PAPER #69 - Measuring academic dishonesty.

Problem Statement: Academic dishonesty is a phenomenon with multiple social implications, which has spread more and more in recent years, not only in Romania, but in other countries as well, questioning the integrity of the degrees offered by educational institutions, as well as the values that we foster in modern society. Moreover, these types of behaviors have proved to be a good predictor for unethical decisions in later professional practice. The theoretical model used in the present research is Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) (Ajzen, 1985; 1991; 2001). Purpose of Study: The main objective of this study was to construct a set of questionnaires that could enable us to conduct a subsequent quantitative research in Romanian universities, in an attempt to test the predictive validity of an extended version of the TPB on academic cheating intentions and to design an intervention plan that might reduce the impact of this phenomenon at university level. Research Methods: We constructed a TPB questionnaire on academic cheating intentions according to the methodology suggested by Ajzen (2002, 2006). We translated from English the LOGO II questionnaire (Eison, 1983). We constructed an additional mixed questionnaire targeted to measure two of the variables included in previous extended versions of the TPB--moral obligation and justifications for cheating, as well as two variables we consider critical for academic dishonesty--academic climate and student's motivations for cheating. Findings: The overall internal consistency for the TPB questionnaire was α = .83, which indicates a very good internal consistency. For the scales of LOGO II questionnaire, Cronbach's α values were quite low as compared to the English variant of the questionnaire: (αen = .76/ αro = .59; αen = .73/ αro = .53). For the mixed questionnaires the Cronbach's α values were very good, except for the Academic climate scale, which was very close to the .70 threshold (α = .68). Conclusions: The results enabled us to revise the questionnaires and to construct the final version of the TPB questionnaire, shading light as well on the underlying motivation behind student's academic dishonesty and on the students' easily accessible beliefs about cheating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]