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Examining the Decision Process of Students' Cheating Behavior: An Empirical Study

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Abstract

This research examines the association between attitudes on cheating and cognitive moral development. In this research, we use Rest's (1979a) Defining Issues Test, the Attitudes on Honesty Scale (Authors) and Academic Integrity Index (Authors); the last two are adaptations of the DIT. A total of 220 students from three universities participated in the study (66 psychology majors and 154 business majors). The data indicate that 66.4 percent of the students reported that they cheated in high school, college, or both high school and college. Psychology majors scored higher than business majors on both the Defining Issues Test (Rest, 1979a) and the Attitudes on Honesty Scale (AHS, Authors). Using factor analysis, we found significant associations between students' ratings of the importance considerations present in the three cheating scenarios and their estimates of whether cheating would occur (i.e., the Academic Integrity Index). Finally, using logistic regression, we found that the scores on the Attitudes on Honesty Scale and Academic Integrity Index associate with the self-reported cheating behavior of college students.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Gabelli School of Business, Roger Williams University, Bristol, RI, 02809-2921, U.S.A

    Richard A. Bernardi

  2. School of Business and Economics, State University of New York, Plattsburgh, U.S.A

    Rene L. Metzger, Ryann G. Scofield Bruno, Marisa A. Wade Hoogkamp, Lillian E. Reyes & Gary H. Barnaby

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  1. Richard A. Bernardi
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  2. Rene L. Metzger
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  3. Ryann G. Scofield Bruno
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  4. Marisa A. Wade Hoogkamp
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  5. Lillian E. Reyes
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  6. Gary H. Barnaby
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Bernardi, R.A., Metzger, R.L., Scofield Bruno, R.G. et al. Examining the Decision Process of Students' Cheating Behavior: An Empirical Study. Journal of Business Ethics 50, 397–414 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:BUSI.0000025039.47788.c2

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