Academic dishonesty in higher education: students’ perceptions and involvement in an African institution

BACKGROUND: Integrity in academic work is a critical benchmark of every profession. For this reason, special attention should be devoted to addressing academic dishonesty (AD) in higher education to prevent the potential transfer of these practices to the workplace. In order to effectively address AD in Africa, further information about correlates of, and barriers to, the effectiveness of existing AD-controlling measures is needed. In Ghana, little is known about AD from the perspective of students. Here, we present a first report of Ghanaian undergraduate students’ self-reported understanding of, and support for, institutional AD regulations, their involvement in specific dishonest behaviours, as well as their motivation factors. RESULTS: Approximately 92 % of respondents said they were aware of institutional regulations on AD. However, only 31 % rated their understanding as high. Respondents believed that their lecturers had better understanding of, and support for, these regulations than the students (p < 0.001 and p < 0.0001 respectively). Approximately 40 % of respondents had witnessed their colleagues engage in AD before, but the majority (94 %) had never reported these acts. The pursuit of good grades, high academic load and pressure to please family and guardians were the leading causes of AD. Cheating during examinations and inappropriately sharing answers in the preparation of assignments were some of the highly-occurring forms of AD. Respondents believed that copying colleagues’ work without their permission was a serious offense but doing so with their permission was not. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that the sampled students consent to cheating—they believed that they committed no misconduct once the parties involved had agreed on the act. Considering these misconceptions, institutions should do more to help their students better understand the different forms of AD and how to avoid them.