Clues to fostering a program culture of academic integrity: findings from a multidimensional regression model

Abstract

Using multivariate regression, we identified situational, personal and contextual variables correlated with business students’ self-reported rates of academic misconduct. The most influential predictors of increasing academic misconduct were: higher estimates of peers’ academic misconduct, increasingly negative perceptions of the program’s academic integrity culture, and rating questionable academic behaviours less seriously. Individual priorities, personal characteristics and social support were less influential. We then analyzed our quantitative results in light of our deep understanding of the broader context to derive richer insights from the interplay of our independent variables. Importantly, our results indicate that program-led proactive messaging designed to foster a culture of academic integrity can effectively buffer tendencies towards academic dishonesty. Absent ongoing messaging, however, increasing academic pressures may erode those initial benefits. Moreover, repercussions of major academic integrity breaches can be long lasting, suggesting an even greater need for fostering a culture of academic integrity a priori. Finally, we recommend a public health practice of identifying positive deviants – individuals who thrive in challenging environments – and then in an effort to change a peer support system that fosters academic misconduct into one that discourages it, engaging with those individuals to understand why and how they resist the status quo.