Abstract
AbstractHow does foreign language influence consumer dishonesty? We propose a self-diagnosticity theory arguing that compared to one’s native language, using a foreign language makes lying appear less self-diagnostic, thereby increasing or decreasing lying depending on which aspect of the self is salient. In situations where lying reflects an undesirable, dishonest self, using a foreign language increases lying. In contrast, in situations where lying primarily reflects a desirable (e.g., competent or compassionate) self, using a foreign language decreases lying. Ten studies, spanning various languages, consumer contexts, and experimental paradigms, support the theory. The studies establish that the effect of language on lying jointly depends on the self-diagnosticity of lying and on whether lying is diagnostic of a positive or a negative aspect of the self. The findings highlight self-diagnosticity as a valuable lens to understand the behavior of bilingual consumers and offer practical guidance for addressing dishonesty in the marketplace.
Highlights
Advance Access publication 23 January 2021 companies more than $5 billion annually and prompts significantly higher premiums for all drivers (Insurance Research Council 2012)
We test whether the language effect can reverse when lying is weakly diagnostic of dishonesty but concurrently diagnostic of competence
We investigated selfish lying as a function of the diagnosticity of the dishonest self
Summary
Advance Access publication 23 January 2021 companies more than $5 billion annually and prompts significantly higher premiums for all drivers (Insurance Research Council 2012). Researchers have investigated how much people lie (Mazar, Amir, and Ariely 2008), the content of lies (e.g., emotions) (Andrade and Ho 2009; Sengupta, Dahl, and Gorn 2002), the motivation to lie (e.g., social comparison) (Argo et al 2006; Goldsmith, Roux, and Ma 2018; Mazar and Zhong 2010), consequences of lying (Anthony and Cowley 2012; Cowley and Anthony 2019), and moral judgment of lies (Argo and Shiv 2012) They have investigated specific dishonest consumer behaviors, such as purchases of counterfeit products (Wang, Stoner, and John 2019; Wilcox, Kim, and Sen 2009), lying in consumer surveys (de Jong, Fox, and Steenkamp 2015), the influence of social bonds on lying (Nikolova et al 2018), and lying to harmful brands (Rotman, Khamitov, and Connors 2018). Language (L2 vs. L1) influences advertising effectiveness (Krishna and Ahluwalia 2008; Luna and Peracchio 2001, 2005; Puntoni, de Langhe, and van Osselaer 2009) and brand evaluations (Leclerc, Schmitt, and Dube 1994; Shrum et al 2012; Zhang and Schmitt 2004); L2 use can polarize scale ratings
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