The Effects of Instructor Fear Appeals and Moral Appeals on Cheating-Related Attitudes and Behavior of University Students

    Authors

    J. A. Spear;A. N. Miller

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Ethics Behav.

    Keywords

    moral appeals; fear appeals; cheating; cognitive dissonance; neutralizing attitudes; ACADEMIC DISHONESTY; COLLEGE-STUDENTS; INTEGRITY; MODEL; Ethics; Psychology, Multidisciplinary

    Abstract

    Little attention has been paid in academic dishonesty literature to empirically testing the effectiveness of different instructor communication strategies to minimize cheating. Using a quasi-experimental design, we compared the effectiveness of instructor fear appeals and moral appeals on student cheating-related attitudes and behavior. Cheating was most strongly associated with neutralizing attitudes in the moral appeal condition. Also, the relationship between observation of others cheating and self-reported cheating behaviors was stronger in both treatment conditions than in the control condition. Although a trend toward less cheating in the treatment conditions was evident, it did not attain statistical significance.

    Journal Title

    Ethics & Behavior

    Volume

    22

    Issue/Number

    3

    Publication Date

    1-1-2012

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    196

    Last Page

    207

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000304275800003

    ISSN

    1050-8422

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