Honesty in Everyday Behaviour

What it measures

Thirteen items from the Revised Morally Debatable Behaviors Scale assess the degree to which a person views a range of dishonest everyday behaviours as unacceptable or acceptable.

Response format

Response format not stated; likely 7-point

Scale items

• Taking and driving away a car belonging to someone else (joyriding).
• Someone accepting a bribe in the course of their duties.
• Buying something you knew was stolen.
• Cheating on an exam.
• Avoiding a fare on public transport.
• Claiming welfare benefits you're not entitled to.
• Married men or women having an affair.
• Failing to report damage you've done accidentally to a parked vehicle.
• Threatening workers who refuse to join a strike.
• Political assassination.
• Lying in your own interest.
• Cheating on your taxes if you have a chance.
• Keeping money found.

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

Honesty-dishonesty subscale of the Revised Morally Debatable Behaviors Scale (Katz, Santman, and Lonero 1994); applied by Wirtz and Kum (2004). Alpha .90. Items reflect behaviours varying in severity; researchers should verify whether all items are appropriate for their context, as some (e.g., political assassination) may be tangential to most marketing research applications.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Wirtz, J., & Kum, D. (2004). Consumer cheating on service guarantees. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 32(2), 159–175.

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