Academic faculty conceptualisation and understanding of plagiarism – a Thai university exploratory study

ABSTRACT

Plagiarism incidents within higher education have increased significantly in the last decade, and have persistently occupied academics and administrators in institutions worldwide. Research demonstrates that in many national contexts such behaviours are increasing or are significantly threatening the integrity of scholarship. In the country that is the subject of this research, Thailand, the nature and extent of plagiarism have been neither sufficiently researched nor understood. This study aimed to explore Thai academics’ (n = 44) conceptualisation and awareness of plagiarism. Data sources included questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The results revealed that the lecturers had both limited understanding and low awareness of plagiarism and that their conceptualisation of plagiarism both as a problem of scholarship and of moral behaviour was unsophisticated at best and a matter of ambivalence at worst. The findings also revealed an institutional level of tolerance and ambiguity about the problem. As such, this research has implications for institutional and individual academic behaviour.

KEYWORD:

• Conceptualisation
• faculty
• plagiarism
• plagiaristic behaviour
• Thai academics

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Copying and mixing sentences from several sources in one’s own work without citation.

2. Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) include Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam (Association of South East Asian Nations 2018).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Phanlapa Khathayut

Phanlapa Khathayut is a lecturer at Rajamangala University of Technology Srivijaya, Songkhla, Thailand. Her research interests focus on university students’ and academic staff’s perceptions of plagiarism and the development of plagiarism frameworks in higher education.

Caroline Walker-Gleaves

Caroline Walker-Gleaves, Professor of Education at Newcastle University, is a lecturer and educator who works at the intersections of pedagogic theory and practice, teachers and their values and beliefs, the design of learning environments incorporating pedagogic principles, and SEND studies.