Academic Fraud and Remote Evaluation of Accounting Students

An Application of the Fraud Triangle

Bibliographic Data

ID21464546
AuthorsJames Bierstaker, James L Bierstaker (Villanova University), William D Brink (0000-0003-2785-2919, Miami University, corresponding author), Sameera Khatoon (0000-0001-7867-0475, University of Saskatchewan), Linda Thorne (0000-0001-7879-1103, York University)
Year2024
Volume195
Issue2
Pages425-447
Publication date2024-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Business Ethics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0167-4544 • E-ISSN: 1573-0697
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1007/s10551-024-05628-9
OpenAlexW4392370500
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited66

The pandemic has altered accounting education with the widespread adoption of remote evaluation platforms. We apply the lens of the fraud triangle to consider how the adoption of remote evaluation influences accounting students’ ethical values by measuring the incidence of cheating behavior as well as capturing their perceptions of their opportunity to cheat and their rationalization of cheating behavior. Consistent with prior research, our results show that cheating is higher in the online environment compared to remote evaluation, although the use of proctoring software in online evaluation appears to mitigate but not eliminate students’ the unethical behavior. However, cheating was not reduced when students attest to an honor code during the beginning of an exam. Nonetheless, we find that the use of both proctoring software and honor codes reduces students’ perceptions of opportunity and rationalization of cheating behavior. It follows that the remote evaluation environment may unintentionally be negatively influencing the ethicality of students and future accounting professionals by promoting cheating behavior and, by so doing, negatively influencing the development of unethical values of accounting students and future accounting professionals. Educators should consider the use of appropriate educational interventions to reduce the incidence and opportunities for unethical behavior and, by so doing, help promote the development of ethical values in future accounting professionals. Further implications for teaching and the accounting profession are discussed

Academic integrity · Business · Cheating · Code of conduct · Economics · Honor · Internet privacy · Management · Perception · Political science · Public relations · Academic integrity and plagiarism · Computer Science · Ethics in Business and Education · Imbalanced Data Classification Techniques · Psychology · Social Psychology · Accounting

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Open DOIOpen Access