title: Winning a competition predicts dishonest behavior.
abstract: Winning a competition engenders subsequent unrelated unethical behavior. Five studies reveal that after a competition has taken place winners behave more dishonestly than competition losers. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrate that winning a competition increases the likelihood of winners to steal money from their counterparts in a subsequent unrelated task. Studies 3a and 3b demonstrate that the effect holds only when winning means performing better than others (i.e., determined in reference to others) but not when success is determined by chance or in reference to a personal goal. Finally, study 4 demonstrates that a possible mechanism underlying the effect is an enhanced sense of entitlement among competition winners.
authors.affiliation: Guilford Glazer Faculty of Business & Management, Department of Business Administration, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 8410501, Israel; samos@bgu.ac.il.
authors.forename: Amos
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schurr
authors.affiliation: School of Education, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mount Scopus Campus, Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem 91905, Israel; The Federmann Center for the Study of Rationality, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Edmond Safra Campus, Givat Ram, Jerusalem 91904, Israel.
authors.forename: Ilana
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ritov
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003163:Competitive Behavior; D008192:Deception; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: behavioral economics; behavioral ethics; competition; corruption; decision making
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