Work Organization and Effects of Isolation on the Perception of Misconduct in Italian Universities During Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Universities and institutions of higher education have been forced to move study and work activities remotely to contrast the spread of the pandemic due to Covid-19. Given the differences in roles, opportunities and operational functions of students, faculty members and university employees, it was deemed important to investigate whether any difficulties encountered in this condition of isolation may have led the three different groups to behave in an ethically inappropriate manner. To this end a questionnaire was developed and administered to a sample of 706 respondents, i.e. faculty members, students and technical and administrative staff. The study participants filled in a questionnaire aimed at investigating the operating conditions of working and studying at a distance, relating them to the perception of possible misbehavior by their own group and the other two subgroups. Results put in evidence that the three groups considered faced different difficulties that had different effects on perceptions in relation to the misconduct they experienced or perpetrated. Faculty appear to be essentially suffering from problems experienced even before the pandemic, such as an excess of competition that leads them to see their own colleagues as unfair. Students have less satisfactory housing conditions and demonstrate an awe of faculty that leads them to express less dissent when they witness misconduct. Technical and administrative staff appear disadvantaged in terms of technical tools and less equipped to process the negative feedback they receive about their work. However, they more than the other two groups are convinced that misbehaviors have decreased during home quarantine. On the contrary, faculty and students reported that misconduct have increased during the period of isolation.