Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Gender differences and the awareness of plagiarism in higher education

  • Published:
Social Psychology of Education Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Plagiarism is increasingly prevalent in the educational and research culture in higher education. Students are more and more looking for quick solutions when writing research papers and theses. In this paper, students’ awareness of plagiarism and possible gender differences in this awareness are presented. Gender differences in plagiarism awareness were analysed both generally and within several socio-economic contexts (e.g. social life, living with parents/grandparents, living in a student hall of residence, motivation for study and working during studies). Our study was conducted at the University of Maribor in Slovenia. The findings have revealed statistically significant gender differences in students’ plagiarism awareness; specifically, women have a much more negative attitude towards plagiarism than men. Regarding awareness, students could be divided into three groups: (1) students who are aware of plagiarism but do not consider it wrong or unethical, (2) students who are unaware of plagiarism, and (3) students who are aware of plagiarism but continue to plagiarise despite knowing it to be wrong. A very busy social life, strong motivation for study and working during studies also strongly affect plagiarism and reveal gender differences. Based on the findings of the study, this paper puts forward recommendations for plagiarism prevention. Our recommendations encompass the implementation of a plagiarism policy within academic institutions, strict sanctions on plagiarism, teaching students how to avoid plagiarism and, finally, a national programme for the promotion of academic integrity.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allan, G., Callagher, L., Connors, M., Joyce, D., & Rees, M. (2005). Some Australasian perspectives on academic integrity in the internet age. In Paper presented at the EDUCAUSE Conference, Auckland. http://www.copyright.mq.edu.au/pdf/austperspect.pdf. Accessed 15 Feb 2007.

  • Amanatullah, E. T., & Tinsley, C. H. (2013). Punishing female negotiators for asserting too much, or not enough: exploring why advocacy moderates backlash against assertive female negotiators. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 120(1), 110–122.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Apesteguia, J., Azmat, G., & Iriberri, N. (2012). The impact of gender composition on team performance and decision making: Evidence from the field. Management Science, 58(1), 78–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arano, K., Parker, C., & Terry, R. (2010). Gender-based risk aversion and retirement asset allocation. Economic Inquiry. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1465-7295.2008.00201.x.

    Google Scholar 

  • Babcock, L., Gelfand, M. J., Small, D., & Stayn, H. (2006). Gender differences in the propensity to initiate negotiations. In D. DeCremer, M. Zeelenberg, & J. K. Murninghan (Eds.), Social psychology and economics (pp. 239–259). Mahwah, NJ: Laurence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bannister, P., & Ashworth, P. (1998). Four good reasons for cheating and plagiarism. In C. Rust (Ed.), Improving student learning symposium (pp. 233–241). Oxford: Oxford, UK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bateman, C. R., & Valentine, S. R. (2010). Investigating the effects of gender on consumers’ moral philosophies and ethical intentions. Journal of Business Ethics, 95, 393–414.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beauchamp, M. H., & Anderson, V. (2010). SOCIAL: An integrative framework for the development of social skills. Psychological Bulletin, 136, 39–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Becker, D. A., & Ulstad, I. (2007). Gender differences in student ethics: Are females really more ethical? Plagiary: Cross-Disciplinary Studies in Plagiarism, Fabrication, and Falsification, 2, 77–91.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blum, S. D. (2009). Academic integrity and student plagiarism: A question of education, not ethics. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 55(24), A35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowers, W. J. (1964). Student dishonesty and its control in college. New York, NY: Bureau of Applied Social Research, Columbia University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brimble, M., & Stevenson-Clarke, P. (2005). Perceptions of the prevalence and seriousness of academic dishonesty in Australian universities. The Australian Educational Researcher, 32(3), 19–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, B. S., & Choong, P. (2005). An investigation of academic dishonesty among business students at public and private United States Universities. International Journal of Management, 22(2), 201–214.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carroll, J. (2007). A handbook for deterring plagiarism in higher education (2nd ed.). Oxford, England: Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development, Oxford Brookes University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Christensen Hughes, J. M., & McCabe, D. L. (2006). Understanding academic misconduct. Canadian Journal of Higher Education, 36(1), 49–63.

