Factors affecting plagiarism among students at Jazan University

Abstract

Background Plagiarism has been described over the past decades as a multi-layer dishonesty phenomenon emerging in higher education. A number of research papers have described a host of factors such as gender, socialization, productivity benefit, study motivation, methodological uncertainty, or easy access to electronic information through the Internet and new technologies as the driving forces for plagiarism. The effects of plagiarism are pervasive and no one is exempted. Neither unfamiliarity nor ignorance excludes a person from the compulsory plagiarism’s ethical and legal problems. Institutional misconduct threatens student integrity, academic reputation, and professional reputation along with legal ramifications and financial penalties. Methodology The goal of the study is to investigate students’ propensity to use the Internet to plagiarize, factors affecting their tendencies, and plagiarism reasons. In this research, we analyze the perception of plagiarism and academic misconduct among students at Jazan University, study major dishonesty factors, and study students’ views on plagiarism and misconduct laws. Results Examination of the responses of the students to various plagiarism situations showed misunderstandings and misconceptions about many forms of plagiarism. Conclusion Our study emphasizes that the problem in our society is that students or budding innovators are being pressured to get involved in academic dishonesty in order to perform better. To have a safe environment, the amount of academic misconduct, theft, and plagiarism must definitely be reduced to a minimum.

University students’ understandings, attitudes and experiences on plagiarism

“…This finding is the same as that in many other studies (Abbasi et al, 2020;Fatima et al, 2019;Phan & Nguyen, 2017;Razera, Verhagen, Pargman & Ramberg, 2009;Tindal & Curtis, 2020). Other factors including lacking learning motivation (Fatima et al, 2019), low English language competency (Tran, 2012), Internet access (Aasheim et al, 2019;Elshafei & Jahangir, 2020), the pressure for good grades, poor writing skills and time management (Selemani et al, 2018), working pressure and unfair competition (Santoso & Cahaya, 2019), gender, productivity benefit and easy Internet access are not found in this study.…”

“…However, Internet access or stress is not a reason for plagiarism, but limited knowledge of plagiarism and poor learning attitude (Aasheim, Rutner, Li & Willliams, 2019). Other factors included the pressure for good grades, poor writing skills and time management (Selemani, Chawinga & Dube, 2018), working pressure and unfair competition (Santoso & Cahaya, 2019), gender, productivity benefit and easy Internet access (Elshafei & Jahangir, 2020).…”

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

“…In some societies, misconduct behaviors such as 'doing the work for fellow students' or ' giving help to fellow students for assignments' are understood as co-operation, support, and benevolence [27][28][29]. In few developing countries, students sometimes depend on using unethical means to achieve their target, mostly when they are incapable of properly carrying out an assigned task [30]. Nonetheless, a significant negative correlation between Q1 and Q4 in all four domains of our study (Table 2) indicates that understanding a behavior as wrong could psychologically influence a person to refrain from doing it [31,32].…”

Exploring the Causes of Plagiarism among Post Graduate Research Students- A Phenomenological Case Study Approach

“…Another pertinent reason is lack of knowledge. A few studies support the preceded claim (Abbasi et al, 2020;Bašić et al, 2018;Elshafei & Jahangir, 2020;Idiegbeyan-ose et al, 2016;Memon et al, 2019;Murtaza et al, 2013;Ramzan et al, 2012). However, the questions arise, is there any association between awareness and the incidence of plagiarism?…”