Faculty reluctance to report student plagiarism: A case study

Abstract

Internationally, student plagiarism is on the rise despite measures introduced by universities to detect its occurrence and to institute actions to prevent and address this practice. One of the reasons that may contribute to this problem is the reluctance of faculty to report student plagiarism. Through the medium of a disguised South African case study, this paper advances reasons to explain this oversight. Such reasons include psychological discomfort, opportunity costs, lack of procedural clarity, administrative bureaucracy and a prevailing culture of managerialism. Recommendations are furnished to faculty alerting them to practices of which they must be aware when intending to report student plagiarism. Recommendations are also proposed to university leaders and administrators with regard to leadership support for those who report student plagiarism, the development of clear policies and procedures, the reduction of bureaucratic red tape, support to students whose first language is not English and reflection on the institutional moral context within which students study.

The Barriers to Faculty Reporting Incidences of Academic Misconduct at Community Colleges

“…Faculty experience significant anxiety and stress related to the physiological discomfort experienced in reporting a student. They fear receiving poor student evaluations and are concerned with potentially damaging relationships with future students (Blau et al, 2018;Christensen Hughes & McCabe, 2006;Keith-Spiegel et al, 2010;Thomas, 2017).…”

“…The time required in reporting and attending a hearing is also perceived as a deterrent to reporting. Faculty are unenthusiastic to take on the enormous burden of reporting acts of academic misconduct, as faculty who had previously reported such incidents seemed unwilling to go through the arduous process again in the future (Eaton et al, 2020;Keith-Spiegel et al, 2010;Thomas 2017). According to Schneider (1999), a heavy teaching workload is one of the main reasons' faculty chose not to report academic misconduct.…”

Analisis Pemanfaatan, Faktor Pendukung Dan Penghambat, Serta Upaya Optimalisasi Aplikasi Zotero Dalam Penulisan Karya Ilmiah

“…Penggunaan referensi ilmiah seperti buku, artikel jurnal, atau hasil penelitian dapat digunakan untuk mengembangkan tulisan ilmiah (Supriyanto & Iswandari, 2017). Pengutipan referensi yang baik dapat menghindarkan penulis dari tindakan plagiarisme, sebaliknya pengutipan referensi yang buruk dapat berdampak terhadap tindakan plagiarisme (Thomas, 2017;Pecorari, 2013).…”

Untitled

“…The university's treatment of plagiarism cases is also covered in the literature on plagiarism (Cahyono, 2016;Carroll, 2016;Thomas, (2017) and Chrysler-Fox & Thomas, 2017). According to Clough (2002), plagiarism is treated severely in universities.…”