Here’s a question for you: Let’s say you wanted to take a sick day from work, but you’re not really sick. Would you find it easier to do so by telephone, or by sending an email or text message?
Chances are, if you could, you would choose the latter option.
Or . . . at least that’s what researchers at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business concluded during a recent study of 170 students.
In short, it seems that the more impersonal the method of communication people use, the easier it is to be less than truthful.
The study divided students into two groups: “brokers” versus “buyers” of stock.
To encourage participation, the researchers offered cash incentives to those who played brokers based on how much they sold, and to those playing buyers based on the end value of any “stocks” they purchased. Then, the researchers thickened the plot by giving the brokers inside information that the stock they were selling would soon lose half of its value. The buyers would remain completely unaware of this until after the fact.
The student brokers and buyers conducted stock transactions in four ways—face-to-face, via video, by audio and through text messaging.
Once the role play concluded, the buyers were informed about the deception and asked whether they felt deceived by their brokers. Read the rest of this entry »