The impact of a sense of belonging on truth-telling and the role of gender

This study uses an online experiment to explore the effect of belongingness in promoting honesty and how this is affected by gender. Each participant in the treatment group was assigned to the subgroup with which they most closely identified, while participants in control group they were randomly assigned to non-identified subgroups. Participants reported the outcomes of unmonitored die rolls, with honesty incentivized by collective bonuses. The results show that the treatment group experienced a stronger sense of belonging and reported more honestly than the control group, confirming the overall effect of belongingness on truthfulness. We also identified a correlation between the degree of belongingness and honesty across subgroups. A post hoc analysis of gender variations revealed that women demonstrated a stronger sense of belonging and a higher level of honesty. Notably, while the effect of belongingness on honesty was significant among women, it was not statistically significant for men. These findings highlight belongingness as a key factor in ethical behavior, particularly for women, with implications for policy design in many contexts.