Professor Gai Jia collaborated with other researchers to propose a self-diagnosticity theory arguing that compared to one’s native language, using a foreign language makes lying appear less self-diagnostic. Therefore, depending on which aspect of the self is salient, lying behaviour is increased or decreased. This article was published on the Journal of Consumer Research in January 2021.

Although most people lie in their native language (hereafter, L1), they can also lie in their second language (L2). As the number of multilingual consumers in the world increases, it is important for consumer researchers to understand how language shapes lying behaviour.

How does foreign language influence consumer dishonesty?

The research team suggests that lying behaviour is determined by the diagnosticity of the self-concept that is situationally salient. And language influences lying by changing its perceived self-diagnosticity. The team proposed that people tend to see their actions as less diagnostic of who they are in L2 than in L1 contexts. By decreasing self-diagnosticity, L2 should increase lying when it is diagnostic of an undesirable self but decrease lying when it is diagnostic of a desirable self.

Methodology

To test their hypotheses, the team conducted a series of studies spanning a variety of consumer settings (time saving, identity-faking, recommendation, insurance, compensation, performance-based rewards, restaurant choice), lies (about random events, private information, possessions, product features, performance, and food preferences), and languages (including Chinese, Dutch, English, French, and Korean). To avoid language bias in subjective ratings, real behaviour or scenario-based choices were elicited where participants were not asked about their reasons for making a particular choice.

Findings

The theory is supported by the finding that L2 increases selfish lying and three boundary conditions:
    (i) The effect is reduced when there is a salient cue of diagnosticity of the dishonest self in L2.
    (ii) The effect weakens when lying appears less diagnostic of the dishonest self in L1.
   (iii)  The effect reverses when lying is weakly diagnostic of the dishonest self but highly diagnostic of the competent self. In fact, L2 reduces prosocial lying that is diagnostic of the compassionate self, and the effect weakens as the diagnosticity of compassion decreases.

Contribution

- Theoretically, the paper provides a parsimonious explanation for how bilinguals would lie differently in their foreign versus native languages.
- More broadly, this research suggests that self-diagnosticity could drive language effects in various contexts, highlighting self-diagnosticity as a pivotal construct for understanding the decision-making of bilingual consumers.
- Practically, this research suggests that companies should not assume that consumers behave similarly in L2 and L1 language contexts. The studies address several consumer-relevant situations (e.g., personal details, insurance claims) and incentives (saving time, earning money, saving money) and the results might inform many other contexts.
- The self-diagnosticity theory suggests that increasing one’s awareness can produce paradoxical effects on dishonesty, given the complexity of the self-concept. Merely reiterating moral norms against dishonesty might be futile unless people see lying as self-diagnostic. Thus, in the design of marketing campaigns, appealing to one’s honest self should be a more effective strategy in minimising selfish lying, in both L1 and L2. Moreover, when lying is prosocial and the goal is to minimise it, appealing to the moral self in general might be counterproductive.