Plagiarism awareness efforts, students’ ethical judgment and behaviors: a longitudinal experiment study on ethical nuances of plagiarism in higher education

Figures & data

Figure 1. Conceptual model.

Table 1. Demographics of the study participants.

Variable	Groups	N	Percentage
Age	25 years or less	103	35.03
	>25 years	191	64.97
Gender	Female	133	45.24
	Male	161	54.76
Work experience	<1 year	52	17.69
	1–2 years	77	26.19
	>2 years	165	56.12
Undergraduate stream	Commerce	58	19.73
	Science	205	69.73
	Humanities	24	8.16
	Others	7	2.38
Total		294	100.00

Table 2. Construct reliability and validity.

Item code	Item	Mean	SD	Factor loading	Cronbach α	CR	AVE
T1MOR01	Pratik's action was fair.	3.667	1.054	0.764	0.841	0.844	0.577
T1MOR02	Pratik's action was morally incorrect.	3.684	1.118	0.823
T1MOR03	Pratik's action was unjust.	3.650	1.041	0.647
T1MOR04	Pratik's behavior would be unacceptable to my family	3.613	1.019	0.793
T1REL01	Pratik's action was culturally acceptable.	3.762	1.096	0.732	0.719	0.721	0.564
T1REL02	Pratik's action was traditionally unacceptable.	3.783	1.084	0.769
T1CON01	Pratik's action violated an unspoken promise	3.766	1.321	0.792	0.761	0.762	0.615
T1CON02	Pratik's action did not violate an unwritten contract	3.708	1.222	0.777
T2MOR01	Radhika's action was fair.	3.737	1.095	0.795	0.831	0.837	0.564
T2MOR02	Radhika's action was morally incorrect.	4.009	0.681	0.795
T2MOR03	Radhika's action was unjust.	4.077	0.740	0.704
T2MOR04	Radhika's behavior would be unacceptable to my family	4.273	0.625	0.704
T2REL01	Radhika's action was culturally acceptable.	0.356	1.306	0.878	0.773	0.777	0.637
T2REL02	Radhika's action was traditionally unacceptable.	0.305	1.179	0.710
T2CON01	Radhika's action violated an unspoken promise	0.536	1.296	0.747	0.751	0.755	0.607
T2CON02	Radhika's action did not violate an unwritten contract	3.885	0.964	0.810

Table 3. Discriminant validity testing.

	CR	AVE	T2REL	T1REL	T1MOR	T1CON	T2MOR	T2CON
T2REL	0.777	0.637	0.798
T1REL	0.721	0.564	0.296	0.751
T1MOR	0.844	0.577	0.332	0.467	0.760
T1CON	0.762	0.615	0.263	0.423	0.474	0.785
T2MOR	0.837	0.564	0.393	0.351	0.483	0.427	0.751
T2CON	0.755	0.607	0.461	0.478	0.430	0.552	0.480	0.779

Table 4. Test of significant difference between pre-intervention and post-intervention responses.

Hypothesis	Variable	N	Pre-Intervention		Post-intervention		Effect of intervention				Results
			Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean diff.	SD	t-value	p-value
H1a-c	MOR	294	3.65	0.98	4.01	0.68	−0.36	1.31	−4.67	0.00	Supported
	REL	294	3.77	0.88	4.08	0.74	−0.30	1.18	−4.43	0.00	Supported
	CON	294	3.74	1.09	4.27	0.62	−0.54	1.30	−7.09	0.00	Supported

Table 5. Regression results.

Hypothesis	Variables	β	SE	t-value	Result
	Dependent variable: ethical behavior (T3)
	Predictors
H2a	MOR (T2)	−0.108***	1.362	−4.315	Supported
H2b	REL (T2)	0.054	1.134	−0.622	Not supported
H2c	CON (T2)	−0.122***	1.563	−5.851	Supported
	Overall Model	R = 0.807, Adj. R^2= 0.651; F = 14.400***

Note: The MES scale items e.g. unfair–fair, and unjust–just (refer to Annexure A-2) explain that the negative beta weights indicate a positive effect.

***p < 0.001; **p < 0.01; *p < 0.05.

Table 6. Moderating effect of participants’ demographic differences on ethical judgment.

Hypothesis	Variables	Moderator	Groups	N	Pre-Intervention		Post-intervention		Change across groups over time				Result
					Mean	Std Dev	Mean	Std Dev	Δ(T2 – T1)	Std Dev	t-value/F-value	p-value
H3a	MOR	Religiosity	Low	146	3.401	0.886	4.099	0.630	0.699	1.226	4.63***	0.00	Supported
			High	148	3.902	1.000	3.919	0.717	0.017	1.297
H3b	REL		Low	146	3.791	0.859	4.171	0.681	0.380	1.119	1.09^ns	0.27	Not supported
			High	148	3.753	0.868	3.983	0.783	0.230	1.234
H3c	CON		Low	146	3.750	1.107	4.377	0.543	0.627	1.300	1.19^ns	0.23	Not supported
			High	148	3.723	1.085	4.169	0.682	0.446	1.290
H4a	MOR	Gender	Female	133	3.570	1.007	4.100	0.634	0.530	1.310	2.097*	0.03	Supported
			Male	161	3.722	0.948	3.933	0.710	0.211	1.288
H4b	REL		Female	133	3.767	0.889	4.150	0.704	0.383	1.123	1.04^ns	0.29	Not supported
			Male	161	3.776	0.842	4.016	0.763	0.239	1.222
H4c	CON		Female	133	3.632	1.120	4.301	0.621	0.669	1.285	1.61^ns	0.10	Not supported
			Male	161	3.823	1.069	4.248	0.628	0.425	1.298
H5a	MOR	Age	25 years or less	103	3.544	1.017	4.000	0.688	0.456	1.352	0.97^ns	0.33	Not supported
			> 25 years	191	3.712	0.951	4.013	0.678	0.301	1.280
H5b	REL		25 years or less	103	3.752	0.877	4.019	0.843	0.267	1.384	−0.39^ns	0.69	Not supported
			> 25 years	191	3.783	0.856	4.107	0.677	0.325	1.055
H5c	CON		25 years or less	103	3.689	1.120	4.306	0.615	0.617	1.381	0.78^ns	0.43	Not supported
			> 25 years	191	3.762	1.082	4.254	0.630	0.492	1.249
H6a	MOR	Work experience	<1 year	52	3.370	1.019	4.014	0.611	0.644	1.294	3.04*	0.03	Supported
			1–2 years	77	3.523	0.943	4.026	0.720	0.503	1.307
			>2 years	165	3.803	0.955	3.998	0.685	0.195	1.292
H6b	REL		<1 year	52	3.596	0.913	4.096	0.650	0.500	1.038	2.49^†	0.08	Supported
			1–2 years	77	3.740	0.876	4.201	0.635	0.461	1.123
			>2 years	165	3.842	0.835	4.012	0.804	0.170	1.233
H6c	CON		<1 year	52	3.760	0.978	4.279	0.489	0.519	1.071	0.36^ns	0.69	Not supported
			1–2 years	77	3.688	1.139	4.331	0.599	0.643	1.330
			>2 years	165	3.752	1.113	4.242	0.673	0.491	1.347

***p < 0.001; **p < 0.01; *p < 0.05; † p < 0.1; ns: not supported.