ArticlePDF Available

Abstract and Figures

Background and Purpose: The survey was performed to determine the reasons that lead students to possibly commit plagiarism during their studies. By doing so, we wanted to determine the main reason for the appearance of plagiarism and how, within this main reasons, various indicators of plagiarism are judged and, finally, how demographic data and student motivation for study are associated with the reasons for plagiarism. Design/Methodology/Approach: A paper-and-pencil survey was carried out among 17 faculties of the University of Maribor in Slovenia. A sample of 139 students 85 males and 54 females participated in this study, ages ranged from 19 to 36 years. The questionnaire contained 95 closed questions referring to: (i) general data, (ii) education, (iii) social status, (iv) awareness of plagiarism, and (v) reasons for plagiarism. Parametric and nonparametric statistical tests were performed depending on distributions of the answers. Results: The results reveal that information and communication technology is largely responsible for the plagiarism with two reasons highlighted: ease of copying and ease of access to materials and new technologies. We also found some differences between low and high motivated students. Different average values of the answers considering motivation for study were confirmed for academic skills, teaching factors and other reasons for plagiarism, where the average for lower motivated students is significantly different (higher) than the average for higher motivated students. At the end we could find no direct relationship between the average time spent on the Internet and plagiarism. Conclusion: The transmission of knowledge is the basic mission of faculties. This mission is based on moral beliefs about the harmfulness of its abuse, and plagiarism is exactly such abuse. Regardless of the students past at this point professors are those who could greatly contribute to the right set of skills to keep students off plagiarising.
Content may be subject to copyright.
Organizacija, Volume 50 Number 1, February 2017Research Papers
33
DOI: 10.1515/o rga-2017-00 02
Reasons for Plagiarism in
Higher Education
Polona Šprajc1, Marko Urh1, Janja Jerebic1, Dragan Trivan2, Eva Jereb1
1 University of Maribor, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, Kidričeva cesta 55a, 4000 Kranj, Slovenia
polona.sprajc@fov.uni-mb.si, marko.urh@fov.uni-mb.si, janja.jerebic@um.si, eva.jereb@fov.uni-mb.si
2 UNION-Nikola Tesla University, Faculty of Business Studies and Law, Staro Sajmiste 29, 11070 Belgrade, Serbia
dtrivan@gmail.com
Background and Purpose: The sur vey was per fo rmed to determine the reasons that lead stud ents to possibl y com-
mit plagiarism during their studies. By doing so, we wanted to determine the main reason for the appearance of pla-
giarism and how, within this main reasons, various indicators of plagiarism are judged and, finally, how demographic
data and student motivation for study are associated with the reasons for plagiarism.
Design/Methodology/Approach: A paper-and-pencil survey was carried out among 17 faculties of the University
of Maribor in Slovenia. A sample of 139 students 85 males and 54 females participated in this study, ages ranged
from 19 to 36 years. The questionnaire contained 95 closed questions referring to: (i) general data, (ii) education, (iii)
social status, (iv) awareness of plagiarism, and (v) reasons for plagiarism. Parametric and nonparametric statistical
tests were performed depending on distributions of the answers.
Results: The results reveal that information and communication technology is largely responsible for the plagiarism
with two reasons highlighted: ease of copying and ease of access to materials and new technologies. We also found
some differences between low and high motivated students. Different average values of the answers considering
motivation for study were confirmed for academic skills, teaching factors and other reasons for plagiarism, where the
average for lower motivated students is significantly different (higher) than the average for higher motivated students.
At the end we could find no direct relationship between the average time spent on the Internet and plagiarism.
Conclusion: The transmission of knowledge is the basic mission of faculties. This mission is based on moral beliefs
about the harmfulness of its abuse, and plagiarism is exactly such abuse. Regardless of the students past at this
point professors are those who could greatly contribute to the right set of skills to keep students off plagiarising.
Keywords: plagiarism, higher education, reasons for plagiarism, academic skills, teachers
1
Received: August 18, 2016; revised: October 10, 2016; accepted: December 9, 2016
1 Introduction
Plagiarism is a recurring problem in higher education
(Jiang, Emmerton, & Mckange, 2013; Lorenz, 2013).
While we search for a common denition of plagiarism,
we are coping with a challenge for which no answer yet
exists. Various authors advocate dierent denitions: cit-
ing direct text without attribution (Belter & DuPre, 2009),
citing parts of text of another author, using parts of text
without citing (Colnerud & Rosander, 2009), presentation
of foreign ideas as their own, without a clear reference
to the source ((Hard, Conway, & Moran, 2006). Further-
more, Perrin (2009), Larkham (2002) and Culwin (2001)
dene plagiarism as the use of the author’s words, ideas,
reections and thoughts without proper acknowledgment
of the source. An extended denition of plagiarism takes
into account the fact that if a student does not think about
it and doesn’t write his text all alone and does not apply
the appropriate bibliographical references, this is indeed
plagiarism (Lathrop & Foss, 2000).
Students are under enormous pressure from family,
peers, and instructors to compete for scholarships, admis-
sions, and, of course, place in the job market. They often
see education as a rung in the ladder to success, and not
an active process valuable in itself. Because of this, stu-
dents tend to focus on the end results of their research,
Brought to you by | ReadCube/Labtiva
Authenticated
Download Date | 3/14/17 8:04 PM
34
Organizacija, Volume 50 Number 1, February 2017Research Papers
rather than the skills they learn in doing it (Turnitin.com
and Research Resources). This often results in plagiarism.
Students justify plagiarism by pointing out that since their
peers plagiarize, they must do the same to keep up (Turni-
tin.com and Research Resources, n.d.). It is clear that a lot
of students plagiarise intentionally. Many authors tried to
explain the reasons which led students to plagiarise. These
reasons vary from being lazy (Dordoy, 2002), poor time
management (Dordoy, 2002), pressure from other students,
(Devlin, & Gray, 2007; Dordoy, 2002; Errey, 2002; Park,
2003; Wilhoit, 1994;), pressure to receive higher grades
(Dordoy, 2002; Park, 2003; Wilhoit 1994), gaining easy
access to material via the internet (Dordoy, 2002), fear of
failure and taking risks because they think they will not
get caught (Dordoy, 2002, & Sutherland, 2004). Reasons
for plagiarising unintentionally may include collaborative
team work in producing an assignment (Wilhoit 1994),
misunderstanding of rules (Dordoy, 2002) and not being
aware of what plagiarism entails (Dordoy, 2002).
Along these lines, the purpose of our study was to in-
vestigate the reasons for plagiarism in higher education.
Our ndings might aid in preventing or reducing plagia-
rism among students. The survey was aimed at obtaining a
view toward the retention and the continuation of academ-
ic integrity. We wanted to highlight how students evaluate
individual sets of causes for possible plagiarism, which
of this causes are dominant and what the correlations be-
tween the general and opinion parts of the survey are. Fur-
thermore, we wanted to nd out, how the wider academic
community, and nally the social environment could sup-
port the student in coping with this problem. We classied
the reasons for plagiarism as following: information and
communication technology, control, punishment and con-
sequences, academic skills, teacher factor, dierent pres-
sures of the external public, pride, and other reasons.
The research questions of the study were divided into
three groups:
RQ group 1: What are the reasons for plagiarism in higher
education, according to students? Are there any dierenc-
es between male and female students regarding this? Are
the reasons for plagiarism connected with specic study
areas (formal, social, natural sciences)?
RQ group 2: Does the student’s motivation aect his/
her reasons for plagiarism? Do higher motivated students
plagiarise less?
RQ group 3: Is plagiarism correlated with time spent on
the internet (web)? Does social status connected with
work and scholarship aect plagiarism?
Next the theoretical background is presented.
2 Theoretical background
The reasons for the plagiarism such as self-esteem,
achievement desire and study motivation, are discussed by
many authors (Angell, 2006; Rettinger & Kramer, 2009;
Williams, Nathanson, & Paulus, 2010). In contrast Barnas
(2000) claims that one of the main causes is the teacher
factor. Songsriwittaya, Kongsuwan, Jitgarum, Kaewkue-
kool, and Koul (2009) state that the reason that motivates
students to plagiarize is the goal to get good grades and to
compare their success to their peers. Students with perfor-
mance goals are more likely to engage in plagiarism than
students with mastery goals. The views of Engler, Landau,
& Epstein (2008), Hard, Conway, & Moran (2006) are also
noteworthy. They say that plagiarism arises out of social
norms and peer relationships. As a very common cause,
the growing diversity of sources and form is emphasized,
which (as such) often represents uncertainty regarding cor-
rect information usage (Evering & Moorman, 2012). The
ood of online resources, without precisely stated author-
ship, may be one of the problems where students have dif-
culty determining what is right and what is wrong. Online
resources are also available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
and enable a ood of information, which often leads to a
confused state in a student. Given students’ ease of access
to both digital information and sophisticated digital tech-
nology, several researchers have noted that students may
be more likely to ignore academic ethics and to engage
in plagiarism than would otherwise be the case (Chang,
Chen, Huang, & Chou, 2015). Many students simply do
not view copying homework answers as wrong-at least not
when it is done with technology (Yang, 2014).
