From research: How does the threat of negative consequences affect the fairness of behaviour?

The authors of the experiment, assoc. prof. Mgr. et Mgr. Ing. Štěpán Bahník and Ing. Marek Vranka, investigated whether people behave more dishonestly under the condition that the negative consequences of their dishonest behaviour are uncertain. As people decide whether to behave dishonestly, they consider not only the benefits of this behavior, but also the impact of their decisions on others.

During the experiment, participants were given a task in which they could break the rules for their own personal benefit, but this could harm others. The authors then varied the probability of causing harm, while holding the amount of harm caused constant.

The results show that the probability of causing harm to others did not fundamentally alter the urge to behave dishonestly. This suggests that uncertainty about the negative consequences of behavior does not have a clear impact on dishonesty.

Full read available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1544612323007456?via%3Dihub