Contract cheating in higher education: a systematic literature review and future research agenda

Abstract

Contract cheating is an increasingly challenging problem facing the higher education sector. This study assesses the current state of contract cheating research from various methodological and empirical perspectives. Through a systematic literature review of 51 peer-reviewed articles on contract cheating in higher education, we identify clusters of keywords, research trends and major research themes. Our analysis shows that theory-based research and studies using methodologies such as case study are lacking. We consolidate the research findings, presenting them in a conceptual framework to address contract cheating in higher education. Promising areas for future research on contract cheating in higher education are identified.

Keywords:

• Contract cheating
• higher education
• literature review
• academic integrity
• academic misconduct

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.