A common reason is the poor preparation of notes on
lectures (Rettinger & Kramer, 2009), which can lead to
inadequate referencing of the text. We need to know that
authors’ words are not only written but also oral. Many
students come with the question of primary and secondary
sources, which can also become a reason for plagiarism.
Additional reasons are related to the problem of increas-
ing the number of students per professor, the pressure for
high estimates, time pressures and the dissatisfaction of
students with their study (Carrol, 2002). As we mentioned
before the reason for plagiarism may also arise from per-
sonal factors, such as student age, sex, study program,
study level and cultural background.
Fish and Hura (2013) think that plagiarism is much
more likely to occur if students have an unclear percep-
tion of plagiarism and that plagiarism is quite common
among their peers, and that the consequences are minor
Okoro (2011) also highlights studies that reveal that 90%
of students are aware that plagiarism is wrong and unethi-
cal but, at the same time, there is the academic world that
is aware of the facts that students plagiarize (despite all
the mentioned risks), because they feel that nobody will
catch them. Some studies argue that students do not know
Brought to you by | ReadCube/Labtiva
Authenticated
Download Date | 3/14/17 8:04 PM
Organizacija, Volume 50 Number 1, February 2017Research Papers
35
the actual nature of plagiarism because they have not been
taught about proper citation methods (Blum, 2009; Carrol,
2007; Hansen, 2003).
The results of a study conducted in the US and Cana-
dian universities present the incidence of plagiarism, since
one of ve students admitted that he/she has cheated on
tests or exams at least once in the last year, but the number
rises to 59% for undergraduate students (McCabe, 2005).
Selwyn (2008) presents results from the UK, where about
60% of undergraduate students admitted plagiarism con-
nected to the internet in the previous year and the fact that
those who work on the internet better are more prone to
plagiarism.
The idea of our research is presented in the initial part
of the paper. The method and results of the research are
presented in the next chapter.
3 Method
Sample
The paper-and-pencil survey was carried out in 2015
among 17 faculties of the University of Maribor in Slove-
nia. The survey was carried out by the Faculty of Organi-
sational Sciences, University of Maribor.
A sample of 139 students (85 males (61%) and 54 (39%)
females) participated in this study. Ages ranged from 19 to
36 years, with a mean of 21 years and 7 months (M=21.57
and SD=2.164). More than half (53%) of the participants
were formal sciences students, 23% were social sciences
and 23% natural sciences students. The majority (75.5%)
attended traditional courses, and 24.5% blended learning.
More than half (52.5%) were working at the time of the
study, and 42% of all participants had scholarships. More
than two thirds (70%) of them were highly motivated for
study and 30% less so; 27.5% of students spend 2 or fewer
hours per day on the internet, 40.5% spend between 2 and
5 hours and 32% spend 5 or more hours on the internet per
day. The general data can be seen in Table 1.
Instrument
The questionnaire contained 95 closed questions refer-
ring to: (i) general data (gender, age, study motivation,
time spent on the internet), (ii) education (study level,
study area, way of study, average grade), (iii) social status
(working status, scholarship, nancial situation, residence,
father’s and mother’s educational level), (iv) awareness of
plagiarism, and (v) reasons for plagiarism (ICT and web,
control, academic skills, teaching factors, pressure, pride,
other). The items in the (iv) and (v) groups used a 5-point
Likert scale from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree
(5), with larger values indicating stronger orientation.
4 Results
All statistical tests were performed with SPSS at the signif-
icance level of 0.05. Parametric tests (Independent – Sam-
Table 1: General data
Gender Male 85 61%
Female 57 39%
Study level Bachelor 118 85%
Masters 21 15%
Study area
Formal sciences 74 53%
Social sciences 32 23%
Natural sciences 32 23%
Way of study Classic learning 105 75.5%
Blended learning 34 24.5%
Working within time of study Yes 73 52.5%
No 66 47.5%
Scholarship Yes 58 42%
No 81 58%
Motivation for study Lower 41 30%
Higher 97 70%
Average time spent on the internet in hours
2 or fewer hours 38 27.5%
between 2 and 5 hours 56 40.5%
5 or more hours 44 32%
Brought to you by | ReadCube/Labtiva
Authenticated
Download Date | 3/14/17 8:04 PM
36
Organizacija, Volume 50 Number 1, February 2017Research Papers
Mean St. deviation
1.1 It is easy for me to copy/paste due to contemporary technology 4.22 0.805
1.2 I do not know how to cite electronic information 2.35 1.054
1.3 It is hard for me to keep track of information sources on the web 2.93 1.075
1.4 I can easily access material from the internet 4.20 0.800
1.5 Easy access to new technologies 4.20 0.800
1.6 I can easily translate from other languages 3.49 1.093
1.7 I can easily combine material from multiple sources 3.82 1.002
1.8 It is easy to share documents, information, data 4.14 0.844
1ICT and Web 3.67 0.577
2.1 There is no teacher control on plagiarism 2.50 0.912
2.2 There is no faculty control on plagiarism 2.35 0.859
2.3 There is no university control on plagiarism 2.27 0.839
2.4 There are no penalties 2.12 0.910
2.5 There are no honour codes on plagiarism 2.41 0.915
2.6 There are no electronic systems of control 2.14 0.929
2.7 There is no systematic tracking of violators 2.60 1.034
2.8 I will not get caught 2.17 1.096
2.9 I am not aware of penalties 2.55 1.078
2.10 I do not understand the consequences 2.58 1.135
2.11 The penalties are minor 2.51 0.898
2.12 The gains are higher than the losses 2.57 1.008
2 Control 2.40 0.615
3.1 I run out of time 3.39 1.113
3.2 I am unable to cope with the workload 2.79 1.087
3.3 I do not know how to cite 2.54 1.088
3.4 I do not know how to nd material 2.40 1.004
3.5 I do not know how to research 2.31 0.939
3.6 My reading comprehension skills are weak 1.75 0.790
3.7 My writing skills are weak 2.14 0.967
3.8 I sometimes have diculty expressing my ideas 2.58 1.089
3 Academic skills 2.49 0.708
4.1 The tasks are too dicult 2.84 0.968
4.2 Poor explanation - bad teaching 3.11 1.081
4.3 Too many assignments in a short time 3.36 1.022
4.4 Plagiarism is not explained 2.78 1.220
4.5 I am not satised with course contents 3.05 1.038
4.6 Teachers do not care 2.76 0.989
4.7 Teachers do not read students‘ assignments 2.65 0.962
4 Teaching factors 2.93 0.702
Table 2: Average values and standard deviations of the answers
Brought to you by | ReadCube/Labtiva
Authenticated
Download Date | 3/14/17 8:04 PM
Organizacija, Volume 50 Number 1, February 2017Research Papers
37
ples t-Test, Paired – Samples t-Test, One-Way ANOVA)
were selected for normal and near normal distributions of
the answers. Nonparametric tests (Mann-Whitney Test,
Kruskal-Wallis Test, Friedman’s ANOVA) were used for
signicantly non-normal distributions.
RQ group 1
The average values of the answers (and standard devia-
tions) in the sample, referring to the reasons for plagiarism
are shown in Table 2.
According to Friedman’s ANOVA, the reasons for plagia-
rism can be divided into three homogeneous groups. First
and dominating are ICT and Web reasons (Group 1), the
second group consists of teaching factors (Group 4) and
all the other reasons (2, 3, 5, 6 and 7) belong to Group
3. The distributions of the average values of the answers
in Groups 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7 are not signicantly dierent
(p=.066; see Table 3).
