Students’ justifications for academic cheating and empirical explanations of such behavior

Abstract

Cheating in academic settings has been going on for thousands of years. An average of 70 percent of students report having cheated at least once, even though most of these students agree that such behavior is wrong. This paper explores students’ self-reported reasons for cheating and the explanations for such behavior based on empirical findings. Self-reported reasons for cheating can be categorized as performance concerns, external pressures, supposedly unfair professors, lack of effort, adherence to a higher loyalty and opportunity. Experimental research has shown that cheating is planned behavior and that the main reason for student cheating is a desire to improve their grades. Peer behavior has also been found to be a major influence on academic dishonesty. Three out of five neutralization techniques have been used by students to justify their cheating. These are denial of responsibility, denial of injury and condemnation of the condemners. Reasons not to cheat are peer disapproval and honor codes. This seems to be important information that could be utilized to help create conditions conducive to an honest academic environment.