Instruction in ethics: influences on undergraduate business students' academic dishonesty
Date
2011
Authors
Oakley, Claude Roy, author
Makela, Carole J., advisor
Timpson, William M., committee member
Palmquist, Mike, committee member
Lucero, Rodrick S., committee member
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Abstract
The primary purposes of the study were to assess the relationships between ethics instruction and academic conduct among undergraduate business students, to determine the reasons why they cheat, the extent to which students' conduct may be influenced by their parents' background (i.e., education, career, religious belief, and support), and the impact of self-esteem on students' conduct. Responses were solicited from students attending nine institutions of higher learning; five were located in the state of Georgia in the United States, while four were from the Caribbean (i.e., Jamaica and Grand Cayman). The regional profile (i.e., where the students were enrolled) included 41% (n = 418) from the United States and 59% (n = 599) from the Caribbean locations. The responses were collected from a questionnaire completed at each selected college/university. Of the 1,029 questionnaires administered, 12 were disqualified. There were 1,017 qualified respondents; approximately 37% (n = 377) were male, and 62% (n = 627) were female. The remaining 1% (n = 13) did not identify their gender. In every case, only items with valid responses were included in the various statistical computations. The findings indicated that (a) there was no statistical significance on academic misconduct between students who did complete a course of instruction in ethics and those who did not complete a course; (b) about 40% (n = 400) of the students surveyed showed positive responses to awareness of academic conduct; (c) several students admitted having engaged in academic dishonesty for various reasons (e.g., to get a better grade); (d) for perception of academic conduct, character traits and honor code appeared to have some impact on academic dishonesty; (e) parents' background (e.g., education, careers/occupation) did play a role on students' academic conduct; (f) self-esteem appeared to have some influence on academic dishonesty; (g) having an honor code did not significantly improve academic honesty within the AACSB accredited and non-AACSB institutions; (h) for the most part, it seems more female students were involved in academic dishonesty than male students for given practices; and (i) younger students particularly in the 18-22 age group seems to be more involved in academic dishonesty than older students. The overall implications of this study raise some concerns because this, like other studies, has confirmed that academic dishonesty is a menace to the education system. Therefore, academic dishonesty is not confined to one university/college but appears to be omnipresent in the aggregate grouping of the nine institutions studied. The findings suggest colleges/universities need to do more, perhaps, by being more vigilant to address students' awareness of academic misconduct, and how such actions could influence both creativity and the value of scholarship.
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Subject
academic dishonesty
academic misconduct
cheating
ethics instruction
parents' background
plagiarism