ICT and Web reasons were detected as dominating rea-
sons for plagiarism and, as such, they were investigated in
more detail (Table 2). That the distributions of the answers
to the questions 1.1, 1.4, 1.5 and 1.8 are not signicantly
dierent was conrmed by Friedman Test (Chi-Square =
1.638, p=.651). Consequently, the average values (means)
of the answers to the questions 1.1, 1.4, 1.5 and 1.8 are
not signicantly dierent, whereas the distributions of the
answers for all the other pairs were conrmed to be signif-
icantly dierent.
Dierent distributions of the answers considering gen-
der were conrmed for 1.2 and 1.4 by the Mann-Whitney
Test (p=.020; p=.048). It seems that male students on
average have more problems with knowing how to cite
electronic information than female students do; female
students can also access material from the internet more
easily (Table 4). Dierent distributions of the answers con-
5.1 Family pressure 1.86 0.827
5.2 Peers pressure 1.93 0.881
5.3 Under stress 2.76 1.221
5.4 Faculty pressure 2.64 1.183
5.5 Money pressure 2.37 1.105
5.6 Afraid to fail 2.83 1.197
5.7 Job pressure 2.32 1.131
5 Pressure 2.39 0.845
6.1 I do not want to look stupid in front of peers 2.40 1.108
6.2 I do not want to look stupid in front of professor 2.47 1.131
6.3 I do not want to embarrass my family 2.38 1.182
6.4 I do not want to embarrass myself 2.45 1.240
6.5 I focus on how my competences will be judged relative to others 2.45 1.047
6.6 I am focused on learning according to self-set standards 3.04 1.128
6.7 I am afraid to ask for help 2.26 0.981
6.8 My fear of performing poorly motivates me to plagiarize 2.27 0.997
6.9 Assigned academic work will not help me personally/professionally 2.19 1.078
6 Pride 2.43 0.845
7.1 I do not want to work hard 2.48 1.132
7.2 I do not want to learn anything, just pass 2.00 0.956
7.3 My work is not good enough 2.09 0.900
7.4 It is easier to plagiarize than to work 2.65 1.148
7.5 To get better-higher mark (score) 2.71 1.124
7 Other reasons 2.39 0.811
Table 2: Average values and standard deviations of the answers (continued)
Brought to you by | ReadCube/Labtiva
Authenticated
Download Date | 3/14/17 8:04 PM
38
Organizacija, Volume 50 Number 1, February 2017Research Papers
sidering study area were conrmed for 1.2 and 1.6 by the
Kruskal-Wallis Test (p=.008; p=.048). Students enrolled
in social sciences seem to have fewer problems with citing
electronic information than students of formal and natural
sciences. However, students of formal sciences nd trans-
lating from other languages easier than students from the
other two science areas do (Table 5).
Dierent average values of the answers considering
gender were conrmed by the Independent t-Test (t=2.247,
p=.026). This was also done for the pride reasons, where
the average for male (M=2.56 and SD=.854) is signicant-
ly dierent (higher) than the average for female (M=2.24
and SD=.797). The normality of distribution for average
values of the answers within groups (male and female)
was checked with a Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, the results
of which were not signicant. The average values of the
answers for individual statements 6.5, 6.7 and 6.9 and the
signicances for t-Test for equality of means are shown in
Table 6. The average values of the answers for these three
statements are signicantly dierent (higher for male than
female).
Sample average rank
Group Subset 1 Subset 2 Subset 3
5 3.094
2 3.216
7 3.295
6 3.511
3 3.543
4 4.903
1 6.439
Test Statistic 8.806
Sig (2-sided) .066
Table 3: Homogeneous subsets according to Friedman’s ANOVA
ICT and Web
Male Female Mann-Whitney
Test
Mean Std.
Dev. Mean Std.
Dev. Z p
1.2 I do not know how to cite electronic
information 2.49 1.042 2.11 1.040 -2.322 .020
1.4 I can easily access material from the
internet 4.08 0.862 4.39 0.656 -1.976 .048
Table 4: Descriptive statistics for individual statements (ICT and Web) according to gender and results for Mann-Whitney Test
Table 5: Descriptive statistics for individual statements (ICT and Web) according to study area and results for Kruskal-Wallis Test
ICT and Web
Formal Sciences Social Sciences Natural Sciences Kruskal-Wallis Test
Mean
Std.
Dev.
Mean
Std.
Dev.
Mean
Std.
Dev.
Chi-Square p
1.2
I do not know how to
cite electronic
information
2.54 1.088 1.91 1.027 2.31 0.896 9.574 .008
1.6 I can easy translate
from other languages 3.73 0.983 3.25 1.136 3.22 1.184 6.065 .048
Brought to you by | ReadCube/Labtiva
Authenticated
Download Date | 3/14/17 8:04 PM
Organizacija, Volume 50 Number 1, February 2017Research Papers
39
RQ group 2
Dierent average values of the answers considering mo-
tivation for study were conrmed with ANOVA for aca-
demic skills, teaching factors and other reasons for pla-
giarism, where the average for lower motivated students is
signicantly dierent (higher) than the average for higher
motivated students (p=.002; p=.008; p=.017). Means and
standard deviations of the answers for individual state-
ments and the results for t-Test of equality of means are
shown in Table 7.
As can be seen in Table 7, on average students with
lower motivation run out of time, are unable to cope with
the workload, do not know how to cite, do not know how
to nd material or draw conclusions from the research, and
have diculties in expressing their own ideas. They also
nd that teachers give poor explanations and think they get
too many assignments in a short time. The question here
could also be why their motivation is low. It could be that
they are not satised with course contents. Since higher
motivated students seem to be much more satised with
course contents (t=2.113, p=.036) (see statement 4.5 in
Table 7). Lower motivation could also be due to students’
perception of teachers’ relation with them. As can be seen
in Table 7, students with lower motivation think that teach-
ers do not care (t=2.807, p=.006). Lower study motivation
is also more obvious for students who do not want to work
Pride
Male Female t-Test
Mean Std.
Dev. Mean Std.
Dev. t p
6.5 I focus on how my competences will be
judged relative to others 2.65 1.081 2.13 0.912 3.067 .003
6.7 I am afraid to ask for help 2.44 1.017 1.98 0.858 2.826 .005
6.9 Assigned academic work will not help me
personally/professionally 2.42 1.100 1.83 0.947 3.207 .002
Table 6: Descriptive statistics for individual statements (pride group) and results for t-Test
Table 7: Descriptive statistics for individual statements (academic skills, teaching factors and other reasons) according to moti-
vation and results for t-Test
Lower
motivation
Higher motivation t-Test
Mean
Std.
Dev.
Mean
Std.
Dev.
t p
Academic skills
3.1 I run out of time 3.71 1.209 3.25 1.051 2.244 .026
3.2 I am unable to cope with the workload 3.10 1.136 2.65 1.041 2.248 .026
3.3 I do not know how to cite 2.95 1.176 2.38 1.015 2.844 .005
3.4 I do not know how to nd material 2.71 1.031 2.27 0.974 2.380 .019
3.5 I do not know how to research 2.61 0.972 2.19 0.905 2.461 .015
3.8 I sometimes have diculty expressing
my own ideas 2.88 1.208 2.44 1.010 2.177 .031
Teaching
factors
4.2 Poor explanation - bad teaching 3.44 1.001 2.97 1.094 2.363 .020
4.3 Too many assignments in a short time 3.66 0.938 3.23 1.036 2.299 .023
4.5 I am not satised with course contents 3.34 1.087 2.94 0.998 2.113 .036
4.6 Teachers do not care 3.13 0.939 2.61 0.977 2.807 .006
Other rea-
sons
7.1 I do not want to work hard 2.80 1.269 2.35 1.051 2.178 .031
7.2 I do not want to learn anything, just
pass 2.56 1.074 1.76 0.801 4.283 .000
7.3 My work is not good enough 2.39 1.046 1.97 0.809 2.303 .025
Brought to you by | ReadCube/Labtiva
Authenticated
Download Date | 3/14/17 8:04 PM
40
Organizacija, Volume 50 Number 1, February 2017Research Papers
hard (t=2.178, p=.031) and just want to pass and do not
want to learn anything (t=4.283, p=.000) and those who
think their work is not good enough (t=2.303, p=.025).
Results of the ANOVA test showed that the frequency
of plagiarising does not aect other reasons for the pla-
giarism group. The only statistically important dierence
concerns the statement that it is easier to plagiarise than
to work (Table 8). Students who plagiarised two or more
times in average think that it is easier to plagiarise than to
work than students who never plagiarised. Dierent aver-
age values of the answers to the statement were conrmed
by an Independent t-Test (t=-2.320, p=.023) for the stu-
dents in groups “never” and “2 or more” (Table 9).
