It's Wrong, But Everybody Does It: Academic Dishonesty among High School and College Students

Academic dishonesty amongst Australian criminal justice and policing university students: individual and contextual factors

“…Drawing upon data obtained from a questionnaire, the results suggest that male gender is an individual characteristic predictive of higher involvement in academic dishonesty. This is consistent with research from Australia and other countries (Jensen et al 2002;Kremmer et al 2007) as well as research on criminal justice students (Lambert and Hogan 2004). The results further suggest that considering academic dishonesty to be justified under certain circumstances is predictive of academic dishonesty engagement.…”

“…For example, an examination of college students' moral evaluations of cheating behaviour in the United States showed that attitudes toward academic dishonesty accounted for nearly 40 % of the variation in academically dishonest behaviour (Bolin 2004). Similarly, examining high school and college students, Jensen et al (2002) found that students who evaluated cheating leniently were more likely to engage in cheating behaviour themselves. Thus, attitudes may play an important role in explaining cheating behaviour.…”

“…Marshall and Garry 2006;McCabe and Trevino 1997). Many studies have found that male gender is a statistically significant predictor of higher likelihood of involvement in academically dishonest behaviour (Jensen et al 2002;Kremmer et al 2007;McCabe and Trevino 1997). Males' involvement in academic dishonesty may be explained by the gender role conflict that occurs when males are socialised into traditional roles of masculinity, underpinned by expectations of success manifested as persistent worries about personal achievement, competence, failure and career achievement (Cournoyer and Mahalik 1995;O'Neil et al 1995).…”

“…It is clear that students have a wide range of motivations for engaging in academic dishonesty, with many students, including criminal justice students, reporting that academic dishonesty is justified in certain circumstances (Brimble and Stevenson-Clarke 2005;de Lambert et al 2003;Jensen et al 2002;Lambert and Hogan 2004;McCabe et al 1999;Whitley and Keith-Spiegel 2002). A key qualitative study in this area conducted by McCabe et al (1999) found that common motivations for student engagement in academic dishonesty include pressure to get higher grades, a desire to excel, lack of preparation and pressure to gain employment upon completion of study.…”

“…Theoretically, the expectation is that individuals who hold antisocial attitudes are more likely to engage in antisocial conduct when provided with the situational opportunity to do so (Farrington 2005). A number of studies indicate that students may be more likely to cheat when they view cheating as not unethical or not a serious form of misconduct (Bolin 2004;Jensen et al 2002;Salter et al 2001;Tibbetts 1998). For example, an examination of college students' moral evaluations of cheating behaviour in the United States showed that attitudes toward academic dishonesty accounted for nearly 40 % of the variation in academically dishonest behaviour (Bolin 2004).…”