Faculty Responsibilities in Dealing with Collegiate Cheating: A Student Development Perspective

Abstract

Recent research has demonstrated that business students have more tolerant attitudes toward cheating (Roig and Ballew, 1994), tend to believe they need unethical beliefs in order to complete their degrees (Lane and Schaupp, 1989), and are more likely to cheat than non-business students (Baird, 1980; McCabe and Trevino, 1995). Given the importance of this issue, this paper discusses the responsibilities of faculty members in dealing with collegiate cheating. A student development perspective (Kibler, 1993; Sanford, 1966) is used to articulate these responsibilities. Three other perspectives are discussed with respect to each viewpoint's limitations to students' development. In addition, based on empirical, theoretical, and experimental information, strategies for managing classroom cheating are offered within the framework of the student development perspective. Special attention is paid to issues relevant to business students and faculty throughout the paper.