Speech assignments and plagiarism in first year public speaking classes: an investigation of students’ moral attributes in relation to their behavioral intention

ABSTRACT To better understand the development of ethical communicators, this study applies the framework of Jones’ ethical decision-making model to explore how students in a first-year public speaking class deal with an issue related to plagiarism during a speech assignment. A modified model with five components was developed. An ethical scenario was presented to student participants (n = 383) in multiple sections of a first year general education public speaking course. Moral intensity was found to have a direct impact on three other components of the model: recognition of an ethical issue, making an ethical judgment, and ethical behavioral intentions. Course content and policy related to plagiarism affected students’ ethical behavioral intentions. The interrelationships among these five components are discussed.