Chi-Square Test of Independence was also used to de-
termine whether higher motivated students plagiarise less.
The relationship between variables can be seen in Table 10.
According to the calculated p-value (Chi-Square=0.854,
p=.652), the independence of the variables cannot be de-
clined.
The Spearman’s correlation coecient between moti-
vation (higher and lower motivated students) and plagia-
rism for the sample data is 0.071. Based on the signicance
of the correlation test (p=.409) we cannot say that high
motivated students plagiarise less.
RQ group 3
A Chi-Square Test of Independence was used to determine
whether there is a signicant association between the aver-
age time spent on the internet and plagiarism. The relation-
ship between variables can be seen in Table 11. According
to the calculated p-value (Chi-Square=4.364, p=.359), the
null hypothesis that the variables are independent cannot
be declined. The Spearman’s correlation coecient be-
tween average time spent on the internet and plagiarism
for the sample data is 0.088. Based on the signicance of
the correlation test (p=.306), we cannot say that plagiaris-
ing is correlated with time spent on the internet.
Regarding social status, such as work and scholarships,
we determined that the only statistically important dier-
ence between students who work (M=2.30 and SD=0.622)
and who do not (M=2.51 and SD=0.593) regarding the
reasons for plagiarism concerns the group control (t=-
1.996, p=.048).
Dierent distributions of the answers considering
work within the time of the study were conrmed by state-
ments 2.1 (Z=-3.274, p=.001) and 2.2 (Z=-2.158, p=.031)
using the Mann-Whitney Test (Table 12). As can be seen,
students who do not work more often think that there is
no teacher and no faculty control on plagiarism than those
who work.
Table 8: Descriptive statistics for statement “It is easier to plagiarize than to work” according plagiarism and results for ANOVA
Other reasons
Students plagiarised
ANOVA
never once 2 or more time
Mean
Std.
Dev.
Mean
Std.
Dev.
Mean
Std.
Dev.
F p
7.4 It is easier to plagiarize than to
work 2.33 1.012 2.73 1.087 2.90 1.300 3.040 .051
Table 9: Results for Independent t-Test for Statement 7.4 regarding plagiarism
t-Test
Students plagiarised t p
7.4
It is easier to plagiarize than to work
never once -1.900 .060
never 2 or more time -2.320 .023
once 2 or more time -0.693 .490
Table 10: Cross-tabulation
Students plagiarised
never once 2 or more times
Motivation lower 16 14 11
higher 30 37 30
Brought to you by | ReadCube/Labtiva
Authenticated
Download Date | 3/14/17 8:04 PM
Organizacija, Volume 50 Number 1, February 2017Research Papers
41
Descriptive statistics (t-Test) of the reasons for plagia-
rism according to the scholarship was also calculated but
showed no statistically important dierences between
those who have and do not have scholarships.
5 Discussion
The predominant causes for plagiarism
The results of our research showed that information and
communication technology are the most apparent cause
with an average value of 3.67 (see Table 2). Since the pla-
giarism is highlighted not only as an academic question, it
is important to relate the personal lives of students with a
high degree of causal relationship between plagiarism and
social factors such as living in the digital age, daily Internet
exposure and the inclusion of the Internet in the academ-
ic environment. Although there is no empirical research
which would directly link the plagiarism and the Internet
(Carter, 2008), numerous studies show the ease of access
to Internet material as a catalyst for plagiarism (Emerson,
2008; Ma, Wan, & Lu, 2008; Ma et al., 2007; Power, 2009;
Senders, 2008; Suarez & Martin, 2001; Sulikowski, 2008).
Students in our research indicate the information commu-
nication technology (ICT) to be the cause for plagiarism.
Within the ICT cause, two reasons are highlighted: ease of
copying, with an average value of 4.22 (see Table 2) and
ease of access to materials and new technologies, with an
average value of 4.20 (see Table 2).
Technology has become a major cultural communica-
tion tool and, despite oering better access to a variety of
ideas and information, it also presents an opportunity for
mispresented ideas and information (Howard & Davies,
2009). We are aware that authorship may become blurred
because of the abundance of ways to access information
(Moorman & Horton, 2007). Students have frequent expe-
rience with the various internet search browsers, dierent
social media, social networks and multimedia tools (such
as digital, video cameras) outside the academic environ-
ment. The problem occurs because the digital literacy
experience is not automatically connected with the skills
knowledge and expertise that are necessary for searching,
navigation and evaluation of information in an ethical
sense (Poe, 2010). Taking responsibility for teaching skills
and competencies related to plagiarism is an urgent imper-
ative (Evering & Moorman, 2012).
The second most important cause for plagiarism are
items related to teachers with an average of 2.93 (see Ta-
ble 2). The reason may be supported by the fact that many
students still cannot accept responsibility for their behav-
iour. They follow xed principles that are specic to their
practices, especially when they are a part of the education
system. Many youths avoid responsibility (Arnett, 2000);
according to several authors there is a lack of the respon-
sibility of students, and this is a widespread concern (Kol-
bert, 2012; Trzesniewski & Donnellan, 2010).
Following the survey on this topic (Evering & Moor-
man, 2012), the orientation of schools, parents and the
wider social environment should be focused on the way
the information is collected online according to ethical
principles and not only by the evaluation of what is right
and what is wrong. We are not coping with a problem of a
given technology and the development guidelines, neither
of the availability of resources. We would like to present
the thesis that is necessary for young people to be oriented
to the proper eld of education where they can get the full
range of skills, abilities and competencies within the ICT
hand-in-hand with moral and ethical judgement when dis-
Table 11: Cross-tabulation
Student plagiarised
never once 2 or more times
Average time spent on the
internet in hours
2 or fewer hours 12 16 10
between 2 and 5 hours 23 17 16
5 or more hours 10 19 15
Table 12: Results for Mann-Whitney Test
Control
work: Yes work: No Mann-Whitney
Test
Mean
Std.
Dev.
Mean
Std.
Dev.
Z p
2.1 There is no teacher control on plagia-
rism 2.26 0.800 2.77 0.957 -3.274 .001
2.2 There is no faculty control on plagiarism 2.19 0.828 2.53 0.863 -2.158 .031
Brought to you by | ReadCube/Labtiva
Authenticated
Download Date | 3/14/17 8:04 PM
42
Organizacija, Volume 50 Number 1, February 2017Research Papers
cussing the internet and plagiarism.
Furthermore, our goal was to discover dierences be-
tween male and female students while considering ICT as
the dominant cause for plagiarism. A study published at
the University of the Balearic Islands in Spain has found
that, on the whole, male students are more likely to plagia-
rize than their female counterparts in their college courses.
The study did not attribute it to an ethical dierence of
judgement between the sexes, but rather that male students
are more likely to procrastinate and then turn to plagiarism
in the rush to complete the assignment. The study, which
looked at nearly 2800 students at the college, found that
81.3% of those queries had copied fragments from web-
sites and 72.5% had copied from encyclopaedias and other
printed sources (“As of March 30, 2015, the Plagiarism
today listed on its website https://www.plagiarismtoday.
com/2015/03/30/do-men-plagiarize-more-than-women/”).
Our research showed that male students more than female
students disclose pride, unwillingness to help others and
the belief that their academic work will do no good for
them (see Table 4). However, there are also some studies
which show us that there are no dierences between male
and female students regarding plagiarism. One study de-
termined that students plagiarize regardless of gender or
age (Jurdi, Hage, & Henry, 2011), and another one indi-
cated that plagiarism is more based on moral values de-
veloped in the primary family (Kecici, Bulduk, Oruc, &
Celik, 2011). Our research showed dierences according
to the statements “I do not know how to cite electronic
information” and “I can easily access material from the
internet” (see Table 4). Responses indicate that male stu-
dents have more problems with ways of citing Internet
information, and female students seek material from the
Internet more easily.
It is evident that there are dierences in the academic
instructions presented to students, which very clearly pres-
ent ways of seeking information and ways of accompany-
ing research work. We propose that the academic world
clarify the instructions for proper citations and consider
tools that would prepare young people to properly handle
electronic resources. The dierent methods of citation,
could also be one of the reasons for improper citations of
sources. This highlights the possible standardization of
ways of quoting sources, which could make work easier.
