Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/101902 
Year of Publication: 
2014
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 8286
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We report the results of a field experiment on honesty conducted on 427 Israeli soldiers fulfilling their mandatory military service. Each soldier rolled a six-sided die in private and reported the outcome to the unit's cadet coordinator. For every point reported, the soldier received an additional half hour early release from the army base on Thursday afternoon. We find that the higher a soldier's military entrance score, the more honest he is on average. Moreover, to the extent that honesty is a valued trait, regression discontinuity analysis reveals that the Israeli military has optimally set the threshold score to qualify to be an officer. Our results bear important implications for the design of screening tests that evaluate employee honesty.
Subjects: 
experimental methods
honesty
personnel selection
soldiers
high non-monetary stakes
regression discontinuity design
JEL: 
C93
M51
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
630.54 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.