IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v72y2007i3p293-306.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Applying Ethical Theories: Interpreting and Responding to Student Plagiarism

Author

Listed:
  • Neil Granitz
  • Dana Loewy

Abstract

Given the tremendous proliferation of student plagiarism involving the Internet, the purpose of this study is to determine which theory of ethical reasoning students invoke when defending their transgressions: deontology, utilitarianism, rational self-interest, Machiavellianism, cultural relativism, or situational ethics. Understanding which theory of ethical reasoning students employ is critical, as preemptive steps can be taken by faculty to counteract this reasoning and prevent plagiarism. Additionally, it has been demonstrated that unethical behavior in school can lead to unethical behavior in business; therefore, correcting unethical behavior in school can have a positive impact on organizational ethics. To meet this objective, a content analysis was conducted on the written records of students formally charged with plagiarizing at a large West Coast university. Each case was classified according to the primary ethical reasoning that the student used to justify plagiarism. Results indicate that students predominately invoke deontology, situational ethics, and Machiavellianism. Based on these findings, specific recommendations are offered to curb plagiarism. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2007

Suggested Citation

  • Neil Granitz & Dana Loewy, 2007. "Applying Ethical Theories: Interpreting and Responding to Student Plagiarism," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 72(3), pages 293-306, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:72:y:2007:i:3:p:293-306
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-006-9171-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10551-006-9171-9
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-006-9171-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kolbe, Richard H & Burnett, Melissa S, 1991. "Content-Analysis Research: An Examination of Applications with Directives for Improving Research Reliability and Objectivity," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 18(2), pages 243-250, September.
    2. Hasnas, John, 1998. "The Normative Theories of Business Ethics: A Guide for the Perplexed," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 8(1), pages 19-42, January.
    3. Kassarjian, Harold H, 1977. "Content Analysis in Consumer Research," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 4(1), pages 8-18, June.
    4. Juris Dilevko & Roma M. Harris, 1997. "Information technology and social relations: Portrayals of gender roles in high tech product advertisements," Journal of the American Society for Information Science, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 48(8), pages 718-727, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Cam Caldwell, 2010. "A Ten-Step Model for Academic Integrity: A Positive Approach for Business Schools," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 92(1), pages 1-13, March.
    2. Joanne Jones & Gary Spraakman, 2011. "A Case of Academic Misconduct: Does Self‐Interest Rule?," Accounting Perspectives, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 10(1), pages 1-22, March.
    3. Singh, Anil & Mangalaraj, George & Taneja, Aakash, 2011. "An approach to detecting plagiarism in spreadsheet assignments: A digital answer to digital cheating," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 142-152.
    4. Ballantine, J.A. & McCourt Larres, P. & Mulgrew, M., 2014. "Determinants of academic cheating behavior: The future for accountancy in Ireland," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 55-66.
    5. Muhammad Rhies Khan & Mustaghis-Ur Rahman & Anita Laila & Ali Gohar & Sana Azhar, 2023. "Maintaining Business Ethics during COVID-19 Pandemic in Globalized World: A Comparison of Ethical Theories and Future Research Perspective," Journal of Economic Impact, Science Impact Publishers, vol. 5(1), pages 42-49.
    6. Lillian Y. Fok & Dinah M. Payne & Christy M. Corey, 2016. "Cultural Values, Utilitarian Orientation, and Ethical Decision Making: A Comparison of U.S. and Puerto Rican Professionals," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 134(2), pages 263-279, March.
    7. Sandra Scott, 2017. "From Plagiarism‐Plagued to Plagiarism‐Proof: Using Anonymized Case Assignments in Intermediate Accounting," Accounting Perspectives, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(4), pages 247-268, December.
    8. Anne Christensen & Jane Cote & Claire Kamm Latham, 2018. "Developing Ethical Confidence: The Impact of Action-Oriented Ethics Instruction in an Accounting Curriculum," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(4), pages 1157-1175, December.
    9. Noer Sasongko* & Mahruf Noor Hasyim & Dahlia Fernandez, 2019. "Analysis of Behavioral Factors that Cause Student Academic Fraud," The Journal of Social Sciences Research, Academic Research Publishing Group, vol. 5(3), pages 830-837, 03-2019.
