Why Business Students Cheat? A study from Pakistan

Abstract

Cheating incidence has been rampant in higher education for decades, and business graduates and undergraduates cheat more than any other majors. The aim of this study is to find out the most imperative reasons of academic misconduct behavior. This study is based on sample size of graduates and undergraduates of Department of Management Sciences, The Islamia University Bahawalpur, comparing means, standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis, to predict the influential variables which force them to cheat like peer pressure, family pressure, institutional policies for cheating, role of teachers, to show mastery on subject, to get high grades, opportunity for cheating, and perception that cheating is common part of life. Results found cheating rate increases due to perceived peer pressure, perceived low involvement of teachers for cheating, low understanding and enforcement of academic integrity, family pressure, and tough educational system. But, analysis results propose that perceived teacher role to prevent cheating is the most influential factor to modify this unethical behavior. Finally, this study offers some suggestions to deal with this ever increasing phenomenon from students and teachers prospective.

Keywords: Student, Peer Pressure, Teacher Responsibility, Motivation, Family.