Query: academic dishonesty

title: Prevalence and Correlates of Academic Dishonesty: Towards a Sustainable University
abstract: Academic dishonesty (AD) is a problem that affects all higher education institutions. It hurts their reputation, undermines integrity programs, and sidelines sustainability efforts. To understand its negative impact, the empirical study of AD is a critical issue. Up to now, the majority of research on AD has taken place in the North American context. The current research analyzes the prevalence of AD in a non American university and, focusing on individual differences, examines some of its causes and consequences. The results prove that: (1) AD is a problem that occurs frequently among students; (2) three dimensions of the big five personality model correlate with AD. These are conscientiousness (r 0.49, p 0.01) extraversion (r 0.39, p 0.01) and agreeableness (r 0.14, p 0.01) (3) AD is associated to students' GPA (Grade Point Average) (r 0.34, p 0.01) and contextual performance (r 0.50, p 0.01) (4) personality accounts for 30% of AD variance (R 0.55, p 0.01) and (5) AD and some of the studied individual differences explain 38% and 41% of GPA and contextual performance variance (R 0.62, p 0.01 and R 0.64, p 0.01) Implications for research and practice are discussed.

title: What motivates academic dishonesty in students? A reinforcement sensitivity theory explanation.
abstract: Academic dishonesty (AD) is an increasing challenge for universities worldwide. The rise of the Internet has further increased opportunities for students to cheat.  In this study, we investigate the role of personality traits defined within Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST) as potential determinants of AD. RST defines behaviour as resulting from approach (Reward Interest/reactivity, goal drive, and Impulsivity) and avoidance (behavioural inhibition and Fight Flight Freeze) motivations. We further consider the role of deep, surface, or achieving study motivations in mediating/moderating the relationship between personality and AD. SAMPLE A sample of UK undergraduates (N 240) METHOD All participants completed the RST Personality Questionnaire, a short form version of the study process questionnaire and a measure of engagement in AD, its perceived prevalence, and seriousness.  Results showed that RST traits account for additional variance in AD. Mediation analysis suggested that GDP predicted dishonesty indirectly via a surface study approach while the indirect effect via deep study processes suggested dishonesty was not likely. Likelihood of engagement in AD was positively associated with personality traits reflecting Impulsivity and Fight Flight Freeze behaviours. Surface study motivation moderated the Impulsivity effect and achieving motivation the FFFS effect such that cheating was even more likely when high levels of these processes were used.  The findings suggest that motivational personality traits defined within RST can explain variance in the likelihood of engaging in dishonest academic behaviours.

title: The Role of Personal Values and Student Achievement in Academic Dishonesty
abstract: Although multiple individual and environmental causes of students' dishonest behaviors have been well documented in past research, not much attention has been paid to the human values perspective yet. The current study investigates the direct relationship of values with academic dishonesty, as well as the moderating role of students' past achievements (grades) Analyses were performed on 219 Polish university students (M 46, F 173) Questionnaire measures were used, including Schwartz's Portrait of Values Questionnaire. It was found that socially orientated human values (Conformity and Tradition) were negatively related to unethical behaviors, while personally focused values (Hedonism, Power, and Stimulation) correlate positively. Additional analyses revealed that the relationships of some values (Achievement and Security) with academic dishonesty are significantly moderated by students' academic performance (grades) In the discussion we suggest that academic dishonesty is a pattern of behavior that can be successfully investigated from the perspective of human values in order to identify its correlates and to plan preventive actions.

