An experimental investigation on the influence of internalized morality on repayment behavior

People's behavior is constrained by external social norms, meanwhile they will internalize the norms they approved, thus making their own internalized morality. If someone violates this internalized norm, he will not only be punished by others, but also generate guilt or shame by himself, so he will adjust his behavior in order to avoid such feelings. Though loan experiments, this paper investigates the relationship between people's repayment behavior and their internalized morality of keeping their appointment. Also we explore the influence of other factors on people's repayment behavior, including rule preference, risk preference and social value orientation. The result shows that, in consideration of other factors, the stronger people's internalized morality, the better their repayment behavior.