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| Title: | The relationship between academic dishonesty and ethical behavior in engineering practice |
| Authors: | Harding, Trevor S.
Carpenter, Donald D.
Finelli, Cynthia J.
Passow, Honor J. |
| Issue Date: | Oct-2003 |
| Publisher: | Paper presented at 2003 Ethics and Social Responsibility in Engineering and Technology Conference, New Orleans, LA |
| Abstract: | According to studies conducted over the past four decades, engineering
students self-report high levels of academic dishonesty (cheating) while
in college. Research on college students in all fields has indicated
that such behavior is more common among students who participate in
academic dishonesty at the high school level and that it is correlated
with other deviant or unethical behaviors, such as petty theft and
lying. If, in fact, such correlations do exist, one might hypothesize
that there is also a relationship between academic dishonesty in college
and deviant or unethical behavior in professional practice. Placing
this relationship in the context of higher levels of academic dishonesty
among engineering students only increases the seriousness of the problem
for engineering educators, corporations and society.
To examine this issue we have initiated a multi-university study on the
attitudes, perceptions and behaviors of college-aged engineering
students toward academic dishonesty and unethical professional behavior.
A majority of the students in the sample work for a considerable period
of time in an engineering setting during their college years, providing
us with a unique opportunity to study the connection between academic
dishonesty and professional behavior within the same sample of
individuals. The survey used in this study asks questions about the
respondent's decisions during opportunities to "cheat" in each of two
contexts: college classrooms and work-place settings. In each case,
respondents are asked to consider what opportunities to cheat presented
themselves, whether they felt any pressure to cheat (or not to cheat),
and ultimately what decision they made in this specific instance. The
survey also asks respondents to report how frequently they have cheated
in school or the work-place.
Quantitative results are presented regarding the contexts within which
students make decisions regarding temptations to cheat or violate
work-place policies and whether or not they succumb to these
temptations. Additionally, open-ended responses regarding the pressures
and deterrents to deciding to cheat or violate work-place policies are
discussed. These responses were grouped into themes by the authors and
rank ordered according to number of responses for each theme.
Comparison is made between both the nature and rank order of the themes
found for both the classroom cheating case and work-place behavior case.
Finally, common themes are examined in light of theories of planned
behavior and moral development. |
| Appears in Collections: | Research on Learning and Teaching North, Center for (CRLT North)
Interdisciplinary and Peer-Reviewed
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Files in This Item:
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Description |
Size | Format | |
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| 2003 ESR WES.pdf | | 135Kb | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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