title: Collection Based Education by Distance and Face to Face: Learning Outcomes and Academic Dishonesty
abstract: Assembling and curating specimen collections is a valuable educational exercise that integrates subject specific skills such as field collection, curation, identification, organization, and interpretation of relationships. Collection projects have been used primarily in face to face classes, but they can be readily adapted for distance education. The primary challenges to using collection projects in distance education center on two concerns: (1) whether distance students learn as much as their face to face peers and (2) whether academic dishonesty occurs more often in distance education than face to face. This study addressed both concerns by assessing learning outcomes in two entomology courses with both face to face and distance sections and evaluating the frequency of specimen based plagiarism (submitting specimens collected by someone else) An ungraded survey testing students' insect identification knowledge found equivalent learning outcomes in face to face and distance classes. Insect collections were monitored for plagiarized (resubmitted or purchased) specimens in a 5 year "mark release recapture" investigation. Academic dishonesty was detected in fewer than 2% of collections; cheating was more than 12 times more likely in distance than in face to face classes. This study's findings raise the possibility that distance learning assessments can be artificially inflated by cheating, suggesting that evaluations of distance learning should be considered in light of academic dishonesty. These results highlight the benefits and challenges of collections as teaching tools in distance education and underscore the need for instructors to be vigilant about academic integrity.

title: Effects of performance goals and social norms on academic dishonesty in a test.
abstract: Previous research has shown that achievement goals affect the frequency of academic dishonesty. However, mixed findings suggest that especially the effect of performance goals might depend on contextual factors.  We wanted to investigate whether crucial aspects of the achievement situation influence the magnitude of the effect of performance goals (here: focused on appearance) on dishonesty. Specifically, we propose that social norms regarding the acceptance of dishonesty moderate the positive effect of performance goals on academic dishonesty. SAMPLE We sampled 105 German university students. They were teacher trainees, mostly in their first year at university and on average 20.6 (SD 3.6) years old (72.4% female) METHOD We conducted a 2 (induced appearance goals vs. no goal induction) x 2 (cheating confederate vs. no observable cheating behaviour by this person) experiment. A manipulation check confirmed that the manipulation of appearance goals was successful. Cheating behaviour was observed by a confederate student and subsequently classified by two raters. Additionally, participants' dishonesty in self presentation questions was measured using deviations from baseline measures.  The induction of appearance goals only led to increased cheating when the social norm suggested that cheating behaviour was an acceptable way to increase performance (i.e. cheating confederate condition) For deceiving, we found a positive main effect of appearance goals. Appearance goals mediated these effects from goal manipulation on academic dishonesty.  Taken together, our results highlight that the mixed findings on the effect of performance goals on academic dishonesty might be due to uninvestigated moderators such as social norms. Future research should build on these findings to identify additional moderators.

title: Biosocial Risk Factors for Academic Dishonesty: Testing a New Mediation Model in Young Adults
abstract: Researchers increasingly recognize that biological risk factors contribute to the development of antisocial behavior. Although academic dishonesty is a pervasive problem, this type of antisocial behavior has not been investigated in biosocial research. This article addresses this limitation by examining the relationship between academic dishonesty and resting heart rate in a sample of undergraduates (N 149, 65.69% female, M age 19.62 years) Subjects completed self report academic dishonesty questionnaires, and heart rate was measured during a resting period. Low resting heart rate was associated with more frequent and varied academic dishonesty in females, but not in males. Self control and sensation seeking, but not fearlessness, mediated this relationship in females. To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine a biological risk factor for academic dishonesty. This is also the first study to examine self control as a possible mediator of the resting heart rate antisocial behavior relationship in adults. Findings suggest a potential pathway in young adults through which low resting heart rate may affect antisocial behavior.

