Student plagiarism is a growing problem within Australian universities and abroad. Potentially exacerbating this situation, research indicates that students' attitudes toward plagiarism are typically more permissive and lenient than the policies of their tertiary institutions. There has been suggestion that this is especially so in Asian countries relative to Western countries; however, very little research has sought to empirically validate this suggestion. Moreover, existing research in this area has typically compared international and domestic students studying in Western countries. As yet, no studies have directly compared Chinese and Australian university students' attitudes toward plagiarism, as they exist within their native countries. Rasch analysis/ differential item functioning were conducted to contrast 131 Australian and 173 Chinese undergraduate university students' attitudes towards plagiarism. Results indicated distinct cross-cultural differences in aspects of students' plagiarism attitudes. Regardless of ethnic background, the results highlight undergraduate students' typical lack of understanding of plagiarism and plagiarist behaviours. students. The author attributed this result to academic pressure (i.e., workloads) and the perception that many international students were doing likewise. Generalisation of these findings, however, is complicated by the unique demands of studying abroad. For instance, in addition to typical coursework demands, international students also must overcome unique and significant language barriers, which have been associated with plagiarist behaviours (Devlin and Gray 2007). It is therefore difficult to determine whether these findings provide an accurate reflection of cultural differences in attitudes towards plagiarism or the additional pressures international students face in a foreign learning environment.Furthermore, plagiarism is a highly complex phenomenon and, as such, it is likely that there is no single explanation for why individuals engage in plagiarist behaviours. In fact, At the heart of this issue is whether or not there are genuine cross-cultural differences in attitudes toward plagiarism. To address this issue, the current study surveyed Chinese and Australian university students studying domestically in order to compare these students' attitudes toward plagiarism and the perceived factors contributing to plagiarist behaviours.Importantly, the cross-cultural comparison of university students studying domestically minimises the conflation of the unique demands of studying abroad. As such, any differences in plagiarism attitudes can more readily be attributed to cross-cultural differences in attitudes
Method ParticipantsParticipants were domestic undergraduate students enrolled at either an Australian (n = 131) or Chinese university (n = 173). In the Australian sample there were significantly more females than males (80.9% female), the pattern of which was reversed in the Chinese sample (19.3% female). All Australian students were enrolled in...