Close Educational Gap by Cheating? Comparing Faculty, Majority and Minority Students' Perceptions of Academic Dishonesty
Wednesday, June 21 1:45 PM-2:15 PM Location: Wright View on map
Presider:
John Maune, Hokusei Gakuen University, Japan
Abstract: Studies indicate that in the last years, academic dishonesty (AD), especially digital AD, has become more prevalent in academia. This paper examines the role of technology in shaping the perceived severity of AD (cheating, plagiarism, fabrication, and facilitation; Pavela, 1997), as well as differences in these perceptions between faculty, ethnic majority and minority students in a large University. Findings revealed that analogical and digital offenses were perceived to be equally severe. However, a large interaction was found between the type of offense and the medium, indicating that cheating and facilitation are perceived as more severe in an analogical (versus digital) setting, whereas fabrication is considered more severe in a digital (versus analogical) setting. Faculty and ethnic minority students tended to rate AD as more severe than majority students. The finding is explained in terms of equal educational opportunity and Behavioral Ethics Model (Mazar, Amir, & Ariely, 2008).