Regardless, plagiarism is not only the problem of our
time. Students who intentionally or inadvertently copied
the words of another author have existed for the last two
hundred years (Carter 2008). Plagiarism has been known
from the outset of over civilisation: the only thing that
changed is the media and socio cultural expectations of
our society (Sulikowski, 2008). Although plagiarism has
always been an academic issue, from students’ perspec-
tive, the main reason for plagiarism was ICT technology.
The internet, including dierent search engines, social
networks and the possibility of electronic communication,
have given students an extremely large eld of access to
information materials for study projects. The survey Pew
Internet and American Life Project (Lenhart, Madden, &
Hitlin, 2005) showed that almost 90% of students aged be-
tween 12 and 17 years use the internet, and that most of the
students and their parents believe that the internet helps in
meeting the study requirements (Sisti, 2007).
Plagiarism in connection with motivation
Based on the results of our research, we nd that the dif-
ference between low and highly motivated students largely
lay in dierent academic skills, teaching factors and other
reasons for plagiarism. This is a view of human behaviour
that is supported by various studies that show us if indi-
viduals believe that they can perform a particular job ef-
fectively they are more eager to use any means to achieve
their goal (Bandura, 1986). Among the reasons that were
detected in low-motivated students we nd the lack of
time, inability to cope with the workload, lack of knowl-
edge to cite, how to nd material and how to research, and
of abilities to express their ideas (see Table 7). Zimmer-
man (2002) claims that individuals who are self-regulated
are more aware of the importance of their learning, their
determination of personal goals, determination of strate-
gies to achieve the objectives, projections of their behav-
iour and increasing their motivation. Particularly among
low-motivated students we nd that the reasons given by
them are poor explanations by their teachers and too many
assignments in too little time for them. It is interesting that
there are no dierences between low and highly motivated
students within the frequency of plagiarism (see Table 7).
Some researchers argue that self-ecacy has an enormous
impact on student performance (Coutinho & Neuman,
2008; Long, Monoi, Harper, Knoblauch, & Murphy, 2007;
Pajares, 1996; Schunk, 1989).
Our perspective is that professors are those who great-
ly contribute to the right set of skills and abilities of stu-
dents in the conditions of plagiarism (here we agree with
Fish & Hura, 2013). Higher motivated students are more
satised with the content of the curriculum and teacher’s
involvement. Less motivated students do not want to in-
vest too much eort in study; they just want to pass the
exam, and they feel that their work is not good enough.
However, we have to be aware that lower motivated stu-
dents also blame the allegedly poor explanations of their
teachers (see Table 7).
Time spent on the Internet and Social status
Our research has shown that there is no direct relationship
between the average time spent on the Internet and pla-
giarism and that within the social status of students there
are dierences only between those who work during their
studies and those who do not work. Students who do not
work largely reveal control (see Table 2) as a reason for
plagiarism. Among students who receive a scholarship for
Brought to you by | ReadCube/Labtiva
Authenticated
Download Date | 3/14/17 8:04 PM
Organizacija, Volume 50 Number 1, February 2017Research Papers
43
study and students who do not, we did not nd any dier-
ences in the causes for plagiarism (see Table 12).
Despite the obvious advantages of the Internet, the
time spent online may be a cause for concern. Students
who have trouble with controlling their own time may suf-
fer from internet addiction, which has a negative impact
on students in general (Young, 1998; Chen & Peng, 2008;
Cao & Su, 2007).
Advances in computer technology have enabled the
internet to serve as a platform not only to seek informa-
tion, but also to exchange ideas and knowledge with other
users, and obtain expert opinions via email, teleconferenc-
ing, chatting and other avenues. Nevertheless, the advent
of social network sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Linke-
dIn and others that include chatting and online games have
changed the perception of internet use from one that is
associated with learning to that of a socializing facility.
Such website applications have resulted on the internet
being used for both academic and non-academic activities
(Ayub, Hamid, & Nawawi, 2014).
Websites can certainly aect how students use the
Internet, and they change their educational habits, which
manifests as the progressive growth of e-tools for learning,
e-classrooms and other benets that faculties may oer
students as the form of information and communication
technologies through which can enrich competencies and
knowledge.
Understanding and achieving results based on what is
already known as well as anticipated in advance, such as
in the work environment is also important in the academic
environment. The transmission of knowledge is the basic
mission of faculties. This mission is based on moral be-
liefs about the harmfulness of its abuse, and plagiarism is
exactly such abuse. Teachers should be able to transmit the
knowledge of these moral beliefs to students in such a way
that they will be able to cope with plagiarism.
Literature
Angell, L.R. (2006). The relationship of impulsiveness,
personal ecacy and academic motivation to college
cheating. College Student Journal, 40(1), 118-131.
Arnett, J. (2000). Emerging adulthood: A theory of de-
velopment from the late teens through the twenties.
American Psychologist. 55, 469–480, http://dx.doi.
org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.5.469
Ayub, A.F.M, Hamid, W.H.W., & Nawawi, M.H. (2014).
Use of Internet for Academic Purposes among Stu-
dents in Malaysian Institutions of Higher Education.
The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technolo-
gy, 13(1), 232-241.
Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought & ac-
tion: A social cognitive theory, Engelwood Clis, NJ,
Prentice-Hall.
Barnas, M. (2000). “Parenting” students: Applying devel-
opmental psychology to the college classroom. Teach-
ing of Psychology, 27, 276-277.
Belter, R.W., & DuPre, A. (2009). A strategy to re-
duce plagiarism in an undergraduate course. Teach-
ing of Psychology, 36(4), 257-261, http://dx.doi.
org/10.1080/00986280903173165
Blum, S.D. (2009). My word! Plagiarism and college cul-
ture, Ithaca NY, Cornell University Press.
Cao, F., & Su, L. (2007). Internet addiction among Chi-
nese adolescents: prevalence and psychological fea-
tures. Child Care Health, 33(3), 275-281, http://dx.doi.
org/10.1111/j.1365-2214.2006.00715.x
Carrol, J.A. (2002). Suggestions for teaching international
students more eectively, Oxford, Oxford books.
Carrol, J. (2007). A handbook for deterring plagiarism in
higher education (2nd ed.), Oxford, England, Oxford
Centre for Sta and Learning Development, Oxford
Brookes University.
Carter, D.B. (2008). Honors, honor codes, and academ-
ic integrity: Where and how do they converge and
diverge? Journal of the National Collegiate Honors
Council, 9(2), 15–20.
Chang, C.M., Chen, Y.L., Huang, Y., & Chou, C. (2015).
Why do they become potential cyber-plagiarizers?
Exploring the alternative thinking of copy-and-paste
youth in Taiwan. Computers and Education, 87, 357-
367, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2015.07.006
Chen, Y. F., & Peng, S.S. (2008). University students’
Internet use and its relationships with academic per-
formance, interpersonal relationships, psychosocial
adjustment, and self-evaluation. CyberPsychology
& Behavior, 11, 467-469, http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/
cpb.2007.0128
Colnerud, G., & Rosander, M. (2009). Academic dishon-
esty, ethical norms and learning. Assessment and Eval-
uation in Higher Education, 34(5), 505-517, http://
dx.doi.org/10.1080/02602930802155263
Coutinho, S. A., & Neuman, G. (2008). A model of
metacognition, achievement goal orientation, learn-
ing style and self-ecacy. Learning Environments
Research, 11(2), 131-151, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/
s10984-008-9042-7
Culwin, F. (2001). Plagiarism issues for high-
er education. Vine, 31(2), 36-41, http://dx.doi.
org/10.1108/03055720010804005
Devlin, M., & Gray, K. (2007). In their words: a quali-
tative study of the reasons Australian universi-
ty student plagiarize. Higher Education Research
and Development, 26 (2), 181 -198, http://dx.doi.
org/10.1080/07294360701310805
Dordoy, A. (2002, July). Cheating and plagiarism: stu-
dent and sta perceptions at Northumbria. Proceed-
ing of Northumbria Conference, Educating the future.
Retrieved January 29, 2009, from http://www.jisepas.
ae.uk/images/bin/AD.doe
Brought to you by | ReadCube/Labtiva
Authenticated
Download Date | 3/14/17 8:04 PM
44
Organizacija, Volume 50 Number 1, February 2017Research Papers
Emerson, L. (2008). Plagiarism, a Turnitin trial and ex-
perience of cultural disorientation. In M. Vicinus and
C. Eisner (Eds.), Originality, imitation and plaigarism:
Teaching writing in the digital age (pp. 183-194), Ann
Arbor, University of Michigan Press.
