Title: An Investigation of Academic Dishonesty in a South African Institution
Abstract: Academic dishonesty has generated a lot of interest over the past two decades.A descriptive cross section design was used.The sample was under-graduate students from different faculties residing in the institution's hostels.SPSS was used for all data analyses.All measures were valid and reliable.Pearson product correlations and coefficients, and regression analyses were used to test the hypothesis.Results: Students considered academic dishonesty in monitored situation to be a serious offence compared to unmonitored situations.Students indicated that cheating in certain assessments (examinations) were considered more serious than in others (tutorials).The issue of cyber plagiarism and use of technology were the commonly identified forms of academic dishonesty and acknowledged to be commonly undertaken.Findings revealed that direct and indirect attitudes had a significant inverse relationship with intentions to engage in academic dishonesty..The study established that a student's justification for engaging in academic dishonesty mediated Theory of Planned Behaviour variablesattitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control and intentions to engage in academic dishonesty.Students' intention to engage in academic dishonesty was further influenced by sanctions or lack of these from the relevant faculty.Conclusion: Study findings are important for institutions to consider relevant interventions to safe guard academic quality and reputation.