    Google Scholar 

  • Comas, R., & Sureda, J. (2008). Academic cyberplagiarism: Tracing the causes to reach solutions. Diglthum. http://www.uoc.edu/digithum/10/dt/eng/comas_sureda.pdf. Accessed 29 Aug 2010.

  • Correll, S. J. (2001). Gender and the career choice process: The role of biased self-assessments. American Journal of Sociology, 106, 1691–1730.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crown, D. F., & Spiller, M. S. (1998). Learning from the literature on collegiate cheating: A review of empirical research. Journal of Business Ethics, 17(6), 683–700.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis, S. F., Grover, C. A., Becker, A. H., & McGregor, L. N. (1992). Academic dishonesty: Prevalence, determinants, techniques, and punishments. Teaching of Psychology, 19, 16–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dawson, M. M., & Overfield, J. A. (2006). Plagiarism: Do students know what it is? Bioscience Education. https://doi.org/10.3108/beej.8.1.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Lambert, K., Ellen, N., & Taylor, L. (2006). Chalkface challenges: A study of academic dishonesty amongst students in New Zealand tertiary institutions. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 31(5), 485–503.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dee, T. S., & Jacob, B. A. (2010). Rational ignorance in education: A field experiment in student plagiarism. NBER working paper no. 15672. http://www.nber.org/papers/w15672.pdf. Accessed 24 July 2016.

  • Deniz, M. E., Hamarta, E., & Ari, R. (2005). An investigation of social skills and loneliness levels of university students with respect to their attachment styles in a sample of Turkish students. Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal, 33, 19–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Devlin, M., & Gray, K. (2007). In their own words: A qualitative study of the reasons Australian university student plagiarise. Higher Education Research and Development, 26(2), 181–198.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eagly, A. H., & Carli, L. L. (2004). Women and men as leaders. In J. Antonakis, A. T. Cianciolo, & R. J. Sternberg (Eds.), The nature of leadership (pp. 279–301). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferriman, K., Lubinski, D., & Benbow, C. P. (2009). Work preferences, life values, and personal views of top math/science graduate students and the profoundly gifted: Developmental changes and gender differences during emerging adulthood and parenthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97(3), 517–532.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, T. D., & Brunell, A. B. (2014). A bogus pipeline approach to studying gender differences in cheating behaviour. Personality and Individual Difference, 61–62, 91–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forret, M. L., & Dougherty, T. W. (2004). Networking behaviors and career outcomes: Differences for men and women? Journal of Organizational Behavior, 25(3), 419–437.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gang, C., & Guiyang, X. (2000). Gender differences in academic achievement and the educational implications. Education and Society, 33(2), 44–49.

    Google Scholar 

  • Graham, M., Monday, J., O’Brien, K., & Steffen, S. (1994). Cheating at small colleges: An examination of student and faculty attitudes and behaviors. Journal of College Student Development, 35, 255–260.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greig, F. (2008). Propensity to negotiate and career advancement: Evidence from an investment bank that women are on a “slow elevator”. Negotiation Journal, 24(4), 495–508.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Groves, K. S. (2005). Gender differences in social and emotional skills and charismatic leadership. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, 11(3), 30–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hansen, B. (2003). Combating plagiarism: Is the internet causing more students to plagiarize? The Congressional Researcher, 13, 773–796.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harris, R. A. (2001). The plagiarism handbook: Strategies for preventing, detecting, and dealing with plagiarism. Los Angeles, CA: Pyrczak.

