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The Impact Of Honor Codes On Academic Cheating Within Liberal Arts Colleges, Heather M. O'Neill, Christian A. Pfeiffer

Business and Economics Faculty Publications

Many researchers study the subject of collegiate cheating by focusing on demographic characteristics of cheaters at schools of varying sizes. Other researchers examine whether collegiate honor codes can abate rampant cheating. A third group studies whether perceptions of what students believe to be cheating behaviors affects actual cheating. This paper incorporates previous research and develops a model of academic cheating based on three sets of incentives - moral, social and economic – and how they affect self-reported cheating behaviors at liberal arts colleges. An on-line survey was administered to students from three liberal arts colleges in spring 2008. The nearly …