Academic dishonesty: motivations of accounting students

Purpose: Understanding the motivations for the occurrence of academic dishonesty in university Accounting students. Methodology: Applying a survey based on the research by Ives et al. (2016) on 83 Accounting students from Rio de Janeiro. The Kuder-Richardson test was applied to verify the instrument's internal consistency. Subsequently, Pearson's chi-square test was performed. Results: The results indicate that age and gender have little influence on dishonesty, while the period students are studying has an influence; that is, the longer the length of stay, the greater the dishonesty. It is also noteworthy that the students confessed to having seen more dishonest acts than they practiced, demonstrating that it is easier to admit that they have seen other people being dishonest than to confess their dishonesty. The biggest motivations for dishonesty were the need to get good grades, fear of failing, and lack of understanding of the content and methodology used by professors. Contributions of the Study: This paper advances the literature and brings contributions on the subject, as it helps to understand academic dishonesty better. Observing the main motivations of students to commit dishonest acts is important for educational institutions and teachers since it helps to understand some motivations that induce students to be academically dishonest. With such knowledge, faculty, and universities can develop and implement policies and methods that encourage fairer procedures, discouraging dishonesty in the academic environment. Consequently, it will improve the quality of teaching and learning and the training of more qualified and honest workers in the professional market.