The Relationship of Impulsiveness, Personal Efficacy, and Academic Motivation to College Cheating

Project Innovation, Inc. P.O. Box 8508 Spring Hill Station, Mobile, AL 36689-0508. Tel: 251-343-1878; Fax: 251-343-1878; Web site: http://www.projectinnovation.biz/csj.html

Y

14

Intelligence; Student Behavior; Correlation; Personality Traits; Well Being; Self Efficacy; Measures (Individuals); Undergraduate Students; Student Motivation; Plagiarism; Integrity; Cheating; Individual Differences; Private Colleges; Catholic Schools

0146-3934

This investigation focused on the interrelationships among the frequency of cheating behaviors, impulsiveness, personal efficacy, and academic motivation. Sixty-one undergraduate students from a small private Catholic college in the Northeast completed the Academic Integrity Scale, subscales from Kurtines' (1978) Autonomy and Paulus' (1983) Spheres of Control scales, and Vallerand et al.'s (1992) Academic Motivation Scale. Correlations were slight and significant at the p lesser than 0.05 level. Pleasure/Satisfaction was negatively related to Test Assistance and positively related to Accomplishing. Future Well-Being was positively related to Plagiarism and negatively related to Impulsiveness. Plagiarism and Amotivation were positively related, as were Accomplishing and Intelligence. These findings are unique in that researchers have rarely found individual difference variables to be related to cheating behaviors. (Contains 3 tables.)

Author

27

2007

EJ765306