Why Do College Students Cheat In Exams?
One of the most important studies is McCabe and Treviño’s (1993) survey of more than 6,000 students at 31 academic institutions, which was conducted in the 1990–1991 academic year. This project was the first major, multicampus investigation of institution-level variables that influence cheating behavior since Bowers’s (1964) seminal work. Major variables investigated in this study included the existence of an honor code, student understanding and acceptance of a school’s academic integrity policy, perceived certainty that cheaters will be reported, perceived severity of penalties, and the degree to which students perceive that their peers engage in cheating behavior. This final variable, peer behavior, was found to show the most significant relation with student cheating in this study. Based on social learning theory (Bandura, 1986), McCabe and Treviño hypothesized such a relation, although they were somewhat surprised by its strength. Indeed, they concluded that the strong influence o
