ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Higher Education
This article is part of the Research TopicReimagining Higher Education: Responding Proactively to 21st Century Global ShiftsView all 29 articles
Ethical Sensitivities, Perceptions of Integrity, Honor CodesPledges, and Cheating in Higher Education
Provisionally accepted
- Texas A&M University, College Station, United States
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Cheating and other forms of academic misconduct increased when online learning increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. We investigated students’ ethical sensitivities, perceptions of integrity, and likelihood to cheat at [State] University. A correlational design with stratified random samples was used. Students reported high ethical sensitivity scores but were reluctant to report honor pledge violations. Students valued [State] University’s honor pledge and reported low likelihoods of cheating online; they perceived higher cheating rates occurred among their peers. Regression analysis revealed significantly less likelihood to cheat in online courses during COVID-19 if they perceived the honor pledge positively; however, they were significantly more likely to use unauthorized sources to cheat during online quizzes. We recommend [State] University engage students in practical applications of upholding the honor pledge through ethical decision-making workshops of its core values (honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility in learning). Interventions could include student-led initiatives such as peer-to-peer mentoring to strengthen students’ ownership of ethical education and promote ethical behaviors beyond academia.
Keywords: academic integrity, CHEATING, perceptions, Ethics, student honor pledge
Received: 20 Sep 2025; Accepted: 07 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Bennett, Odom, Wingenbach and Moody. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Lanice C. Bennett, lbennett@tamu.edu
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