The primacy of honest reputations

Abstract

Reputations play a pivotal role in everyday life, and having a good reputation is deemed a highly valuable currency in the social world. While much of the reputation literature insufficiently distinguishes between varying types of good (or 'cooperative') reputations-e.g., sociable versus honest, here we review recent research pointing to their distinctiveness. Moreover, countering the growing behavioral ethics literature documenting that people are sometimes dishonest, and in some cases, even believe dishonesty is appropriate and ethical, we assert that when it comes to reputations, honesty largely dominates. Specifically, we review recent work suggesting people are primarily concerned about acquiring and maintaining honest (vs. other commendable) reputations, as well as evidence of the substantial consequences of having an honest reputation.

Keywords: Benevolence; Honesty; Impression management; Morality; Sociability.