How job pressures and extrinsic rewards affect lying behavior

Abstract

This study investigates how two situational elements influence people's propensity to lie about their own performance. We hypothesized that (a) people are more likely to lie when rewarded for doing so, (b) performance pressures at work lead people to lie about their performance, and c) the joint effect of the two elements led to the highest level of lying. Reward and pressure were manipulated in ah experiment with 140 participants. The findings support both hypotheses. The results have implications for the manner in which corporations pressure and reward their employees, suggesting that unsavory behavior such as lying is a natural outgrowth of high pressure, high reward work situations.