Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/100231
People May Cheat���But Don���t Call Them Cheaters Schools might curb incidents of cheating among students simply by revising the the wording of their academic honor codes, say Christopher Bryan, a professor of psychology at the University of San Diego in California; Gabrielle Adams, a professor of organizational behavior at London Business School in the United Kingdom; and Beno��t Monin, a professor of psychology and organizational behavior at Stanford University in California. The authors conducted three experiments, including one in which participants were asked to think of a number from one to ten in their heads; then, they were told they would receive $5 if the number was even, but nothing if it was odd. However, before making that choice, some participants read instructions with the words ���Please don���t Christopher cheat,��� while others read instructions with the words Bryan ���Please don���t be a cheater.��� More participants instructed not to cheat reported having even numbers than those instructed not to be cheaters. This held true whether the experiments were conducted face-to-face or in private, online settings. ���The term ���cheater��� is relevant to people���s identities and has implications for the kind of people they would be if they were to cheat,��� says Adams. The authors also bring up an interesting question: What Gabrielle Adams happens to people who see the words ���be a cheater��� but cheat anyway? Over time, they speculate, those people might come to view cheating as part of their identities. This finding offers a low-cost way for business and academia to encourage more ethical behavior, simply by using subtle linguistic cues in their communications. For instance, campaigns against drunk driving might be more successful if they used selfreferential words such as ���Don���t be a drunk,��� rather Beno��t than less personal slogans such as ���Don���t drink and Monin drive.��� Or states could boost voter turnout by asking people whether they were likely ���to be voters,��� rather than whether they were likely ���to vote.��� ���When Cheating Would Make You a Cheater:��Implicating the Self Prevents Unethical Behavior��� is forthcoming in the Journal of Experimental Psychology. Free Returns Boost Online Sales Some may question whether online companies that offer unlimited free returns of goods are losing money on the deal. On the contrary, offering universal free product returns is a savvy business strategy, according to Amanda Bower of Washington and Lee University���s Williams School of Commerce, Economics, and Politics in Lexington, Virginia, and James Maxham III of the University of Virginia���s McIntire School of Commerce in Charlottesville. The pair examined customer spending data from two leading online retailers over 49 months. They found that when companies offered free shipping on returned items, customers��� purchases increased by between 58 percent and 357 percent over the next two years. However, when consumers had to pay for return shipping, their purchases decreased by between 74 percent and 100 percent over that period. Many retailers assume that if customers have to return an item because it doesn���t suit their needs, and not because of retailer error, they don���t mind paying to ship it back. But in that case, the customer pays for shipping both ways, with nothing to show for it in the end. This can curtail customers��� future purchases considerably. And for those retailers who fear customers will abuse a free return policy? Bower and Maxham offer this finding: In the two years after the customers in the study returned a product, not one returned another. Bower adds that retailers need to examine their data closely and base their strategies on ���how consumers are actually going to act, not on what retailers think consumers should do.��� ���Return Shipping Policies of Online Retailers: Normative Assumptions and the Long-Term Consequences of Fee and Free Returns��� appeared in the September 2012 issue of the Journal of Marketing. BizEd January/February 2013 57