A STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING INVESTIGATION OF THE THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOR APPLIED TO ACCOUNTING PROFESSORS' FORMAL ENFORCEMENT OF CHEATING RULES

Abstract

This study investigates factors that influence accounting professors’ formal enforcement of academic misconduct rules using the Theory of Planned Behavior (“TPB”) as a theoretical framework. Obtaining a better understanding of formal enforcement will inform efforts to improve it. We emailed survey requests to 8,663 accounting faculty in 35 countries and received a reasonably representative sample of 1,207 (13.9% response rate) complete surveys from 23 countries—exceeding sample-size requirements for structural equation modeling to test our TPB model, which explains 43.3% of the variance in Formal Enforcement Behavior and 52.4% of Intention, consistent with past TPB studies. Results indicate that of the direct antecedents to Intention, Formal Enforcement Attitude is most important in explaining and predicting professors’ Formal Enforcement Behavior, followed by Perceived Behavioral Control and Subjective Norm. Model-fit results are unsurprisingly mixed but appear adequate in light of theory. Model estimates and model-fit statistics are robust to sensitivity checks, including analysis of only domestic respondents.