Beg, borrow, or steal: determinants of student academic misconduct in Ukrainian higher education

Abstract

Actions underpinned by the lack of academic integrity are increasingly impacting academic processes within the higher education sector around the world. Bribery, plagiarism and other forms of deception that enable students to obtain undeserved grades or degree certificates undermine the purpose and mission of higher education. By drawing on a large dataset obtained through face-to-face interviews with students in Ukraine, this paper explores the determinants of several forms of students' academic misconduct and provides insights as to which groups of students are more likely to engage in either monetary or non-monetary corruptioninformation that will be of interest to educators, policymakers and other practitioners.

Exam cheating among Quebec’s preservice teachers: the influencing factors

“…Murdock and Anderman (2006) demonstrate that when students focus on performance goals more than on mastery goals, when they have poor expectations of their abilities to achieve these goals despite their efforts, and when they "assess that potential costs incurred from cheating are minimal, they are more apt to engage in dishonest behaviors" (p.130). These factors have also been studied by numerous authors although not specifically in education faculties (Bernardi et al 2008;Denisova-Schmidt et al 2019;Ellahi et al 2013;Meng et al 2014;Rinn et al 2014;Tas and Tekkaya 2010).…”

“…They suggest that “schools in more economically disadvantaged nations may have more difficulty controlling undesired behaviors, such as cheating, among students” (p.226). Although there are few worldwide studies, large studies have been conducted in numerous countries (Michaut 2013 ; Harper et al 2019 ; Denisova-Schmidt et al 2019 ).…”

“…They argue that “knowing people who cheat (or have cheated) is a risk factor for starting to cheat” (p.296). From their study conducted with 600 university students in Ukraine, Denisova-Schmidt et al ( 2019 ) report that the perception of the action of cheating, which they labeled “corruption”, from others, including peers in the classroom but also teachers, politicians, and relatives, would be sufficient for students to engage in cheating behaviors. In this respect, researchers (Meng et al 2014 ; Pavlin-Bernardić et al 2017 ; Smith et al 2012 ) argue that the cheating student resorts to ‘neutralization’ techniques to justify his action (Sykes and Matza 1957 ).…”

Self-Reported Academic Misconduct among Medical Students: Perception and Prevalence

“…Notably, increasing awareness is shown to reduce the incidences [ 6 , 12 – 14 ]. This study focuses on understanding the cause of academic misconduct, which may help in devising appropriate correction methodology to avoid or amend behavior discords [ 15 ].…”

The Impact of Students’ Understanding of Anti-Corruption Values on Anti-Corruption Behavior

“…The lack of academic integrity greatly impacts academic processes in the higher education sector around the world. Bribery, plagiarism, and other forms of deception that enable students to obtain undeserved grades or degree certificates undermine the purpose and mission of higher education (Denisova-Schmidt et al, 2019).…”