Why Students Really Cheat

Between 50-80% of college students cheat at some point^1,2,3. According to McCabe (2016), Simkin & McLeod (2010), and nearly every study on why students cheat, a few obvious reasons stand out: they wanted good grades, felt underprepared, or just knew there was little risk of being caught. No surprises.

Shouldn’t strong values and moral compasses steer them toward honesty and integrity? Not always.

Sometimes the reasons for cheating are straightforward.
But other times, they’re much more complex and nuanced.

Download the ebook for research-backed insights about:

• The reasons students cheat (beyond the basics)
• Why faculty hesitate to address cheating
• Underlying factors that lead to a “cheating culture”
• 10 practical strategies to reduce cheating

Sources:

¹Cantiello, J., & Geschke, R. H. (2024). Preventing Academic Dishonesty in Online Courses: Best Practices to Discourage Cheating. The Journal of Health Administration Education, 40(2), 205–230.
²Janke, S., Rudert, S. C., Petersen, Ä., Fritz, T. M., & Daumiller, M. (2021). Cheating in the wake of COVID-19: How dangerous is ad-hoc online testing for academic integrity? Computers and Education Open, 2, 100055-. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeo.2021.100055
³MacLeod, P. D., & Eaton, S. E. (2020). The Paradox of Faculty Attitudes toward Student Violations of Academic Integrity. Journal of Academic Ethics, 18(4), 347–362. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10805-020-09363-4
McCabe, D. (2016). Cheating and Honor: Lessons from a Long-Term Research Project. In T. Bretag (Ed.), Handbook of Academic Integrity (pp. 187–198). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-098-8_35
Simkin, M. G., & McLeod, A. (2010). Why do college students cheat? Journal of Business Ethics, 94(3), 441–453. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-009-0275-x