“I don’t believe that you believe what I believe”: an experiment on misperceptions of social norms and whistleblowing

Social norms fundamentally shape economic decision-making, yet individuals often systematically misperceive what others think and do, potentially leading to suboptimal social outcomes. We examine how such misperceptions affect behaviour and whether correcting them can induce a behavioural change, using whistleblowing as an application. Through survey data and an incentivized laboratory experiment, we demonstrate that while a majority of individuals (>75%) privately support whistleblowing, almost half (45.92%) misperceive the majority’s view. Both personal normative beliefs and normative expectations strongly predict whistleblowing behaviour. Their alignment is particularly noteworthy: individuals who personally support whistleblowing are more likely to report misconduct when they believe others share their views. A social information intervention revealing the true distribution of peer support affects subgroups differently: while it increases whistleblowing behaviour among individuals who already personally favour reporting misconduct, there is no effect among those who are personally resistant to it. Still, given the relatively low cost of such social information interventions, they offer an economically viable means of achieving behavioural change in at least some of the targeted individuals.