A structural equation model for cyber academic dishonesty in higher education: Evidence from Taiwan

ABSTRACT

With the continued spread of the rise of online teaching, and the massive use of 3C products (computer, communication, and consumer electronics), the cases of academic plagiarism or using others’ works as own works caused by inappropriate use of the Internet are occurring all the time. However, very little research has been conducted on the cyber ethical climate in relation to cyber academic dishonesty. This study investigates the structural relationship between cyber ethical climate, cyber self-efficacy, cyber ethical attitude and cyber academic dishonesty, among university and graduate students, and develops a multiple mediation model. A total of 812 university and graduate students from 32 universities in Taiwan completed the online questionnaire. The results of the study show that the multiple mediation model is valid and find that the cyber ethical climate creates a favorable context for organizing members to demonstrate cyber ethical behavior, demonstrating the importance of mutual influence on cyber academic dishonesty between the cyber ethical climate created by teachers and the cyber ethical climate of class peers. Based on these results, we deeply examine the practical implications and make specific recommendations to improve the cyber ethical behavior of university and graduate students.

KEYWORDS:

• Cyber ethical climate
• cyber self-efficacy
• cyber ethical attitude
• cyber academic dishonesty; the multiple mediation model

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their deep appreciation to Prof. Jing-Chuan Lee and Prof. Ching-Huei Chen for their invaluable input during the initial stages of this study. Furthermore, our heartfelt thanks go to the Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Lisa M. Rasmussen, and to the anonymous reviewers for their meticulous review of our manuscript and for providing numerous constructive comments and suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Authors’ contributions

Drafting of article – YC, WS

Article revision – YC, WS, SH, KC, CC

Supervision – YC, KC

Ethical approval

The procedures employed in this study complied with the ethical standards set by the relevant institutional and national research committees, as well as adhered to the principles outlined in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its subsequent amendments or equivalent ethical norms.

Additional information

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.