IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/vrs/organi/v50y2017i1p33-45n2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Reasons for Plagiarism in Higher Education

Author

Listed:
  • Šprajc Polona

    (University of Maribor, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, Kidričeva cesta 55a, 4000 Kranj, Slovenia)

  • Urh Marko

    (University of Maribor, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, Kidričeva cesta 55a, 4000 Kranj, Slovenia)

  • Jerebic Janja

    (University of Maribor, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, Kidričeva cesta 55a, 4000 Kranj, Slovenia)

  • Trivan Dragan

    (UNION-Nikola Tesla University, Faculty of Business Studies and Law, Staro Sajmiste 29, 11070 Belgrade, Serbia)

  • Jereb Eva

    (University of Maribor, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, Kidričeva cesta 55a, 4000 Kranj, Slovenia)

Abstract

Background and Purpose: The survey was performed to determine the reasons that lead students to possibly commit plagiarism during their studies. By doing so, we wanted to determine the main reason for the appearance of plagiarism and how, within this main reasons, various indicators of plagiarism are judged and, finally, how demographic data and student motivation for study are associated with the reasons for plagiarism.Design/Methodology/Approach: A paper-and-pencil survey was carried out among 17 faculties of the University of Maribor in Slovenia. A sample of 139 students 85 males and 54 females participated in this study, ages ranged from 19 to 36 years. The questionnaire contained 95 closed questions referring to: (i) general data, (ii) education, (iii) social status, (iv) awareness of plagiarism, and (v) reasons for plagiarism. Parametric and nonparametric statistical tests were performed depending on distributions of the answers.Results: The results reveal that information and communication technology is largely responsible for the plagiarism with two reasons highlighted: ease of copying and ease of access to materials and new technologies. We also found some differences between low and high motivated students. Different average values of the answers considering motivation for study were confirmed for academic skills, teaching factors and other reasons for plagiarism, where the average for lower motivated students is significantly different (higher) than the average for higher motivated students. At the end we could find no direct relationship between the average time spent on the Internet and plagiarism.Conclusion: The transmission of knowledge is the basic mission of faculties. This mission is based on moral beliefs about the harmfulness of its abuse, and plagiarism is exactly such abuse. Regardless of the students past at this point professors are those who could greatly contribute to the right set of skills to keep students off plagiarising.

Suggested Citation

  • Šprajc Polona & Urh Marko & Jerebic Janja & Trivan Dragan & Jereb Eva, 2017. "Reasons for Plagiarism in Higher Education," Organizacija, Sciendo, vol. 50(1), pages 33-45, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:vrs:organi:v:50:y:2017:i:1:p:33-45:n:2
    DOI: 10.1515/orga-2017-0002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/orga-2017-0002
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/orga-2017-0002?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stephen F. Hard & James M. Conway & Antonia C. Moran, 2006. "Faculty and College Student Beliefs about the Frequency of Student Academic Misconduct," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 77(6), pages 1058-1080, November.
    2. Lori G. Power, 2009. "University Students' Perceptions of Plagiarism," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 80(6), pages 643-662, November.
    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. Бессуднов А. Р. & Куракин Д. Ю. & Малик В. М., 2017. "Как Возник И Что Скрывает Миф О Всеобщем Высшем Образовании," Вопросы образования // Educational Studies Moscow, National Research University Higher School of Economics, issue 3, pages 83-109.

    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. Winrow, Brian, 2016. "Do perceptions of the utility of ethics affect academic cheating?," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 1-12.
    2. Levon R. Hayrapetyan, 2011. "Prevention And Detection Of Certain Types Of Plagiarism During Computerized Assessments," Business Education and Accreditation, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 3(1), pages 113-120.
    3. Dench, Daniel & Joyce, Theodore, 2022. "Information and credible sanctions in curbing online cheating among undergraduates: A field experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 408-427.
    4. Bujaki, Merridee & Lento, Camillo & Sayed, Naqi, 2019. "Utilizing professional accounting concepts to understand and respond to academic dishonesty in accounting programs," Journal of Accounting Education, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 28-47.
    5. 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.
    6. Thomas S. Dee & Brian A. Jacob, 2012. "Rational Ignorance in Education: A Field Experiment in Student Plagiarism," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 47(2), pages 397-434.
    7. Joan Lynch & Bronwyn Everett & Lucie M Ramjan & Renee Callins & Paul Glew & Yenna Salamonson, 2017. "Plagiarism in nursing education: an integrative review," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(19-20), pages 2845-2864, October.

    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:vrs:organi:v:50:y:2017:i:1:p:33-45:n:2. 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: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.sciendo.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.