Cheating by economics and business undergraduate students: an exploratory international assessment

Abstract

Today's economics and business students are expected to be our future business people and potentially the economic leaders and politicians of tomorrow. Thus, their beliefs and practices are liable to affect the definition of acceptable economics and business ethics. The empirical evaluation of the phenomenon of cheating in academia has almost exclusively focused on the US context, and non-US studies usually only cover a narrow range of countries. This paper presents a comprehensive, cross-country study on the magnitude and determinants of cheating among economics and business undergraduates, involving 7,213 students enrolled in 42 universities located in 21 countries from the American (4), European (14), Africa (2) and Oceania (1) Continents. We found that the average magnitude of copying among economics and business undergraduates is quite high (62%) but there was significant cross-country heterogeneity. The probability of cheating is significantly lower in students enrolled in schools located in the Scandinavian, and the US and British Isles blocks when compared with their Southern European counterparts; quite surprisingly this probability is also lower for the African block. On a distinctly different level, however, students enrolled in schools in Western and especially Eastern European countries reveal statistically significant higher propensities towards committing academic fraud.

Academic honesty: Perceptions of millennial university students and the role of moderating variables

“…McCabe et al (2012) note how the incidence of cheating has remained high over the past years in spite of academic effort to address this phenomenon. Similarly, Teixeira & Rocha (2010) report consistently high incidences of student cheating in an international study undertaken at 42 universities located in 21 countries. The ease of access to electronic sources has precipitated an increase, specifically, in one aspect of academic dishonesty, viz.…”

“…They were more certain about the 'wrongness' of certain actions, did not experience the system as being too strict with regard to copying and felt more informed about ethical matters. Peppas (2002) and Teixeira and Rocha (2010) note how student values emanate from their cultures and Leask (2006) advances the idea that specifically plagiarism, as an act of academic dishonesty, is a culturally constructed concept resulting in views on this issue that may differ from one culture to the next. It is recognised that the effects of the apartheid system of unequal education have, to a great extent, still not been rectified twenty years after the advent of democracy in the country.…”

“…Anitsal et al (2009) note the link between student cheating and the beliefs they hold as well as the norms to which they adhere. Teixeira & Rocha (2010) found culture to influence the tendency of students to cheat and also found that students who attended universities in countries perceived to be corrupt evidenced higher incidences of academic dishonesty, leading them to conclude that "curbing cheating in the classroom may not be just a matter of targeted (higher) education policies but rather a change in attitude that is transversal to society as a whole" (Teixeira & Rocha 2010:696). Leask (2006) reinforces the view that plagiarism, specifically, is a culturally constructed concept necessitating that academics recognise and engage with cultural diversity.…”

“…Research into student academic dishonesty, or behaviour that runs counter to generally accepted norms of conduct (Shanahan et al 2013), and perceptions regarding academic honesty/dishonesty is sparse in non-US countries (Teixeira & Rocha 2010) and in non-western countries (Imran & Nordin 2013). Accordingly, the present study also seeks to contribute to an understanding of the perceptions of student academic honesty in a country where, up to this point, little academic research has been published on this matter.…”

The possible impact of university corruption on customers’ ethical standards

“…Teixeiras carried out a cross-country study on the determinants of economics and business undergraduate cheating that involves 7213 students in 21 countries from the American (4), European (14), Africa (2) and Oceania (1) continents and 7213 students. 25 She found that the average magnitude of copying among the economics and business undergraduates was quite high (62 per cent) but with a signifi cant cross-country differences. She suggested that average cheating propensity in academia is signifi cantly correlated with ' real world ' business corruption.…”