Sushma Lama and Roshni Jain
Cotton University, Guwahati, Assam
Pages:, 520-527
Academic dishonesty has been a grave cause concern for a long time. It is in recent
years that the prevalence and its complexities have increased manifold. The study was
carried out to asses academic dishonesty among 50 men and 50 women (n=100)
pursuing either graduation or post-graduation from universities in India. Academic
Dishonesty Scale by Hilal Bashir and Ranjan Bala (2018) was used. Self-prepared
semi-structured interview guide was used to interview 10 students who had been expelled
because of using unfair means while writing their examinations. Thematic analysis
informed by Braun and Clarke (2006) was attempted to generate students’ perceptions
about cheating in examinations. A t-test revealed significantly higher academic
dishonesty among male students. Also, they scored significantly higher in all 6
dimensions of academic dishonesty which includes: cheating in examination, plagiarism,
outside help, prior cheating, falsification and lying about academic assignment. Highly
competitive environment, parental comparisons, low self-efficacy, relaxed and lowcontrolling invigilation environment, digital advancement were seen as some of the
factors germinating and helping cheating behaviour. It is suggested that different
stakeholders take active steps to lessen the overwhelming feelings of cut-throat
competition and build an encouraging academic environment for the students