Engler, J.N., Landau, J.D., & Epstein, M. (2008). Keeping
up with the Joneses: Students’ perceptions of academi-
cally dishonest behavior. Teaching of Pscychology, 35,
99-102.
Errey, L. (2002). Plagiarism: something shy?... or just a
sh out of the water? Teaching Forum, 50, 17-20.
Evering, L.C., & Moorman, G. (2012). Rethinking pla-
giarism in the digital age. Journal of Adolescent and
Adult Literacy, 56(1), 35-44, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/
JAAL.00100
Fish, R., & Hura, G. (2013). Students’ perceptions of pla-
giarism. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and
Learning, 13(5), 33-45.
Hansen, B. (2003). Combating plagiarism: Is the Internet
causing more students to plagiarize? The Congression-
al Researcher, 13(32), 773-796.
Hard, S.F J, Conway, M., & Moran, A.C. (2006). Facul-
ty and colleges student beliefs about the frequency of
student academic misconduct. The Journal of Post-
secondary Education, 77(6), 1058-1080, http://dx.doi.
org/10.1353/jhe.2006.0048
Howard, R.M., & Davies, L.J. (2009). Plagiarism in the
Internet age. Educational Leadership, 66(6), 64–67.
Jiang, H., Emmerton, L., & McKange, L. (2013). Academ-
ic integrity and plagiarism: a review of the inuences
and risk situations for health students. Higher Edu-
cation Research and Development, 32(3), 369-380,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2012.687362
Jurdi, R., Hage, H., & Henry, P. (2011). Academic dis-
honesty in the Canadian classroom: Behaviours of a
sample of university students. The Canadian Journal
of Higher Education, 41(3), 1-35.
Kecici, A., Bulduk, S., Oruc, D., & Celik, S. (2011). Aca-
demic dishonesty among nursing students: A descrip-
tive study. Nursing Ethics, 18(5), 725-733, http://dx.
doi.org/10.1177/0969733011408042
Kolbert, E. (2012). Spoiled rotten: Why do kids rule the
roost? The New Yorker, 76-79.
Larkham, M. (2002). Plagiarism and its treatment in high-
er education. Journal of Further and Higher Educa-
tion, 26(4), 339-349, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03098
77022000021748
Lathrop, A., & Foss, K. (2000). Students cheating and pla-
giarism in the internet era: a wakeup call, Englewood:
Libraries Unlimited.
Lenhart, A., Madden, M., & Hitlin, P. (2005). Teens and
Technology, Pew Internet and American Life Project.
Teens Retrieved August 8, 2016, from http://www.
pewinternet.org/files/old-media/Files/Reports/2005/
PIP_Teens_Tech_July2005web.pdf.pdf
Long, J. F., Monoi, S., Harper, B., Knoblauch, D.,
& Murphy, P.K. (2007). Academic motivation
and achievement among urban adolescents. Ur-
ban Education, 42(3), 196-222, http://dx.doi.
org/10.1177/0042085907300447
Lorenz, J.M. (2013). Cheating & Plagiarism in Nursing,
Retrieved September 24, 2015, from http://nursing.
advanceweb.com/Continuing-Education/CE-Articles/
Cheating-Plagiarism-in-Nursing.aspx
McCabe, D.L. (2005). Cheating among college and uni-
versity students, A North American perspective. Inter-
national Journal of Educational Integrity, 1(1), 10-11.
Moorman, G., & Horton, J. (2007). Millennials and how
to teach them. In Moorman, g., Lewis, J. (Eds.), Ad-
olescent literacy instruction: Policies and Promising
Practices, pp. 263-285. Newark, International Reading
Association.
Okoro, E.A. (2011). Academic integrity and student
plagiarism: Guided instructional strategies for busi-
ness communication assignments. Business Com-
munication Quarterly, 74(2), 173-178, http://dx.doi.
org/10.1177/1080569911404064
Pajares, F. (1996). Self-ecacy beliefs in academic set-
tings. Review of educational research, 66(4), 543-578,
http://dx.doi.org/10.3102/00346543066004543
Perrin, R. (2009). Pocket guide to APA style (3rd ed.), Bos-
ton, MA: Wadsworth.
Rettinger, D.A., & Kramer, Y. (2009). Situational and per-
sonal causes of student cheating. Research in Higher
Education, 50(3), 293-313, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/
s11162-008-9116-5
Power, L. G. (2009). University students’ perceptions of
plagiarism. The Journal of Higher Education, 80(6),
643–662, http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/jhe.0.0073
Selwyn, N. (2008). Not necessarily a bad thing…, A study
of online plagiarism amongst undergraduate students.
Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education,
33(5), 465-479.
Schunk, D.H. (1989). Self-ecacy and achievement be-
haviours. Educational Psychology Review, 1, 173-207,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF01320134
Senders, S. (2008). Academic plagiarism and the limits of
theft. In Eisner, C., Vicinus, M. (Eds.), Originality, im-
itation and plagiarism: Teaching writing in the digital
age, pp. 195-207. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan
Press.
Sisti, D.A. (2007). How do High School Students Justify
Internet Plagiarism. Ethics & Behavior, 17(3), 215-
231, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10508420701519163
Songsriwittaya, A., Kongsuwan, S., Jitgarum, K.,
Kaewkuekool, S., & Koul, R. (2009). Engineering
Students’ Attitude Towards Plagiarism a Survey Study,
Korea: ICEE & ICEER.
Suarez, J., & Martin, A. (2001). Internet plagiarism: A
teacher’s combat guide. Contemporary Issues in Tech-
Brought to you by | ReadCube/Labtiva
Authenticated
Download Date | 3/14/17 8:04 PM
Organizacija, Volume 50 Number 1, February 2017Research Papers
45
nology and Teacher Education, 1(4), 546–549.
Sulikowski, M. (2008). Copy, paste, plagiarize: Teaching
scholarship to a generation of googlers requires pre-
vention, detection, and action, Retrieved July 16, 2011,
from http://dx.doi.orgwww.vanderbilt.edu/magazines/
vanderbilt-magazine/2008/03/copy_paste_plagiarize/
Trzesniewski, K. H., & Donnellan, M.B. (2010). Rethink-
ing ‘generation me’: A study of cohort eects from
1976–2006. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5,
58–75.
Turnitin.com and Research Resources. (n.d.). Why students
plagiarize, Retrieved January 3, 2017, from https://
www.aub.edu.lb/it/acps/Documents/PDF/WhyStuPla-
giarize.pdf
Wilhoit, S. (1994). Helping students avoid plagiarism.
College Teaching, 4 (4), 161-164, http://dx.doi.org/10.
1080/87567555.1994.9926849
Williams, K.M., Nathanson, C., & Paulus, D.L. (2010).
Identifying and proling scholastic cheaters: Their
personality, cognitive ability and motivation. Journal
of Experimental Psychology, Applied, 16 (3), 293-307,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0020773
Yang, Y. (2014). Why Students Plagiarise in Organic
Chemistry Laboratory Course?, IEEE International
Symposium on Ethics in Science, Technology and En-
gineering.
Young, K.S. (1998). Caught in the Net: How to recognize
the signs of Internet addiction and a winning strategy
for recovery, New York: John Wiley.
Zimmerman, B.J. (2002). Becoming a self-regulated learn-
er: An Overview. Theory into Practice, 41(2), 64-70,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s1540421tip4102_2
Polona Šprajc (Ph.D.) is an Assistant Professor at
the Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of
Maribor in the Department of Personnel and Vice dean
for educational activity. Her major research interests
concern human resource management, marketing and
business ethics. She teaches on undergraduate and
master level. She is author of chapters in books and ar-
ticles in scientific and professional journals, published
in Slovenia and abroad.
Marko Urh obtained his Ph.D. in the field of Organi-
zational sciences from the University of Maribor. He is
a senior lecturer in the Department of Personnel and
Information Sciences at the Faculty of Organisational
Sciences, University of Maribor, Slovenia. His main
research interests are in higher education, e-learning,
human resource development, gamification and infor-
mation systems.
Janja Jerebic is an Assistant Professor of Mathemat-
ics at the Faculty of Organizational Sciences, Universi-
ty of Maribor, Slovenia. Her main research interests are
graph theory and data analysis.
