Home PublicationsJRTEPast IssuesVolume 39 Number 2: Winter 2006

	Edited by Dr. Lynne Schrum, George Mason University
formerly Journal of Research on Computing in Education

Volume 39 Number 2 Winter 2006

Origins of Academic Dishonesty: Ethical Orientations and Personality Factors Associated with Attitudes about Cheating with Information Technology

Stephanie Etter
Mt. Aloysius College
Jackie J. Cramer
University of Pittsburgh, Titusville
Seth Finn
Robert Morris University

Abstract

Growing perceptions that students exploit information technology to evade academic assignments prompted surveys of student attitudes about unethical uses of information technology (e.g., cutting and pasting excerpts from Web sites without attribution) at two institutions. Students at a private church-affiliated college rated cheating behaviors as more offensive than their counterparts at a regional campus of a major research university. However, ordinal rankings of academically dishonest behaviors at both institutions were surprisingly similar (rho = .90). Further, students who rated such behaviors as being more serious, typically valued idealism, the ethical principle of doing no harm to others, and disapproved of high sensation-seeking activities involving alcohol, drugs, and sex.

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Contributors

Stephanie Etter is an assistant professor of information technology and director of the Title III Project at Mount Aloysius College in Cresson, Pennsylvania. Her current research interests include computer and information security and pedagogical issues, such as distance education, incorporating technology across the curriculum, and academic dishonesty. (Address: Stephanie Etter, DSc, Department of Information Technology, Main 230, Mt. Aloysius College, Cresson, PA 16630; SEtter@mtaloy.edu.)

Jackie Cramer is an instructor in accounting at the University of Pittsburgh at Titusville. Her doctoral research focused on how ethical styles and risk-taking behaviors influence student perceptions of academically dishonest uses of information technology. (Address: Jackie J. Cramer, DSc, Accounting and Business Information Systems, Broadhurst Science Center 108, University of Pittsburgh at Titusville, Titusville, PA 16354; jcramer@pitt.edu.)

Seth Finn is a professor of communication at Robert Morris University. His research interests include evaluating alumni perceptions of their participation in college-wide laptop programs and the relationship between unpredictable verbal information and physiological indicators of arousal. (Address: Seth Finn, PhD, School of Communications and Information Systems, 6001 University Boulevard, Robert Morris University, Moon Township, PA 15108; finn@rmu.edu.)

Copyright 2006, (International Society for Technology in Education). All rights reserved.