Abstract
We conducted an experiment in a high-immersive virtual reality environment to study the effect of the presence of a virtual observer on cheating behavior. Participants were placed in a virtual room and played 30 rounds of a cheating game without a chance of their cheating being detected. We varied whether or not a virtual observer (an avatar) was present in the room, and, if so, whether the avatar was actively staring at the decision maker or passively seated in a corner watching his smartphone. Results display significantly less cheating with an active than with a passive avatar, but not less cheating than in a control condition without an avatar. This suggests that an active (virtual) observer can intensify reputational concerns, but that the presence of someone passive and uninterested may actually alleviate such concerns.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 961-978 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| Journal | Experimental Economics |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Dec 2020 |
Funding
We would like to thank conference participants at TIBER 2017, VR Workshop Aachen 2017 and M-BEES 2018 for valuable comments. We would also like to thank the development team of the DAF Technology lab: Anton Sluijtman, Rob Vossen, Hans van den Dool, Erwin Peters and Dineke Kolen. The DAF Technology Lab is partially funded by a philanthropic donation from the PACCAR foundation/DAF Trucks, and with funding from the European Union, OP Zuid, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Province of Noord-Brabant and the municipalities of Tilburg and Gilze Rijen (PROJ-00076) awarded to Tilburg University. The usual exculpations apply.
Keywords
- Cheating
- Virtual reality experiment
- Watching eyes effect
