IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jeborg/v230y2025ics0167268125000034.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Power distance and dishonest behavior

Author

Listed:
  • Cao, Qian
  • Li, Jianbiao
  • Niu, Xiaofei
  • Zhu, Chengkang

Abstract

Despite an extensive literature on the determinants of dishonesty, our understanding of how cultural values influence such behavior is limited. To address this gap, we conduct experiments to examine whether power distance, a cultural dimension identified by Hofstede (1984) and defined as the extent to which an individual accepts that power is unequally distributed, affects dishonest behavior. We find that power distance is not only positively correlated with dishonest behavior at both the individual and the country level, but also causally affects the likelihood of engaging in dishonest behavior. Our findings shed light on the role of cultural values in dishonest behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Cao, Qian & Li, Jianbiao & Niu, Xiaofei & Zhu, Chengkang, 2025. "Power distance and dishonest behavior," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:230:y:2025:i:c:s0167268125000034
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2025.106883
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167268125000034
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jebo.2025.106883?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cultural values; Power distance; Dishonest behavior; Social norms;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • Z10 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:230:y:2025:i:c:s0167268125000034. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jebo .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.