Want to Be Successful? Hire a Liar

Want to know a scary secret?  You may have a propensity for hiring liars.

When it comes time to negotiating a big sale, it turns out we tolerate people stretching the truth, and even expect it, according to newswise.com.
New research from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business finds that the ability to deceive is viewed as a sign of competence in jobs that require selling.
Chicago Booth Assistant Professor of Behavioral Science Emma Levine and Johns Hopkins University’s Brian Gunia find that people don’t always disapprove of deception. In fact, they perceive the ability to deceive as an asset in occupations that are stereotyped as high in “selling orientation.”
“Deception, in the form of fraud, embezzling, and corruption, costs the economy a great deal of money and undermines the economy’s underlying moral fabric,” Gunia and Levine explain at the site. “Companies expose themselves to greater risk by hiring deceivers.”
In two pilot studies, the researchers asked participants to:
  • Rate 32 occupations as “high” or “low” in selling orientation, reflecting the degree to which occupational members persuade others to make immediate purchases as part of their jobs
  • Hone in on three occupations that are stereotyped as particularly high in selling orientation—sales, investment banking, advertising—and three occupations that participants viewed as relatively low in selling orientation—consulting, nonprofit management, accounting
  • Observe individuals lying or acting honestly in a variety of circumstances (for example, when reporting their expenses after a business trip or when completing an economic game in the laboratory)
  • Judge how successful and competent a liar or honest individual would be in occupations that were high or low in selling orientation—and, in two of the studies, whether to hire them into those occupations

Among the key findings: Participants believed that liars would be more successful in high-selling orientation occupations (such as banking, advertising, and sales) than low selling-orientation occupations (such as nonprofit management and accounting). Furthermore, participants believed that liars would be more successful than honest people in high-selling orientation occupations.
Indeed, when participants had the opportunity to hire individuals to complete selling-oriented tasks, they were more likely to hire deceivers for these tasks, even when their own money was on the line.
“We found that people don’t always disapprove of liars,” Levine says. “Instead, they think liars are likely to be successful in certain occupations—those that do a lot of high-pressure selling.”




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