Abstract:

The phenomenon of academic dishonesty in higher education has been an important theme of ethical debate and scientific research for decades. Digital technologies offer new possibilities of interaction and wide access to information. At the same time, digital technologies facilitate behaviors that may be classified as academic dishonesty, and as a result, we recognize the phenomenon of digital academic dishonesty. The primary objective of this research paper was to investigate the differences in the level of student engagement in various forms of digital academic dishonesty, concerning gender, study area, and study level. The survey included 209 students enrolled in higher education programs in Croatia. In the structure of students who participated in the survey, 45.9% of respondents were studying in the areas of social sciences, humanistic sciences, and art (SS-HS-Art), while 54.1% of respondents were studying in the areas of natural sciences, medical sciences, and technical sciences (NS-MS-TS). Regarding the study level of students who participated in the research, 54.5% of respondents were attending undergraduate studies, and 45.5% of the respondents were attending graduate studies. A self-reporting instrument was designed to assess student engagement in various forms of digital academic dishonesty. In the first section, participants were asked about their demographics while in the second section participants were asked about their views on the different aspects of academic dishonesty. The scale was developed following a thorough review of the national and international literature on academic dishonesty in the digital age.

Within the empirical part, in the first step, we use factor analysis of the 10 items from section 2 of the questionnaire. The analysis revealed a three-factor solution with eigenvalues >1, accounting for 72.5% of the total variance. We named the three factors according to the variables that were included in each factor and thus represented it. Factor 1 was labeled Online Learning Environment. Four items loaded on this factor, with loadings ranging from 0.879 to 0.662 (explained variance 25.8%). Factor 2 was labeled Peer Exchange. Three items loaded on this factor, with loadings ranging from 0.874 to 0.604 (explained variance 23.6%). Factor 3 was given the label Mobile Phone Use. Three items loaded on this factor, with loadings ranging from 0.891 to 0.792 (explained variance 23.1%). The value of Cronbach’s alpha for the entire scale is 0.868, while the values for single factors are factor 1 (0.731), factor 2 (0.713), and factor 3 (0.748). In the second step, we used descriptive measures and inferential statistics to determine levels of students’ academic dishonesty and differences in students’ academic dishonesty levels concerning gender, study level, and study area. The results of the t-test revealed significant statistical differences in the peer exchange aspect of academic dishonesty concerning study level (t=-4.426, df=186, p=0.000), with more frequent engagement of graduate students. Furthermore, the results of the t-test revealed significant statistical differences in the peer exchange aspect of academic dishonesty concerning the study area (t=-2.331, df=207, p=0.021), with more frequent engagement of students in SS-HS-Art. The research results are discussed concerning relevant literature that indicates the necessity for the improvement of academic integrity among higher education students.

Keywords:

Academic dishonesty, higher education, digital age, factor analysis.