title: Exploring the Link between Academic Dishonesty and Economic Delinquency: A Partial Least Squares Path Modeling Approach
abstract: This paper advances the study of the relationship between the attitude towards academic dishonesty and other types of dishonest and even fraudulent behavior, such as tax evasion and piracy. It proposes a model in which the attitudes towards two types of cheating and fraud are systematically analyzed in connection with a complex set of latent construct determinants and control variables. It attempts to predict the tolerance towards tax evasion and social insurance fraud and piracy, using academic cheating as the main predictor. The proposed model surveys 504 student respondents, uses a partial least squares path modeling analysis, and employs two subsets of latent constructs to account for context and disposition. The relationship between the outcome variable and the subset of predictors that account for context is mediated by yet another latent construct Preoccupation about Money that has been shown to strongly influence people's attitude towards a whole range of social and economic behaviors. The results show academic dishonesty is a statistically significant predictor of an entire range of unethical and fraudulent behavior acceptance, and confirm the role played by both contextual and dispositional variables; moreover, they show that dispositional and contextual variables tend to be segregated according to how they impact the outcome. They also show that money priming does not act as a mediator, in spite of its stand alone impact on the outcome variables. The most important result, however, is that the effect size of the main predictor is large. The contribution of this paper is two fold: it advances a line of research previously sidestepped, and it proposes a comprehensive and robust model with a view to establish a hierarchy of significance and effect size in predicting deviance and fraud. Most of all, this research highlights the central role played by academic dishonesty in predicting the acceptance of any type of dishonest behavior, be it in the workplace, at home, or when discharging one's responsibilities as a citizen. The results presented here give important clues as to where to start intervening in order to discourage the acceptance of deviance and fraud. Educators, university professors, and academic administrators should be at the forefront of targeted campaigns and policies aimed at fighting and reducing academic dishonesty.

title: How is the ethical dissonance index affected by technology, academic dishonesty type and individual differences?
abstract: Academic dishonesty has been growing in both digital and analog settings. The present study aimed to generalize the ethical dissonance index (EDI) which was established in a sample of Israeli school students as the gap between the pervasiveness of academic dishonesty and its perceived legitimacy. Furthermore, the study examined how technology, dishonesty type and individual differences affect these factors. The study employed a scenario based approach an indirect strategy for deducing academic dishonest behaviors. Participants were 1055 school students from various grade levels, geographic locations and religious/ethnic sectors. Results regarding the role of technology revealed that, overall, digital academic dishonesty was less pervasive and deemed more legitimate compared to analog dishonesty. However, this relationship varied as a function of dishonesty type. Findings confirmed that students experienced some level of ethical dissonance, generalizing the EDI. Notably, individual differences did not affect the relationship between media, dishonesty type and the EDI.

title: Rationalizing the Decision to Cheat: An Empirical Analysis to Determine Whether Social Rational Orientation Can Predict Academic Dishonesty
abstract: Academic dishonesty is a wide spread issue in educational institutions, including higher education. This study determined if there was a correlation between social rational action orientations and the likelihood of engaging in academically dishonest acts. The relationship between course value and academic dishonesty was also examined. The researchers obtained data from 357 undergraduate students at a large public university in the Southwest. The instrument included a scale that was created to determine student social rational orientation membership. To measure potential academic dishonesty behaviors, vignettes were created and manipulated to portray either low or high perceived course value. Overall, this study found that social rational orientation and perceived course value predicted the likelihood of engaging in academically dishonest acts. This study uncovered new variables that can be used to predict academic dishonesty by elucidating how students rationalize their decision to cheat.

title: Unveiling a Painpoint in a College Classroom: College Students' Perceptions of Academic Dishonesty and Some Tests of Correlations
abstract: In educational institutions, a culture of academic honesty is valued. However, while there is much awareness about the consequences of academic dishonesty, this is regarded as an endless academic concern. A sequential explanatory mixed methods study assessed and explored the perceptions of 121 college students of a private Philippine university about academic dishonesty. Initially, a researcher constructed questionnaire was administered to measure the perceptions of the respondents about academic dishonesty and correlated to their age, gender and course. A focus group discussion from seven purposively sampled respondents was conducted to extract deeper meanings of the survey results. The quantitative results disclosed that the college students have high perceptions about academic dishonesty. Meanwhile, age and gender were directly linked to academic dishonesty whereas the course did not associate with the college students' perceptions of academic dishonesty. Important information has been elicited and surfaced during the focus group discussions. This created complementarity of the quantitative and qualitative data and eventually resulted in a more profound, reflective analysis. School policy recommendations and interventions are suggested to enable the university to establish and sustain academic honesty as a culture within and among the members of the academic community especially its students, the end receivers of good education.