The Relations Among Religion, Motivation, and College Cheating: A Natural Experiment

A natural experiment was conducted studying the relations among student cheating, motivation, religiosity, and attitudes toward cheating. Students enrolled in a dual religious/college curriculum were surveyed regarding their cheating behavior, attitudes toward cheating, religiosity, and learning/gra...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ethics & behavior 2005-04, Vol.15 (2), p.107-129
Main Authors: Rettinger, David A., Jordan, Augustus E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic misconduct
Cheating
College students
Ethics
Integrity
Motivation
Religion
Religiosity
Students
Undergraduate students
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Summary:A natural experiment was conducted studying the relations among student cheating, motivation, religiosity, and attitudes toward cheating. Students enrolled in a dual religious/college curriculum were surveyed regarding their cheating behavior, attitudes toward cheating, religiosity, and learning/grade motivations toward classes. Business and liberal arts college students were represented. Results strongly support the following conclusions. First, grade orientation is associated with increases in self-reported cheating. Second, among these religious students, more religiosity correlates with reduced reports of cheating in all courses. This result appears to be due to the unique effect of religion on self-reported cheating rates and, depending on course content, on a reduction of grade orientation in religious students. Third, business students report more cheating than their liberal arts counterparts, even when taking the same courses. They have less critical attitudes toward cheating and greater grade orientation, both of which statistically contribute to this difference, but other factors are involved as well. Keywords: academic integrity, motivation, religiosity, cheating
ISSN:1050-8422
1532-7019
DOI:10.1207/s15327019eb1502_2