Publications

Article

'Many Others Are Doing It, So Why Shouldn't I?': How Being in Larger Competitions Leads to More Cheating

By: Celia Chui, Maryam Kouchaki and Francesca Gino

In many spheres of life, from applying for a job to participating in an athletic contest to vying for a date, we face competition. Does the size of the competition pool affect our propensity to behave unethically in our pursuit of the prize? We propose that it does.... View Details

Keywords: Unethical Behavior; Cheating; Competitors; Social Norms; Ethics; Behavior; Competition; Societal Protocols

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August 1981
Case

West Point: The Cheating Incident (C)

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger

An outline of the Secretary of the Army's decision in the matter of the 1976 cheating scandal at West Point. View Details

Keywords: Higher Education; Ethics; Judgments; Government Administration; Public Administration Industry; Education Industry

March 2014
Article

Cheating More for Less: Upward Social Comparisons Motivate the Poorly Compensated to Cheat

By: Leslie K. John, George Loewenstein and Scott Rick

Intuitively, people should cheat more when cheating is more lucrative, but we find that the effect of performance-based pay rates on dishonesty depends on how readily people can compare their pay rate to that of others. In Experiment 1, participants were paid 5 cents... View Details

Keywords: Dishonesty; Social Comparison; Pay Secrecy; Motivation and Incentives; Fairness; Decision Making; Compensation and Benefits

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August 1981
Case

West Point: The Cheating Incident (B)

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger

A review of the activities following the expose of the cheating incident at West Point and leading up to the Secretary of the Army's decision on the situation. View Details

Keywords: Higher Education; Ethics; Judgments; Government Administration; Public Administration Industry; Education Industry

18 Dec 2013
HBS Case

Lessons from the Lance Armstrong Cheating Scandal

Cyclist Lance Armstrong overcame incredible personal adversity to reach the highest levels of success. Then, just as spectacularly, he fell from grace in a public scandal that destroyed not only his reputation, but also the reputations of many others who had devoted... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Sports

June 1981 (Revised February 1983)
Case

West Point: The Cheating Incident (A)

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger

Presents a review of published data on the 1976 cheating scandal at West Point. Written from the perspective of the Academy Superintendent, it raises issues of ethics, organizational change and action planning in the face of conflicting stakeholder interests. View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Higher Education; Ethics; Government Administration; Conflict and Resolution; Planning; Public Administration Industry; Education Industry

May 2024
Supplement

GameStop: Social Media Finds a Cheat Code (B)

By: Joseph Pacelli and Sarah Mehta

This case accompanies “GameStop: Social Media Finds a Cheat Code (A),” no. 124-005. It provides an update on pertinent events from 2021 to 2023. View Details

Keywords: Finance; Markets; Value; Financial Services Industry; Video Game Industry; United States

27 Feb 2012
Research & Ideas

When Researchers Cheat (Just a Little)

Leslie K. John is keenly aware of the pressure researchers feel to get results. When her graduate studies in behavioral decision research didn't produce significant findings that led to publication in a prestigious journal, John felt disheartened. "The incentive... View Details

Keywords: by Katie Johnston; Education

05 Aug 2015
Research & Ideas

How Hormones Foretell Whether People Will Cheat

of whether someone will behave unethically. Two, among those who do cheat, cheating reduces levels of the hormone associated with psychological stress. In other words, people may use cheating as a means of... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

Web

RCS Cheat Sheet - Research Computing Services

Help RCS Cheat Sheet 43ms Check out the links below to quickly get started with our statistical/data services, high-throughput compute cluster, research software, and self-paced training. For additional assistance, please see our help... View Details

June 2024
Teaching Note

GameStop: Social Media Finds a Cheat Code

By: Joseph Pacelli

21 Sep 2015
News

Caught! Impact of emission cheating on VW’s brand and future in US

October 2023 (Revised March 2024)
Case

GameStop: Social Media Finds a Cheat Code (A)

By: Joseph Pacelli and Sarah Mehta

This case covers the events leading up to the 2021 GameStop short squeeze. Using GameStop as an illustrative example, the case explores the rise in retail trading, increased financial information sharing on social media, and the gamification of investing enabled by... View Details

Keywords: Value; Stocks; Financial Markets; Social Media; Investment; Applications and Software; Financial Services Industry; United States

July 9, 2012
Blog Post

Is It Cheating to Have a Side Project?

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger, Charles F. Kiefer and Paul B. Brown

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Article

The Deception Spiral: Corporate Obfuscation Leads to Perceptions of Immorality and Cheating Behavior

By: D.M. Markowitz, M. Kouchaki, J.T. Hancock and F. Gino

In four studies, we evaluated how corporate misconduct relates to language patterns, perceptions of immorality, and unethical behavior. First, we analyzed nearly 190 codes of conduct from S&P 500 manufacturing companies and observed that corporations with ethics... View Details

Keywords: Obfuscation; Corporate Unethicality; Deception; Deception Spiral; Organizations; Values and Beliefs; Ethics; Perception; Behavior