    Google Scholar 

  • Iyer, R., & Eastman, J. K. (2006). Academic dishonesty: Are business students different from other college students? Journal of Education for Business, 82(2), 101–110.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jensen, L. A., Arnett, J. J., Feldman, S. S., & Cauffman, E. (2002). It’s wrong, but everybody does it: Academic dishonesty among high school and college students. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 27(2), 209–228.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, K., Reid, J., & Barttett, R. (2008). Cyber cheating in an information technology age. Digithum/Online/. Retrieved on 29 Aug 2009 from http://www.uoc.edu/digithum/10/dt/eng/jones_reid_barttett.pdf.

  • Jurajda, Š., & Münich, D. (2011). Gender gap in admission performance under competitive pressure: Admissions to Czech Universities. American Economic Review (Papers and Proceedings), 101, 514–518.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Katungi, E., Edmeades, S., & Smale, M. (2008). Gender, social capital and information exchange in rural Uganda. Journal of International Development, 20(1), 35–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kidwell, L. A., & Kent, J. (2008). Integrity at a distance: A study of academic misconduct among university students on and off campus. Accounting Education: An International Journal, 17(1), 3–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kosonen, E. (1996). Soittamisen motivaatio varhaisnuorilla. [Motivation for instrument playing in early youth] « . Licentiate Thesis in Music Education/Online/. https://jyx.jyu.fi/dspace/bitstream/handle/123456789/41003/URN%3aNBN%3afi%3ajyu-201302281281.pdf?sequence=1. Accessed 8 Aug 2016.

  • Kosonen, E. (2010). Musiikkiharrastusten motivaatio. [Motivation for music hobbies]. In J. Louhivuori & S. Saarikallio (Eds.), Musiikkipsykologia [Music Psychology] (pp. 295–310). Jyväskylä: Atena.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ledesma, R. G. (2011). Academic dishonesty among undergraduate students in a Korean university. Research in World Economy, 2(2), 143–701.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lekaviciene, R., & Antiniene, D. (2012). The changes of cohesion between students’ social skills as the indicator of social competence and socio-demographic factors. Psychology, 45, 70–88.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshall, S., & Garry, M. (2006). NESB and ESB students’ attitudes and perceptions of plagiarism. International Journal of Educational Integrity, 2(1), 26–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCabe, D. L. (2005). Cheating among college and university students: A North American perspective. International Journal for Educational Integrity, 1(1)/Online/. http://www.ojs.unisa.edu.au/index.php/IJEI/article/view/14/9. Accesssed 6 Aug 2016.

  • McCabe, D. L., Feghali, T., & Abdallah, H. (2008). Academic dishonesty in the middle east: Individual and contextual factors. Research in Higher Education, 49(5), 451–467.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGowan, U. (2005). Academic integrity: An awareness and development issue for students and staff. Journal for University Teaching and Learning Practices, 2(3a)/Online/. http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1033&context=jutlp. Accesssed 6 Aug 2016.

  • Moore, H. R., & Davies, L. J. (2009). Plagiarism in the internet age. Educational Leadership, 66(6), 64–67.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morrill, T. B., Jones, R. M., & Vaterlaus, J. M. (2013). Motivations for text messaging: gender and age differences among young adults. North American Journal of Psychology, 15(1), 1–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nye, J. S. (2012). When women lead. ProjectSyndicate/Online/. https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/when-women-lead?barrier=true. Accesssed 6 Aug 2016.

  • Ors, E., Palomino, F., & Peyrache, E. (2013). Performance gender-gap: Does competition matter? Journal of Labor Economics, 31, 443–499.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oxford English Dictionary. (2016). Plagiarism n. Oxford University Press/Online/. http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/144939. Accesssed 1 Aug 2016.

