Life-Purpose Orientations and Academic Misconduct Among University Students in Mexico

Abstract

Life-Purpose Orientations and Academic Misconduct Among University Students in Mexico Mariya Yukhymenko-Lescroart (bio), Gitima Sharma (bio), and Jason M. Stephens (bio) Academic misconduct has been conceptualized as students' engagement in various types of proscribed behaviors, such as plagiarism and cheating on assignments and tests or exams (e.g., Stephens et al., 2021). While most of the current literature on academic misconduct has focused on developed countries, the problem is rampant across the world (Krou et al., 2021), especially in developing countries (e.g., Gaytán & Quintanilla-Dominguez, 2014; Stephens et al., 2010). Gaytán and Quintanilla-Domínguez (2014), for example, found that the rate of academic misconduct in Mexican universities was significantly higher than the estimated rate in the United States. More recently, Guerrero-Dib et al. (2020) found that students who reported engaging in academic misconduct were more likely to be dishonest in non-academic contexts. Surprisingly, despite the extent of academic misconduct and its association with other forms of dishonesty, little else is known about the problem in Mexico. In order to help fill this void, the present study examined the relationship between life-purpose orientations and academic misconduct among university students in Mexico. Based on a meta-analytic investigation, Krou et al. (2021) concluded that academic misconduct is a motivated behavior with sense of purpose as a key variable that influences students' goals, drives, and values. Research on purpose has shown that university students' academic motivations are often informed by their life's purpose (e.g., Sharma et al., 2021; Yukhymenko-Lescroart & Sharma, 2020). While conceptualizing the motivational mechanisms that might influence academic misconduct, Murdock and Anderman (2006) emphasized the importance of helping students reflect on their lives' underlying goals and the overarching question of "What is my purpose?" (p. 130). We posit that students' purpose might shape their motivations for pursuing higher education, and, hence, students' behaviors related to academic misconduct might vary depending on their life purpose orientations. However, more studies are needed to tease out the role of students' purpose orientations in determining their decision to engage in academic misconduct. Hill et al. (2010) conceptualized purpose orientations as the constellations of multiple but related life goals. Empirical studies on purpose [End Page 333] orientations have revealed that college students with a high level of life purpose focused on goals such as achieving career success, making money, and being happy reported more frequent academic misconduct (Yu et al., 2017). Recently, Yukhymenko-Lescroart and Sharma (2021) conceptualized purpose orientation as the underlying intention behind people's longterm aspirations and as having three specific dimensions: (a) self-growth, defined as actualizing one's purpose in life through engaging in activities that make one a better person (p. 15); (b) career-focused, defined as people's resolve to excel in their chosen profession and actualize their work-related potential (p. 15); and (c) others-growth, defined as actualizing one's purpose in life through engagement in activities that would enrich the lives of other people (p. 14). The aim of this study was to examine the extent to which these three life-purpose orientations predicted self-reported academic misconduct. METHOD Participants were 8,240 students from six universities in Mexico: 3,161 (38.4%) identified as male; 4,970 (60.3%) identified as female, and 109 (1.3%) identified as "other" or declined to declare their gender. Students represented all class years, with 2,131 (25.9%) first-year students; 2,336 (28.4%) second-year students; 2,470 (30.0%) third-year students; and 1,292 (15.7%) fourth-year students and above. A small number of students (n = 11, 0.1%) declined to declare their year in school. Students were asked to self-report the frequency of engaging in various types of conventional and digital academic misconduct over the last year. Examples of misconduct included cheating on assignments (e.g., copying all or part of another student's homework and turning it in as their own), plagiarism (e.g., buying a full paper and presenting it as your own), and cheating on a test or exam (e.g., using notes or books that are not allowed during an exam), The nine-item scale...