Personality and Academic Dishonesty. Evidence from an Exploratory Pilot Study
Personality and Academic Dishonesty. Evidence from an Exploratory Pilot Study

Summary/Abstract: The study seeks to investigate the extent to which students at a public university in Bucharest engage in unethical behaviour within the academic environment such as fraudulence, plagiarism, falsification, delinquency, unauthorized help etc., depending on their personality. This study was conducted using a survey method of 252 students at graduate and post-graduate level. The findings indicate that personality traits such as conscientiousness are significantly and negatively correlated with unethical behavior in the case of university students (r=-.281, p<.01 with plagiarism; r=-.250, p<.01 with fraudulation; r=-.233, p<.01 with misconduct; r=-.217, p<.01 with unauthorized help). Similarly, neuroticism is significantly associated with plagiarism (r=.214, p<.01), fraudulation (r=.163, p<.01) and misconduct (r=.156, p<.05). Significant differences regarding falsification are also observed between graduate and postgraduate students (t(250)=-2.075, p<.05). This research provides some valuable insights on allowing educational institutions and those directly involved in the educational process, to develop relevant policies and guidelines on matters pertaining to academic conduct.

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