Widespread academic dishonesty among higher education (HE) students has been a concern for higher education institutes (HEIs). Ethics literature reports that unintentional plagiarism is more prevalent among HE students and the root cause is, limited or no awareness of nuances of ethics concerning plagiarism resulting in poor ethical judgments.…

This study examines the emergent issue of blackmail and contract cheating through a scenario-based online exercise completed by 587 university students in Western Australia. Participants were presented with two consecutive scenarios, each involving a difficult assignment. The possibility of blackmail was introduced prior to (and within) the second…

Historical trends in plagiarism are often estimated by comparing survey results from a diverse range of samples, institutions, and measures. However, in multi-institution multi-method comparisons changes over time are difficult to separate from differences in methods. We assessed self-reported engagement in, awareness of, and attitudes toward…

Most institutions of higher education presume that the pursuit of truth is central to their missions. However, the status of truth has been seriously challenged in contemporary society--by postmodern critiques, confusion about the goals and methods of scholarly disciplines, and the seductive power of social and other digital media. In this essay,…

Most previous studies of academic dishonesty have been conducted in North America and Europe, and have focused on the contextual, institutional, and individual factors that influence students' propensity to cheat. While such studies offer useful background and structure to this endemic problem, this study aimed to gain deeper insights into student…

Recent Australian media scandals suggest that university students are increasingly outsourcing their assessments to third parties -- a behaviour known as 'contract cheating'. This paper reports on findings from a large survey of students from eight Australian universities (n = 14,086) which sought to explore students' experiences with and…

In prior studies, academic procrastination has been discussed as an influencing factor of academic misconduct. However, empirical studies were conducted solely cross-sectionally and investigated only a few forms of academic misconduct. This large scale web-based study examined the responses of between 1359 and 2207 participants from different…

The results of a large online student survey (n?=?15,304), on academic integrity at six Australian universities, indicate that a majority of respondents reported a good awareness of academic integrity and knowledge of academic integrity policy at their university and were satisfied with the information and support they receive. Response varied…

Research has established that the term "plagiarism" is open to different interpretations, resulting in confusion among students and staff alike. University policy on academic integrity/misconduct defines the behaviours that all stakeholders must abide by, and the parameters for reporting, investigating and penalising infringements. These…

Examined attitudes of 19 British university students concerning plagiarism and cheating. Found strong moral basis for student perceptions, focusing on values such as friendship, trust, and good learning; lack of clarity concerning what constitutes plagiarism; and influence of factors such as alienation from the institution, large classes, and…

Two British studies of undergraduate student cheating are reported: the first is a study of university staff (n=20) and students' (n=112) perceptions of cheating, resulting in a classification of cheating behaviors; the second used student (n=128) self-reports to identify age, gender, discipline, and institutional characteristics related to…