Changes over Time in Academic Dishonesty at the Collegiate Level

Spiller, Shane; Crown, Deborah F.

doi:10.2466/pr0.1995.76.3.763

Cited by 26 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…This study, replicated over time, indicates that the percentage of undergraduates self-reporting engagement in various cheating behaviors during college has not changed substantially from Bower's 1963 survey (82% of 452 respondents) to McCabe and Trevino's 1993 survey (84% of 1793 respondents) (McCabe, 1997). The steady percentage of self-reported cheating has been substantiated by a meta-analysis (Brown and Emmett, 2001) and an additional study (Spiller and Crown, 1995). However, the severity of the cheating has increased substantially.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 55%

Factors Influencing Engineering Students’ Decisions to Cheat by Type of Assessment

et al. 2006

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 55%

Factors Influencing Engineering Students’ Decisions to Cheat by Type of Assessment

et al. 2006

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“…Academic dishonesty is distressingly prevalent on college campuses throughout the United States; with upwards of 80% of undergraduates reporting that they have cheated at least once during college with engineering students being reported among the highest offenders (Bowers, 1964;Brown, 1996;McCabe & Drinan, 1999;McCabe & Trevino, 1997;Brown & Emmett, 2001;Spiller & Crown, 1995). As an indication of the difference by major, McCabe (1997) collected data from 1,946 undergraduates at 16 institutions and found that 82% of engineering students self report engaging in any type of cheating compared to 91% of business students, 73% of social sciences students, and 71% of natural sciences students.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Implications of Academic Dishonesty in Undergraduate Engineering on Professional Ethical Behavior

Carpenter

Harding

Finelli³

2006

World Environmental and Water Resource Congress 2006

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Student academic dishonesty, commonly referred to as cheating, has become a serious problem at institutions of higher education. This is particularly true of engineering students who, according to previous research, are among the most likely to cheat in college. In addition, research on college students in all fields has indicated that such behavior is more common among students who participate in academic dishonesty at the high school level and that it is correlated with other deviant or unethical behaviors, such as petty theft and lying. If, in fact, such correlations do exist, one might hypothesize that there is also a relationship between academic dishonesty in college and deviant or unethical behavior in professional practice. Placing this relationship in the context of higher levels of academic dishonesty among engineering students only increases the seriousness of the problem for engineering educators, professionals, corporations, and society. To investigate this concern, the authors have undertaken two research projects. The first project focused on the Perceptions and Attitudes toward Cheating among Engineering Students (PACES-1). The goal of the research was to develop a better understanding of what students and faculty perceive as cheating and to use this knowledge to help instructors and institutions increase the level of academic integrity. The second project examined the correlation between academic dishonesty and unethical behavior with a majority of the students in the sample having worked for a considerable period of time during their college years. This provided a unique opportunity to study the connection between academic dishonesty and professional behavior within the same sample of individuals. This paper will discuss some of the implications of academic dishonesty on professional ethical behavior and provide an overview of the two investigations conducted by the authors. ImplicationsAcademic dishonesty is distressingly prevalent on college campuses throughout the United States; with upwards of 80% of undergraduates reporting that they have cheated at least once during college with engineering students being reported among the highest offenders (Bowers, 1964;Brown, 1996;McCabe & Drinan, 1999;McCabe & Trevino, 1997;Brown & Emmett, 2001;Spiller & Crown, 1995). As an indication of the difference by major, McCabe (1997) collected data from 1,946 undergraduates at 16 institutions and found that 82% of engineering students self report engaging in any type of cheating compared to 91% of business students, 73% of social sciences students, and 71% of natural sciences students.

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“…The infrequency of actual complaints filed by faculty belies the self-reports of students who say that cheating occurs regularly and frequently. Self-report of past cheating, of intentions to cheat, of reasons for cheating, and of attitudes toward cheating represent the dominant form of data on cheating (Spiller and Crown, 1995;Cizek, 1999). While such data are helpful and establish the seriousness of the cheating question, they do raise some concerns.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Cheating is almost universally condemned yet is widely engaged in, if self-reports are taken as credible (Moore, 1991). Whether or not cheating is on the increase is disputed by researchers (McCabe and Bowers, 1994;Spiller and Crown, 1995), but concern about the issue remains high (Crown and Spiller, 1998).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cheating and Moral Judgment in the College Classroom: A Natural Experiment

West

Ravenscroft

Shrader

2004

Journal of Business Ethics

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The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a natural experiment involving academic cheating by university students. We explore the relationship of moral judgment (as measured using the defining issues test) to actual behavior, as well as the relationship between the honesty of students self-reports and the extent of cheating. We were able to determine the extent to which students actually cheated on the take-home portion of an accounting exam. The take-home problem was not assigned with the intent of inducing cheating among students. However, the high rate of observed cheating prompted the instructor to return to class and ask the students to provide information on their motivation. The students' responses are the data analyzed in this natural experiment. We found that in a simple regression the relationship between moral judgment scores and cheating behavior was insignificant. However, when we tested whether including Utilizer scores (i.e. the extent to which people select actions based on notions of justice) affected the relationship of cheating and moral judgment we found that Utilizer affected the relationship significantly. Finally, we found that moral judgment and honesty were not related, but higher levels of cheating behavior related to less honesty. KeywordsAccounting, accounting students, cheating, defining issues test, ethics, honesty, moral judgement is a manuscript of an article from Journal of Business Ethics 54 (2004): 173, doi: 10.1007/s10551-004-9463-x. Posted with permission. The final publication is available at Springer Cheating and Moral Judgment in the College Classroom:A Natural Experiment AbstractThe purpose of this paper is to present the results of a natural experiment involving academic cheating by university students. We explore the relationship of moral judgment (as measured using the Defining Issues Test) to actual behavior, as well as the relationship between the honesty of students self-reports and the extent of cheating. We were able to determine the extent to which students actually cheated on the take-home portion of an accounting exam. The take-home problem was not assigned with the intent of inducing cheating among students. However, the high rate of observed cheating prompted the instructor to return to class and ask the students to provide information on their motivation.The students' responses are the data analyzed in this natural experiment.We found that in a simple regression the relationship between moral judgment scores and cheating behavior was insignificant. However, when we tested whether includingUtilizer scores (i.e. the extent to which people select actions based on notions of justice)affected the relationship of cheating and moral judgment we found that Utilizer affected the relationship significantly. Finally, we found that moral judgment and honesty were not related, but higher levels of cheating behavior related to less honesty.

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Changes over Time in Academic Dishonesty at the Collegiate Level

Cited by 26 publications

References 24 publications

Factors Influencing Engineering Students’ Decisions to Cheat by Type of Assessment

Factors Influencing Engineering Students’ Decisions to Cheat by Type of Assessment

The Implications of Academic Dishonesty in Undergraduate Engineering on Professional Ethical Behavior

Cheating and Moral Judgment in the College Classroom: A Natural Experiment

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