Factors Influencing the Perception of Academic Dishonesty Acceptance in Distance Learning among Russian Students

Abstract

The article presents the results of a survey of Russian students focused on the formation of judgments on academic dishonesty in a distance exam. The authors trace how the perceived acceptability of student cheating varies depending on the format of the distance exam, the relationship of its content with the course curriculum, and the level of remote control. Additionally, the authors regard the relationship between the perceived acceptability of cheating and students' learning motivation, as well as subjective assessments of the prevalence of cheating.

The study shows that cheating in distance exams in the test format is perceived as more acceptable than cheating in essay and laboratory exams. Information about the discrepancy between the distance exam and the curriculum increases the perceived acceptability of cheating, and the level of distance control does not have a significant effect. Additionally, it was found that the higher the student's intrinsic motivation, the less acceptable is cheating, while the level of extrinsic motivation and the perceived prevalence of cheating among classmates are not related to students' perception of the acceptability of cheating. The obtained results indicate the validity of the assumptions about the dependence of students' academic fraud on the learning objectives, as well as the perceived characteristics of the institutional means used in the learning process. The results provide grounds for developing effective measures to combat academic fraud in distance learning.