Lying, Cheating, & Stealing: Strategies for Mitigating Technology-Driven Academic Dishonesty in Collegiate Schools of Business

Abstract

We summarize contemporary issues related to academic dishonesty and draw from relevant organizational ethics program research to present a dual framework that business educators can use to mitigate technology-driven cheating among their students. Based on a review of the relevant literature, we develop a rationale which identifies three key observations: 1) technology-driven academic dishonesty is pervasive among college business students, 2) there are proactive steps that can be taken to address this problem, and 3) faculty, staff, and administrators in collegiate schools of business can and should do more to mitigate cheating among their students. We first provide an overview concerning the evolution of academic dishonesty and the technological advances that simplify cheating. Next, we propose a conceptual framework and list recommendations for business educators, using both compliance-based and values-based strategies, to reduce the frequency and severity of cheating