"Honesty of Groups : Effects of Size and Gender Composition"

Abstract :
This paper studies unethical behavior by groups and provides systematic evidence on how
lying decisions are affected by group size and group gender composition. We conduct
an online experiment with 1,677 participants (477 groups) where group members can
communicate with each other via a novel video chat tool. Our key findings are that (i) larger
groups lie more, (ii) all-male groups stand out in their proclivity to lie, (iii) already the first
female in a group causes an honesty shift, and (iv) group behavior cannot be fully explained
by members’ individual honesty preferences.