Effects of performance goals and social norms on academic dishonesty in a test

Bibliographic Data

ID5264052
AuthorsMartin Daumiller (0000-0003-0261-6143, Department of Psychology University of Augsburg Germany, corresponding author), Stefan Janke (0000-0003-1799-8850, University of Mannheim Germany)
Year2020
Volume90
Issue2
Pages537-559
Publication date2020-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueBritish Journal of Educational Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0007-0998 • E-ISSN: 2044-8279
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/bjep.12310
PMID31361037
OpenAlexW2965883390
LanguageEN
Citations received16
References cited64

BackgroundPrevious research has shown that achievement goals affect the frequency of academic dishonesty. However, mixed findings suggest that especially the effect of performance goals might depend on contextual factors.AimsWe wanted to investigate whether crucial aspects of the achievement situation influence the magnitude of the effect of performance goals (here: focused on appearance) on dishonesty. Specifically, we propose that social norms regarding the acceptance of dishonesty moderate the positive effect of performance goals on academic dishonesty.SampleWe sampled 105 German university students. They were teacher trainees, mostly in their first year at university and on average 20.6 (SD = 3.6) years old (72.4% female).MethodWe conducted a 2 (induced appearance goals vs. no goal induction) × 2 (cheating confederate vs. no observable cheating behaviour by this person) experiment. A manipulation check confirmed that the manipulation of appearance goals was successful. Cheating behaviour was observed by a confederate student and subsequently classified by two raters. Additionally, participants' dishonesty in self-presentation questions was measured using deviations from baseline measures.ResultsThe induction of appearance goals only led to increased cheating when the social norm suggested that cheating behaviour was an acceptable way to increase performance (i.e., cheating confederate condition). For deceiving, we found a positive main effect of appearance goals. Appearance goals mediated these effects from goal manipulation on academic dishonesty.ConclusionsTaken together, our results highlight that the mixed findings on the effect of performance goals on academic dishonesty might be due to uninvestigated moderators such as social norms. Future research should build on these findings to identify additional moderators

Academic Dishonesty · Affect (linguistics) · Cheating · Dishonesty · Norm (philosophy) · Political science · Test (biology) · Academic integrity and plagiarism · Education, Achievement, and Giftedness · Personality Traits and Psychology · Psychology · Social Psychology

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