Framing, decision-aid systems, and culture: Exploring influences on fraud investigations

We conducted an experiment to investigate the influence of the framing of reports, the type of decision-aid system, and the cultural background of the decision maker on the intention to investigate fraud. We compared decisions made from reports generated by automated and manual systems to explore whether automated systems exacerbated or ameliorated the framing bias. We also explored whether the cultural background of participants—Americans and Mexicans—influenced the decision. Results indicated that the influence of type of system and framing are culturally dependent. When the framing highlights the possibility of the results being incorrect, people take a more cautious approach and the intention to investigate fraud is lower compared to the framing that highlights the probability of the results being correct. Automated systems appear to ameliorate the framing bias in the American sample and preserve the framing bias in the Mexican sample. The reason for the different impact of automated systems appears to be in how Americans and Mexicans perceive decision-aid systems. Americans are less likely to trust automated systems and more likely to trust manual systems than Mexicans. Mexicans, on the other hand, rely more on automated systems and evaluate their reputation at a higher level than Americans.

► Our experiment examines factors that influence the intention to investigate fraud.
► Factors studied: type of decision-aid system, framing of the report, and culture.
► Fraud investigations are less likely when reports suggest the output is incorrect.
► Automated decision-aid systems and framing are culturally dependent.
► Americans trust manual systems while Mexicans rely on automated systems.