    10. Daniela Sorea & Gheorghe Roșculeț & Ana-Maria Bolborici, 2021. "Readymade Solutions and Students’ Appetite for Plagiarism as Challenges for Online Learning," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-16, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chiara Mauri & Angelo Di Gregorio & Alice Mazzucchelli & Isabella Maggioni, 2017. "The employability of marketing graduates in the era of digitalisation and globalisation," MERCATI & COMPETITIVIT?, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2017(4), pages 103-124.
    2. Pullig, Chris & Maxham, James III & Hair, Joseph Jr., 2002. "Salesforce automation systems: an exploratory examination of organizational factors associated with effective implementation and salesforce productivity," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 55(5), pages 401-415, May.
    3. Chilombo, Andrew & Van Der Horst, Dan, 2021. "Livelihoods and coping strategies of local communities on previous customary land in limbo of commercial agricultural development: Lessons from the farm block program in Zambia," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    4. Enrique Bigné Alcañiz & Alejandro Alvarado Herrera & Rafael Currás Pérez & José Javier Rivera Alcami, 2010. "Latest evolution of academic research in corporate social responsibility: an empirical analysis," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 6(3), pages 332-344, August.
    5. Mihai F. Băcilă & Raluca Ciornea & Luiza M. Souca & Alexandra M. Drule, 2022. "Content Analysis on Sustainability Dimensions in DMOs’ Social Media Videos Advertising the World’s Most Visited Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-25, September.
    6. Francesca Ceruti & Alice Mazzucchelli & Angelo Di Gregorio, 2016. "E-commerce or s-commerce? A managerial perspective on website design features," MERCATI & COMPETITIVIT?, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2016(4), pages 153-173.
    7. Blankson, Charles & Iyer, Pramod & Owusu-Frimpong, Nana & Nwankwo, Sonny & Hinson, Robert, 2020. "Positioning strategies of foreign and indigenous firms in an African cultural milieu," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 627-638.
    8. Paul A. Pavlou & Angelika Dimoka, 2006. "The Nature and Role of Feedback Text Comments in Online Marketplaces: Implications for Trust Building, Price Premiums, and Seller Differentiation," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 17(4), pages 392-414, December.
    9. Vespestad, May Kristin & Clancy, Anne, 2021. "Exploring the use of content analysis methodology in consumer research," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    10. Carlson, Les & Grove, Stephen J. & Laczniak, Russell N. & Kangun, Norman, 1996. "Does environmental advertising reflect integrated marketing communications?: An empirical investigation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 225-232, November.
    11. Catherine Sundling & Mats E. Nilsson & Sara Hellqvist & Leslie R. Pendrill & Ragne Emardson & Birgitta Berglund, 2016. "Travel behaviour change in old age: the role of critical incidents in public transport," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 75-83, March.
    12. C. Madhavaiah & Irfan Bashir & Syed Irfan Shafi, 2012. "Defining Cloud Computing in Business Perspective: A Review of Research," Vision, , vol. 16(3), pages 163-173, September.
    13. Capriello, Antonella & Mason, Peyton R. & Davis, Boyd & Crotts, John C., 2013. "Farm tourism experiences in travel reviews: A cross-comparison of three alternative methods for data analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(6), pages 778-785.
    14. Vali Borimnejad & Sahar Dehyouri, 2022. "Content Analysis of the Economic Problems of Covid-19 Disease on Businesses: A Case Study of Tehran Province, Iran," Annals of Data Science, Springer, vol. 9(5), pages 1069-1083, October.
    15. Eeva-Liisa Oikarinen & Saila Saraniemi, 2016. "Categorizing Humorous Employer Brand Message in a Small Company’s Online Job Ads," Corporate Reputation Review, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(3), pages 198-218, October.
    16. Kaveh Peighambari & Setayesh Sattari & Arash Kordestani & Pejvak Oghazi, 2016. "Consumer Behavior Research," SAGE Open, , vol. 6(2), pages 21582440166, April.
    17. Kleijnen, Mirella & Lee, Nick & Wetzels, Martin, 2009. "An exploration of consumer resistance to innovation and its antecedents," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 344-357, June.
    18. Pathak, Atul Arun & Kaushik, Kapil, 2024. "Driving consumer engagement for digital payment brands: Content strategy on instagram," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    19. Patel, Shivan Sanjay & Pandey, Shivendra Kumar & Sharma, Dheeraj, 2019. "Revisiting the relevance debate empirically: Historical roots and modern shoots," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 273-283.
    20. Smith, Andrew N. & Fischer, Eileen & Yongjian, Chen, 2012. "How Does Brand-related User-generated Content Differ across YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter?," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 102-113.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:72:y:2007:i:3:p:293-306. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.