Dragan Trivan, PhD in Security and Protection Studies,
associate professor at the Faculty of Business Studies
and Law in Belgrade, “Union Nikola Tesla” Universi-
ty. Mr Trivan was elected to scientific titles in several
countries. He is the president of Serbian Association of
Managers in Corporative Security. He is also the author
of several monographs and number of research papers
presented at national and international conferences
and published in domestic and foreign journals. For
exceptional achievements in business, scientific, and
humanitarian work, he was repeatedly awarded domes-
tically and abroad. Professor Trivan is a member of the
American Society of Criminologists and the Internation-
al Association of Criminologists.
Eva Jereb is a professor in the Department of Per-
sonnel and Information Sciences at the Faculty of Or-
ganisational Sciences, University of Maribor, Slovenia.
Her main research interests are in higher education,
e-learning, human resource development, self-man-
agement, personnel expert systems, office organiza-
tion and the phenomenon of telework.
Brought to you by | ReadCube/Labtiva
Authenticated
Download Date | 3/14/17 8:04 PM
... Furthermore, the internet has consistently been identified as a factor that increases the risk of plagiarism among students due to the easy access to information and websites enabled by modern technologies (Dias & Bastos, 2014;Liliana Cuervo-Sánchez & Etxague, 2023;Ramzan et al., 2012;Sprajc et al., 2017). For example, tools like QuillBot poses a potential risk which may expose students to excessive reliance and hinder them from fully mastering their writing skills. ...
... It is also crucial to recognize that the use of technology, particularly the internet, may have undermined the participants' efforts to produce original work. The internet has long been associated with an increased risk of plagiarism, as the accessibility of information and websites has been greatly facilitated by new technologies (Dias & Bastos, 2014;Liliana Cuervo-Sánchez & Etxague, 2023;Ramzan et al., 2012;Sprajc et al., 2017) The availability of websites like "Citation Machine" and "Cite this for Me" which offer free citation generation, may have contributed to the minimal differences in participants' scores, leading to an insignificant improvement in their citation skills. While it might be assumed that these websites would assist participants in correctly formatting citations and reference lists according to APA style, the findings suggest otherwise. ...
Article
Full-text available
Background: Plagiarism is a serious academic misconduct demanding mitigation to uphold the integrity of original work. Undeniably, with the advancement of technological age, plagiarising becomes easier and harder to detect. However, the reliance on technology significantly rises the likelihood of fostering academic dishonesty among the students. Therefore, it is imperative to disseminate explicit education on plagiarism reduction strategies, particularly on the importance of mastering correct referencing techniques. Purpose: The present study applied a mixed-method approach to explore the effectiveness of an intervention called Educational Intervention (EI) on enhancing ESL students’ academic referencing skills namely in in-text citation abilities, paraphrasing skills and writing reference list using APA style. Method: The EI consisted of explicit instruction that involved structured teaching sessions integrated with two primary instructional strategies: lectures and practical exercises on referencing in academic writing. A total of 70 participants participated in the study. Data collection involved administering tests, assigning exercises and assignments, and conducting focus group interviews. The study utilised a quasi-experimental design to analyse the effectiveness of the intervention. Quantitative data were analysed using one-way ANOVA and paired sample t-test to assess the effectiveness of the EI. Qualitative data were examined through thematic analysis to explore participants’ experiences and perceptions. Results: Data analyses of the plagiarism test indicated that the experimental group showed significantly greater improvements in referencing skills compared to the control group, with statistical significance at p <.05 for all assessed skills. However, findings for the gathered exercises and assignments demonstrated improvements but not statistically significant in their referencing skills except for paraphrasing. Nonetheless, feedback from focus group interviews indicated positive responses toward EI and its role in enhancing referencing skills. Conclusion: Overall, while EI proved effective in enhancing ESL undergraduates’ referencing skills, there remains room for improvement to fully realize its potential. The study holds a global importance of imparting explicit education on referencing skills, offering educators worldwide a strategic measure aimed at reducing plagiarism act.
... In today's globalized world, the rapid advancements in information and communication technology and the web have revolutionized the way information is shared, allowing for instant dissemination across the globe. However, this ease of access and distribution has also led to an increase in plagiarism incidents by unethical individuals [30], [31]. Piracy, a phenomenon that predates the internet, saw a significant transformation with the advent of powerful search engines in the early 2000s. ...
Article
Full-text available
Intellectual property plagiarism is increasingly prominent in contemporary society, involving the unethical practice of claiming someone else's ideas, words, or creative works without proper acknowledgment. This study aimed to compare the performance of iThenticate and Ouriginal plagiarism detection software by analyzing their similarity index. Twenty original manuscripts (N=20) were examined for content similarity, with each manuscript analyzed first with Ouriginal and then with iThenticate. The focus was on comparing the two tools based on matched sources, word matches, and overall similarity index percentage. Data analysis using SPSS v26 included descriptive statistics, an independent t-test, correlation, and ranking of the similarity percentages, with significance set at p<0.05. The results indicated no significant differences in matching sources, matching words, or similarity index (p>0.05) between iThenticate and Ouriginal. A strong positive correlation (r=.758, p<.000) was observed between the similarity indices of the two software programs. The analysis of the low similarity range (≤10%) also revealed no statistical significant difference (p>.05). However, the mean similarity percentage detected by iThenticate was higher at 11.40%, compared to 6.85% for Ouriginal. Based on the findings, both iThenticate and Ouriginal demonstrated comparable effectiveness in detecting plagiarism, highlighting their importance in curbing academic dishonesty and protecting intellectual property rights.
... Plagiarism, which lacks a universally accepted theoretical or philosophical definition [22], is generally understood as the act of using someone else's work, ideas, or expressions without proper acknowledgement [23]. It is one of the most significant challenges facing universities today, primarily due to advances in information and communication technology that make it easier to copy and share content [22,24,25]. This act violates ethical standards in both academic and professional contexts, undermining the integrity of scholarly work and distorting academic progress [22,25]. ...
Article
Full-text available
This study explores how computing science students (n = 335) use ChatGPT, their trust in its information, their navigation of plagiarism issues, and their confidence in addressing plagiarism and academic integrity. A mixed-methods approach was used, combining quantitative survey data with a qualitative thematic analysis of student comments to provide a comprehensive understanding of these issues. The findings reveal that ChatGPT has become integral to students’ academic routines, with 87.8% using it weekly with variable frequency. Most students (70.3%) believe the university should allow ChatGPT use, and 66.6% think it is fair to use it for academic purposes despite 57.4% distrusting its information. Additionally, 53.8% worry about accidentally plagiarising when using ChatGPT. Overall, students have moderate confidence in addressing these academic integrity issues, with no differences between undergraduate and postgraduate students. Male students reported higher confidence in handling plagiarism and academic integrity issues than female students, suggesting underlying differences in how students perceive and interact with generative AI technologies. A thematic analysis of 74 student comments on their ChatGPT experience revealed four themes: (a) Usage and Role of ChatGPT, (b) Ethical and Responsible Use, (c) Limitations and Accuracy, and (d) Impact on Education and Need for Clear Guidelines. This study contributes to the ongoing debate on accepting and using ChatGPT, highlighting the need for institutions to provide clear guidelines and ethical considerations to ensure responsible use within educational contexts.
... Students' perspectives are important; in particular, their understanding, awareness and reasons for indulging in plagiarism can provide important insights into both the theoretical understanding of plagiarism and the creation of associated policies. Several scholars have examined the reasons for plagiarism among students (Alawad et al., 2019;Selemani et al., 2018;Šprajc et al., 2017). However, these reasons have rarely been studied in the context of how students interpret plagiarism, and how their awareness may influence their approach to plagiarism. ...
Article
Purpose This study investigated the factors contributing to the reduction of plagiarism. It focuses on elucidating the concept of plagiarism, its legal and ethical implications, the punitive measures implemented to address plagiarism and the level of awareness of plagiarism policies. Design/methodology/approach An online survey was administered to 649 students (160 male, 489 female) of the College of Social Sciences at Kuwait University (KU) to investigate the relationships between a number of factors linked to plagiarism, including its definition, legal and ethical implications, understanding of plagiarism regulations and the consequences associated with plagiarism. Findings The aforementioned factors and underlying causes that contribute to engaging in plagiarism were substantially correlated. Regression analysis revealed that variables such as legal and ethical considerations, familiarity with plagiarism regulations and the existence of sanctions were statistically significant predictors of the factors contributing to the occurrence of plagiarism. Practical implications The findings can help the Kuwait University administration and similar universities in the region focus on increasing students’ awareness of plagiarism and can aid in developing better policies that include the definition of plagiarism and penalties for undertaking this academic misconduct. Originality/value This study shows universities the importance of increasing students’ awareness of academic misconduct and can help create appropriate and robust policies.
