Kennedy School Study Links Cheating to Public Service

A study published in connection with the Harvard Kennedy School earlier this month found that university students and government nurses in Bangalore, India who cheated on a simple task were more likely to want government jobs.

The study was conducted by economists Rema N. Hanna, an associate professor at the Kennedy School, and Shing-Yi Wang, an assistant professor at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. The paper is affiliated with the Center for International Development at the University.

The students who participated in the study were chosen randomly, while the nurses worked for the government and were selected based on their participation in a previous study on their absences from work.

During the study, the participants were asked to roll a standard die 42 times and self-report their own score. The researchers determined the prevalence of lying by comparing the participants’ answers with the median score for dice points.

According to the study, nurses who were above the sample median of dice points were 7.1 percent more likely to be fraudulently absent than those below it. In addition, students who cheated on the dice game were then 6.3 percent more likely to want a government job.

The study concludes that a relationship exists between students lying on the dice test and their desire to go into public service and nurses lying on the dice test and their dishonesty about their reasons for missing work.

Though the study may have some implications for those who wish to enter public service in certain countries, Wang said in an email to The Crimson that the results do not necessarily apply outside India. She added that her motivation for the study was based on what she has seen in developing countries, though similar tests outside of India would make for interesting follow-up research.

Similarly, Jane J. Mansbridge, a professor at the Kennedy School who studies political leadership, said in an email to The Crimson that study does not hold much weight outside of “situations where there were good opportunities for corruption.”

Though Mansbridge is not affiliated with the researchers’ work, she had read the study and said that the findings are not necessarily applicable in places like the United States, where there is not much opportunity for corruption at the state or federal level of government.