Identifying The Salient Dimensions Of Student Cheating And Their Key Determinants In A Private University

Abstract

Extensive research has been conducted over the years about the academic dishonesty or cheating among university students. Most of these studies usually involve surveys of students to determine the extent of their participation in unethical practices, reasons for their participation in these practices and how each unethical academic behavior is related to some student characteristics. While that approach offers good insights it fails to uncover the underlying salient dimensions or commonalties among these behaviors and motivations. This paper reports the results of a survey of business students concerning their academic honesty. Student self-reports on participation and reasons for participating in unethical practices are factor analyzed to uncover three salient dimensions of cheating and four compelling motivations for student cheating. Key determinants of the various forms of cheating are identified and policy implications are discussed.