  • Ozben, S. (2013). Social skills, life satisfaction, and loneliness in Turkish university students. Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal, 41, 203–214.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Park, C. (2003). In other (people’s) words: plagiarism by university students—literature and lessons. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 28(5), 471–488.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Power, L. G. (2009). University students’ perceptions of plagiarism. Journal of Higher Education, 80(6), 643–662.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pupovac, V., Bilic-Zulle, L., & Petrovecki, M. (2008). On academic plagiarism in Europe. An analytical approach based on four studies. Digithum/Online/. http://www.uoc.edu/digithum/10/dt/eng/pupovac_bilic-zulle_petrovecki.pdf. Accesssed 8 Aug 2016.

  • Ramzan, M., Munir, M. A., Siddique, N., & Asif, M. (2012). Awareness about plagiarism amongst university students in Pakistan. Higher Education, 64, 73–84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roig, M., & Caso, M. (2005). Lying and cheating: Fraudulent excuse making, cheating, and plagiarism. The Journal of Psychology, 139(6), 485–494.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ryan, G., Bonanno, H., Krass, I., Scouller, K., & Smith, L. (2009). Undergraduate and postgraduate pharmacy students’ perceptions of plagiarism and academic honesty. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 73(6), 1–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: Classic definitions and new directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25(1), 54–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scanlon, P. (2003). Student online plagiarism: How do we respond? College Teaching, 51(4), 161–165.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scanlon, P. M., & Neumann, D. R. (2002). Internet plagiarism among college students. Journal of College Student Development, 43(3), 374–385.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shachar, H., & Fischer, S. (2004). Cooperative learning and the achievement of motivation and perceptions of students in the 11th chemistry classes. Learning and Instruction, 14(1), 69–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smyth, M. L., & Davis, J. R. (2004). Perceptions of dishonesty among two-year college students: Academic versus business situations. Journal of Business Ethics, 51(1), 63–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Šprajc, P., Urh, M., Jerebic, J., Trivan, D., & Jereb, E. (2017). Reasons for plagiarism in higher education. Organization: Journal of Management, Information Systems and Human Resources, 50(1), 33–46.

    Google Scholar 

  • Teixeira, A. A. C., & Rocha, M. F. (2010). Cheating by economics and business undergraduate students: An exploratory international assessment. Higher Education, 59, 663–701.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thorpe, M. F., Pittenger, D. J., & Reed, B. D. (1999). Cheating the researcher: A study of the relation between personality measures and self-reported cheating. College Student Journal, 33(1), 49–59.

    Google Scholar 

  • Townley, C., & Parsell, M. (2004). Technology and academic virtue: Student plagiarism through the looking glass. Ethics and Information Technology, 6(4), 271–277.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Underwood, J., & Szabo, A. (2003). Academic offences and e-learning: Individual propensities in cheating. British Journal of Educational Technology, 34(4), 467–477.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Voelker, T. A., Love, L. G., & Pentina, I. (2012). Plagiarism: What don’t they know? Journal of Education for Business, 87, 36–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wheeler, L., Reis, H., & Nezlek, J. (1983). Loneliness, social interaction, and sex roles. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45, 943–953.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whitley, B. E., Jr., Nelson, A. B., & Jones, C. J. (1999). Gender differences in cheating attitudes and classroom cheating behavior: A meta-analysis. Sex Roles, 41(9/10), 657–680.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilhoit, S. (1994). Helping students avoid plagiarism. College Teaching, 42(4), 161–164.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yardley, J., Rodrıguez, M. D., Bates, S. C., & Nelson, J. (2009). True confessions? Alumni’s retrospective reports on undergraduate cheating behaviors. Ethics and Behavior, 19(1), 1–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Maribor, Kidričeva cesta 55a, 4000, Kranj, Slovenia

    Eva Jereb, Marko Urh, Janja Jerebic & Polona Šprajc

Authors
  1. Eva Jereb
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Marko Urh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Janja Jerebic
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Polona Šprajc
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eva Jereb.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Jereb, E., Urh, M., Jerebic, J. et al. Gender differences and the awareness of plagiarism in higher education. Soc Psychol Educ 21, 409–426 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-017-9421-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-017-9421-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation