Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • Article
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Signing at the Beginning vs at the End Does Not Decrease Dishonesty

By: Ariella S. Kristal, A.V. Whillans, Max Bazerman, Francesca Gino, Lisa Shu, Nina Mazar and Dan Ariely
  • Format:Print
  • | Pages:5
ShareBar

Abstract

Honest reporting is essential for society to function well. However, people frequently lie when asked to provide information, such as misrepresenting their income to save money on taxes. A landmark finding published in PNAS (Shu, Mazar, Gino, Ariely, and Bazerman, 2012, “Signing at the Beginning Makes Ethics Salient and Decreases Dishonest Self-reports in Comparison to Signing at the End”) provided evidence for a simple way of encouraging honest reporting: asking people to sign a veracity statement at the beginning instead of at the end of a self-report form. Since this finding was published, various government agencies have adopted this practice. However, in this project, we failed to replicate this result. Across five conceptual replications (N = 4,559) and one highly powered, pre-registered, direct replication (N = 1,235) conducted with the authors of the original paper, we observed no effect of signing first on honest reporting. Given the policy applications of this result, it is important to update the scientific record regarding the veracity of these results.

Keywords

Morality; Nudge; Policy-making; Replication; Honesty; Moral Sensibility; Behavior; Policy

Citation

Kristal, Ariella S., A.V. Whillans, Max Bazerman, Francesca Gino, Lisa Shu, Nina Mazar, and Dan Ariely. "Signing at the Beginning vs at the End Does Not Decrease Dishonesty." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 117, no. 13 (March 31, 2020): 7103–7107.
  • Find it at Harvard
  • Read Now

About The Authors

Ashley V. Whillans

Negotiation, Organizations & Markets
→More Publications

Max H. Bazerman

Negotiation, Organizations & Markets
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • June 4, 2025
    • Harvard Business Review (website)

    Employee Stress Is a Business Risk—Not an HR Problem

    By: Marion Chomse, Lydia Roos, Reeva Misra and Ashley Whillans
    • Spring 2025
    • Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics

    An Insider’s Perspective on How to Reduce Fraud in the Social Sciences

    By: Max Bazerman
    • April 2025
    • Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

    Buying (Quality) Time Predicts Relationship Satisfaction

    By: A.V. Whillans, Jessie Pow and Joe J. Gladstone
More from the Authors
  • Employee Stress Is a Business Risk—Not an HR Problem By: Marion Chomse, Lydia Roos, Reeva Misra and Ashley Whillans
  • An Insider’s Perspective on How to Reduce Fraud in the Social Sciences By: Max Bazerman
  • Buying (Quality) Time Predicts Relationship Satisfaction By: A.V. Whillans, Jessie Pow and Joe J. Gladstone
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College.