An Evaluation of Academic Honesty Attitudes, Behaviors and Correlates

This thesis examined a commonly used measure of academic integrity in higher education settings. Factor analyses (FA) of the perceived academic environment related to honesty and perceived severity of types of cheating behaviors were performed. The resulting factors and individual difference variables (age, gender, class, cumulative grade point average, involvement in extracurricular activities, and learning orientation styles) were used to predict self-reported cheating behaviors. Four hundred six undergraduates (10% return rate; 65% females) completed an anonymous online questionnaire assessing individual differences, perception of the environment, perceived severity of cheating behaviors and self-reported cheating behaviors. Five academic environment factors and four perceived severity factors were identified. Multiple Regression analyses were conducted to identify the best predictors of self-reported cheating behavior. These included one academic environment factor, two severity factors, community service, intramural participation, and performance-approach orientation. Findings from this work should be replicated. Confirmatory FA may be conducted on other samples to identify the reliability of the factors and regressions supporting the replicability of predictors may also be performed. Additionally, outcomes other than self-reported cheating behaviors need to be examined given the low frequency of these behaviors. Perhaps these findings and future research may help educators identify environmental conditions and groups that need to be targeted for intervention and development