Academic Dishonesty and the Diamond Fraud: Attitudes of UAE Undergraduate Business Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

This paper examines academic dishonesty by business undergraduate students in the United Arab Emirates, using the lens of the fraud diamond theory, during the Covid-19 pandemic. The study used a survey of 305 students from the college of business in a major public university in the UAE, from August 2020 to November 2020 to investigate the extent of academic dishonesty. Results revealed H1 (p<0.001; p-value=0.73), H2 (p<0.001; p-value=0.52), H3 (p<0.001; p-value=0.76), and H4 (p<0.001; p-value=0.53) resulting in acceptance of all the hypotheses. The findings indicate that pressure to maintain a scholarship status and having achieved a previous academic award are positively and significantly related to the likelihood of committing academic dishonesty. Furthermore, the rationalization factors of the fraud diamond theory are significantly and positively related to the reported incidences of academic dishonesty. Similarly, the opportunity and capability factors of the fraud diamond theory significantly predict the incidence of cheating. As a result, the study recommends that administrators should implement academic dishonesty codes, reduce the opportunity to cheat, invest in new technology for reducing cheat.