Do Men or Women Cheat More on Exams? How Moral and Motivational Factors Accompany Gender Differences

• In Event: Gender and Motivated Self-Regulation: Patterns, Benefits, and Costs

Abstract

Purpose and Framework
Academic cheating has become pervasive among university students, having substantially increased during the last decade. Cheating takes on different forms, is influenced by varying individual and contextual factors, and has been explained by different theoretical perspectives. The present study examines cheating on exams, which students tend to view as “serious” (Barnhardt, 2016), and involves both moral and motivational perspectives (e.g., Murdock & Anderman, 2006). These perspectives have rarely been examined within a common framework, however. Gender has been frequently associated with cheating, with males typically to cheat more than females (e.g., Hensleya, Kirkpatricka, & Burgoonb, 2013; Niiya et al., 2008. Yu et al., 2016). Accordingly, we examine gender differences in cheating as well moral identity, justifiability of cheating and achievement goals as predictors of cheating on exams.
Method
A total of 194 undergraduate students (52% female) representing different university departments, achievement levels and study semesters were invited via an online platform (a) to complete a number of self-report scales measuring frequency of cheating on exams, moral identity (comprising moral self and moral integrity, Black & Reynolds, 2016), neutralizing attitudes towards cheating (Agnew & Peters, 1986), and achievement goals (Elliot & Murayama, 2008) and (b) to respond in six questions of potential cheating in a vignette describing a difficult compulsory course and the possibility of cheating during the end-of-the-semester course exam.
Results
Significant gender differences were found for almost all variables under examination with female students reporting lower self-reported cheating and marginally lower intention to cheat than males, lower neutralizing attitudes towards cheating on exams, and higher moral identity and mastery-approach goals. Path analysis indicated that both self-reported cheating and intention to cheat were significantly predicted positively by neutralizing attitudes, which in turn were predicted by gender and moral identity. Gender was also a significant predictor of moral identity and moral identity of self-reported cheating. Specifically, females were more likely to report higher moral identity compared to males, students with higher moral identity were less likely to report cheating, whereas females and students with self-reported higher moral identity were less likely to justify cheating. Those who justified cheating were more likely to cheat and to report cheating. In addition to the above direct paths, indirect paths were also found significant with gender and moral identity to predict cheating via neutralization. Surprisingly, achievement goals did not predict cheating at all, although the paths between moral identity and achievement goals were in the expected direction (moral identity a positive predictor of mastery and negative predictor of performance goal).
The above results indicated that (a) gender is associated with cheating on exams via moral beliefs, (b) moral identity and neutralizing attitudes proved to be significant underlying factors of cheating, and (c) achievement goals were not significant predictors of any form of cheating.
Significance
The evidence is discussed in relation to current research on cheating and gender within a combined moral and motivational approach and contributes to our better understanding of the mechanisms underlying cheating among females and males.

Authors

• Sofia Eleftheria N. Gonida, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

• Stuart A. Karabenick, University of Michigan

• Maria Tzasta, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki