The Impact of Personal Values and Justifications on Academic Cheating for Business vs. Non-Business Students

Abstract

In this study we examine college cheating behaviors of business students compared to non-business students, and investigate possible antecedents to cheating in an effort to better understand why and when students cheat. We specifically examine power values; we find that they are positively related to academic cheating in our sample, and that choice of major (business or non-business) partially mediates the relationship between power values and cheating. We also consider the extent to which students are able to provide justifications for their cheating, and find that business students are more likely to justify (rationalize) their cheating behaviors. Finally, we update the literature in terms of the ways students cheat. We assess newer forms of academic cheating, as increased accessibility to information via the Internet and smartphones may have changed the ways (and ease with which) students cheat – a particularly relevant topic currently, as many classes have moved online during the COVID-19 pandemic. In our study, cheating was especially prevalent when taking quizzes or tests (or completing homework) online. We found that only 10% of participants reported never engaging in any of the cheating behaviors we examined.