The academic dishonesty literature generally focuses on the causes of academic dishonesty, and outlines deterrence strategies, as well as the punishment methods used in formal sanction. Student self-monitoring techniques are becoming a more visible alternative that places greater emphasis on proactive prevention methods as opposed to reactive punishment policies. Increasing the formal level of student responsibility in deterring academic dishonesty assumes that students will actively monitor the behavior of their classmates. Our findings indicate that student perceptions of campus climate and gender differences are important factors when explaining student reporting of suspected academic dishonesty and may illustrate important prerequisite conditions that must exist prior to the establish of a successful student self-monitoring programme.

Student academic ethics is a serious concern for colleges and universities. The literature dealing with student academic ethics, however, focuses little attention on the possible connection between organizational characteristics and the efforts made by faculty to deter student academic ethics violations. In this case study analysis of faculty at a medium-sized university in the western USA, we found that the level of faculty institutional confidence is related to the use of formal deterrence strategies. Additionally, we found that female faculty members are less confident in the administration, but are only marginally less likely to use formal administrative approaches to manage academic ethics.