The Relationship between Academic Dishonesty, Ethical Attitude and Ethical Climate: The Evidence from Taiwan

Investigating academic dishonesty and its relationship with moral competence and professional identity of nursing students: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Academic dishonesty as a fundamental challenge in adherence of ethical principles in providing care to patients has caused concern to the scientific community of nurses. In addition, positive professional identity and high moral competence are important for nurses to perform multiple care roles in high quality care of patients. The purpose of the present study is of investigating academic dishonesty and its relationship with moral competence and professional identity of master's and PhD nursing students.

METHODS

This descriptive-analytical study was conducted by census method on 65 master's and PhD nursing students in Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Iran in 2023. Data collection tools included 4 questionnaires (Demographic information, Academic Dishonesty Scale (DAS), Nurses' moral competence and Professional Identity Scale for Nursing Students (PISNS)). Data collection was done within 2 months. Descriptive and inferential analyzes including independent t-test, Pearson correlation coefficient and linear regression were used to analyze the data. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS.V.22 software. P-value less than 0.05 was considered significant.

RESULTS

The average age of 65 participants was 31.5 ± 5.61 years. The majority of the participants in this study were women 48 (73.8%). There is a significant and negative correlation between academic dishonesty and moral competence (r=-0.260, P-value = 0.036). There is no significant correlation between academic dishonesty and professional identity (r = 0.154, P-value = 0.22). Also, a significant positive correlation was found between moral competence and professional identity (r = 0.294, P-value = 0.018).

CONCLUSION

Therefore, considering that the fact that students have a great impact on patient care, Researchers suggest that educational institutions should prevent the increase of academic dishonesty among students by establishing new rules and regulations.

A study on academic dishonesty among English as a foreign language students

Academic dishonesty is prevalent and has unfortunately become normalized in post-secondary institutions worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic more than two years ago led to an increase in cheating and confrontation of instructors with academic honesty. The main objective of this study was to create an explicative model according to the levels of morality, pragmatism, and gender. Researchers applied an online questionnaire to 735 anonymous university students. Analysis showed that participants were less honest in morality than in pragmatism, but the average value was very close for both dimensions. A substantial number of students with low and moderate levels of dishonesty were observed in both moral and pragmatic contexts. The initial hypothesis was partially validated, as the level of morality was associated with the level of pragmatism rather than gender, indicating a direct albeit moderate impact of pragmatism on morality. We confirmed the second hypothesis, showing the influence of gender and morality on the level of pragmatism. Participants suggested that English as a Foreign Language instructors should modify their approach, account for ethical considerations, offer extra classes, revise teaching and evaluation methods, and sanction students who cheat. Surprisingly, results show a slight tendency for lower honesty in morality compared to pragmatism. Despite honest behaviors, it is essential to address gender differences and promote academic honesty through education, policies, and a culture of honesty.

Academic dishonesty when doing homework: How digital technologies are put to bad use in secondary schools

The growth in digital technologies in recent decades has offered many opportunities to support students' learning and homework completion. However, it has also contributed to expanding the field of possibilities concerning homework avoidance. Although studies have investigated the factors of academic dishonesty, the focus has often been on college students and formal assessments. The present study aimed to determine what predicts homework avoidance using digital resources and whether engaging in these practices is another predictor of test performance. To address these questions, we analyzed data from the Program for International Student Assessment 2018 survey, which contained additional questionnaires addressing this issue, for the Swiss students. The results showed that about half of the students engaged in one kind or another of digitally-supported practices for homework avoidance at least once or twice a week. Students who were more likely to use digital resources to engage in dishonest practices were males who did not put much effort into their homework and were enrolled in non-higher education-oriented school programs. Further, we found that digitally-supported homework avoidance was a significant negative predictor of test performance when considering information and communication technology predictors. Thus, the present study not only expands the knowledge regarding the predictors of academic dishonesty with digital resources, but also confirms the negative impact of such practices on learning.