Ethics instruction and the perceived acceptability of cheating

This study examined whether undergraduate students' perceptions regarding the acceptability of cheating were influenced by the amount of ethics instruction the students had received and/or by their personality. The results, from a sample of 230 upper-level undergraduate students, indicated that...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of business ethics 2010-08, Vol.95 (1), p.23-37
Main Authors: Bloodgood, James M, Turnley, William H, Mudrack, Peter E
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic achievement
academic cheating
Attitudes
Behavior
Betriebswirtschaftslehre
Betrug
Business and Management
Business Ethics
business ethics course
Business management
Business schools
Cheating
College students
Corporate social responsibility
Decision making
Education
Ethical behavior
Ethical codes
Ethical instruction
Ethics
GPA
Grade point average
Individual ethics
Machiavellianism
Management
passive cheating
Perceptions
Philosophy
Psychological attitudes
Quality of Life Research
Social ethics
Student
Student behaviour
Studium
Teaching
Unternehmenskultur
USA
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Summary:This study examined whether undergraduate students' perceptions regarding the acceptability of cheating were influenced by the amount of ethics instruction the students had received and/or by their personality. The results, from a sample of 230 upper-level undergraduate students, indicated that simply taking a business ethics course did not have a significant influence on students' views regarding cheating. On the other hand, Machiavellianism was positively related to perceiving that two forms of cheating were acceptable. Moreover, in testing for moderating relationships, the results indicated that the extent to which taking a business ethics course influenced attitudes varied substantially across individuals. Specifically, taking a course in business ethics did result in students who scored lower on Machiavellianism holding even more negative views regarding certain forms of cheating. In addition, individuals with higher grade point averages (GPAs) who had taken a course in business ethics were also less accepting of certain forms of cheating than individuals with similar GPAs who had not taken the business ethics course. The implications of these findings are discussed.
ISSN:0167-4544
1573-0697
1573-0697
DOI:10.1007/s10551-009-0345-0