, Ingo Zettler1

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Resource scarcity does not increase self-serving dishonesty. Most people wrongly believe poverty drives unethical behavior, but research shows no link between national poverty levels and dishonesty.

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Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Behavioral Economics

Background:

  • Common assumptions suggest resource scarcity may increase self-serving dishonesty.
  • However, empirical evidence on this relationship remains inconclusive.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether resource scarcity, experimentally induced or primed, affects self-serving dishonesty.
  • To examine the relationship between national poverty levels and country-level self-serving dishonesty.
  • To explore lay beliefs about the link between poverty and dishonesty.

Main Methods:

  • Three preregistered online experiments (N=4,193) tested induced and primed scarcity.
  • Cross-national analysis linked poverty data with dishonesty indicators (47 countries).
  • Surveys assessed lay beliefs regarding poverty and dishonesty (N=658).

Main Results:

  • Neither induced nor primed scarcity significantly increased self-serving dishonesty.
  • No correlation was found between country-level poverty and self-serving dishonesty.
  • A majority, particularly men and those low in Agreeableness, wrongly believed poorer countries exhibit more dishonesty.

Conclusions:

  • Resource scarcity does not appear to drive self-serving dishonesty.
  • Lay beliefs about poverty and dishonesty are inaccurate and influenced by demographic factors.
  • This research challenges common assumptions about the impact of scarcity on ethical behavior.