Correlates of academic misconduct and CSR proclivity of students
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Date
2014
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of the fraud triangle, Machiavellianism,
academic misconduct and corporate social responsibility (CSR) proclivity of students.
Design/methodology/approach – The present study surveyed 471 university students. The study
was cross-sectional and employed structural equation modelling in statistical modelling.
Findings – The study provides evidence that perceived opportunity to cheat in examinations is the
single most important factor accounting for significant variations in rationalization and academic
misconduct. Similarly, low Machiavellians significantly get inclined to CSR ideals. The fraud triangle
alone accounts for 36 per cent of the variations in academic misconduct, hence the error variance is
64 per cent of academic misconduct itself. This error variance increases to 78 per cent when
a combination of perceived opportunity, rationalization, Machiavellianism is considered. Moreover,
both Machiavellianism and academic misconduct account for 17 per cent of variations in students’
proclivity to CSR ideals.
Research limitations/implications – Results imply that creating a setting that significantly
increases a student’s anticipated negative affect from academic misconduct, or effectively impedes
rationalization ex ante, might prevent some students from academic misconduct in the first place and
then they will become good African corporate citizens. Nevertheless, although the unit of analysis was
students, these were from a single university – something akin to a case study. The quantitative results
should therefore be interpreted with this shortcoming in mind.
Originality/value – This paper contributes to the search for predictors of academic misconduct in
the African setting and as a corollary, for a theory explaining academic misconduct. Those students
perceiving opportunity to cheat in examinations are also able to rationalize and hence engage in
academic misconduct. This rationalization is enhanced or reduced through Machiavellianism.
Description
Keywords
University, CSR, SEM, Academic misconduct, Fraud triangle, Machiavellianism
Citation
Nkundabanyanga, SK, Omagor, C., & Nalukenge, I. (2014). Correlates of academic misconduct and CSR proclivity of students. Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education . DOI 10.1108/JARHE-05-2012-0016