Conference Paper
Full-text available
In recent times, Plagiarism Detection Software (hereafter PDS) have emerged as a popular tool for identifying unethical research work. The popular PDS are Turnitin, Ouriginal, iThenticate, DrillBit, etc. Every PDS has its unique features and follows the undisclosed methodology to match the similarity of the published documents. These software have a huge, robust list of indexed sources, making it more powerful. This similarity analysis from many sources helps the institution maintain the research quality in academics. However, each PDS has its core strength and limitations in features. Also, they never disclose their indexed sources, and there is the possibility that some PDS may miss some of the sources. Understanding these strengths and weaknesses is important for institutions or the procurement authority (like INFLIBNET in the case of India). Therefore, the authors conducted a three-phase comparative analysis of Turnitin, Urkund (now Ouriginal) and DrillBit. The first phase presented the key features of the user interface of the PDS. The second and third phase analysis was on similarity reports generated from the software. The study found that the coverage of Ouriginal from open access sources is comparatively better than Turnitin. However, Turnitin has advanced easy to understand features in the user interface. DrillBit has issues in reading the documents that Ouriginal and Turnitin can process. The study could be very useful for those, interested and exploring different PDS.
Article
Purpose This study contributes to the current body of literature on students' understanding of academic misconduct, plagiarism, forms of plagiarism, the reasons they plagiarize, the sanctions imposed by academics for plagiarizing and the methods to address plagiarism in written assessments within the Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Guyana, which was investigated in 2021. Design/methodology/approach The research design was descriptive and grounded in the pragmatism paradigm. The methodology employed was quantitative, consisting of the collection of data through an online, self-administered questionnaire-based survey. Findings The results showed that despite students having a conceptual understanding of academic misconduct and plagiarism, they intentionally and unintentionally plagiarized their written assessments, mainly because of the assessment workload (64.9%), busy schedule (52.8%), not understanding the assessment (46.3%) and not knowing how to correctly cite sources (44.6%). Prevalent forms of plagiarism committed by students included finding synonyms for the author’s language while keeping to the same general structure and meaning of the original work (48%) and neglecting to cite sources, misquote sources or unintentionally paraphrase a source by using similar words, groups of words and/or sentence structure without attribution (42%). Academic sanctions commonly include giving an overall reduced grade, giving a warning and asking the student to redo the plagiarized work. The study showed that students preferred flexible and lenient penalties to address plagiarism and objected to sanctions that may jeopardize their academic progression. Originality/value An international literature review will demonstrate extensive research on academic misconduct, particularly plagiarism, emphasizing attitudes and perceptions. Despite Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies and limited software subscriptions, academic misconduct in Guyana is still poorly understood. Therefore, this study adds to the literature by evaluating tertiary education students' perceptions of plagiarism, given the growing concerns and negative repercussions of plagiarism and student use of AI to produce assignments at this university.
Article
Full-text available
Korkeakouluopiskelijoiden harjoitus- ja opinnäytetöiden plagioinnin taustalla on monenlaisia syitä. Ongelmaan tulee etsiä ratkaisuja kokonaisvaltaisten tekstitaitojen oppimisen näkökulmasta.
Chapter
The advent of natural language processing (NLP) in recent years, such as chatbots, has revolutionised the education system, especially in teaching, learning, and research. Chatbots such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Bing are associated with plagiarism issues and other undesirable consequences in the learning process, with some academics advocating for regulation of the new phenomenon. In the education sector, chatbots assist researchers and students with real-time responses to questions posed, though the responses might be inaccurate. This article discussed the ethical considerations of emerging chatbots using desktop research in research, learning, and teaching. The study compared literature to discuss the ethics and limitations of chatbot use in higher education. The abuse of chatbots by students involves making the chatbots write an assignment, online test, or thesis. Students, lecturers, and researchers should be mindful of the potential impact of unethical behaviour when using chatbots in teaching, learning, and research activities.
Article
Plagiarism is one of the main ethical issues affecting higher education in the digital age. One area of academic writing that students struggle with is their ability to synthesize and integrate information gathered from disparate sources using the appropriate conventions, which can ultimately lead to academic misconduct. Academic dishonesty has become a growing concern for faculty in colleges and universities. Despite many efforts by educational institutions to implement policies that discourage the occurrence of academic misconduct, many students have been found guilty of not adhering to universities’ policies and codes of conduct. This paper examines students’ perceptions of plagiarism at two Jamaican universities, discusses an academic literacy approach to plagiarism and outlines strategies that can be used to minimize and deter such practices. Data were collected from 160 students, comprising 115 females and 45 males. The results showed that most participants could not identify plagiarized text and did not view some types of plagiarism as serious. The limited ability to identify plagiarism and the downplaying of its severity highlight a critical need for improved academic literacy programs that equip students with the skills to recognize and avoid plagiarism and promote a culture of academic integrity.
Article
Full-text available
In October 2003, all faculty at Massey University, a research university in New Zealand, were invited to join a university-wide trial of Turnitin.com, a plagiarism detection system being considered for widespread use to combat a perceived "plagiarism epidemic." The university framed the Turnitin trial as an investigation into issues of academic integrity and a step in strengthening academic misconduct procedures, with erence to plagiarism as an issue of academic writing. This is not, perhaps, surprising since rhetoric and composition is an emerging discipline in New Zealand and is not yet fully established as part of the curriculum. As the only fulltime faculty member employed at this time to teach academic writing at the university, I joined the trial, hoping to bring a different perspective on the issue. The purpose of this essay is to consider the value of Turnitin primarily from the context of reflecting, as a writing teacher, on what the trial taught me about writing, about my role as a writing teacher, about students and learning, and on the gaps that exist in our understanding of and relationship with one another in the student-teacher relationship. To deepen my reflection, I have used a form of reflective practice established by Donald Schön and developed by the British school of action research (see, for example, Whitehead and McNiff). This reflective paradigm, as described by Richard Winter, Alyson Buck, and Paula Sobiechowska, "requires more than observation. It requires us to engage in a process of introspection leading to self-clarification" (186). This essay summarizes the process of observation and self-clarification I engaged in as part of the university trial.
Article
Full-text available
With the expansion of digital content, academic integrity has been facing the growing threat of cyber-plagiarism. In the present research, we address young Taiwanese students' perceptions of cyber-plagiarism. Our research included two related studies: in study 1, we collected data through a national survey on a probability sample of 41,911 (4th-12th graders) and analyzed the prevalence and alternative thinking about cyber plagiarism among these students; in study 2, we collected 113 young students' anonymous questionnaires inquiring into the reasoning that the students applied to their own use of online resources for homework. The results of our research show that the prevalence of frequent copy-and-paste students was less than 3% of the surveyed 4th-12th graders in Taiwan. Moreover, we have found that copy-and-paste practices were more prevalent among the 10th and 12th graders than among students in the other grades, and that more male students than female students engaged in copy-and-paste behavior. We have also found that these students' concept and their ways of using Internet information properly seem incorrect. We suggest that educators implement copy-and-paste prevention curriculum throughout elementary, junior high, and high schools. We offer teaching advice for the prevention of cyber plagiarism, encouraging educators to teach students appropriate ways to resolve copy-and-paste problems.
Book
"Classroom Cheats Turn to Computers." "Student Essays on Internet Offer Challenge to Teachers." "Faking the Grade." Headlines such as these have been blaring the alarming news of an epidemic of plagiarism and cheating in American colleges: more than 75 percent of students admit to having cheated; 68 percent admit to cutting and pasting material from the Internet without citation. Professors are reminded almost daily that many of today's college students operate under an entirely new set of assumptions about originality and ethics. Practices that even a decade ago would have been regarded almost universally as academically dishonest are now commonplace. Is this development an indication of dramatic shifts in education and the larger culture? In a book that dismisses hand-wringing in favor of a rich account of how students actually think and act, Susan D. Blum discovers two cultures that exist, often uneasily, side by side in the classroom. Relying extensively on interviews conducted by students with students, My Word! presents the voices of today's young adults as they muse about their daily activities, their challenges, and the meanings of their college lives. Outcomes-based secondary education, the steeply rising cost of college tuition, and an economic climate in which higher education is valued for its effect on future earnings above all else. These factors each have a role to play in explaining why students might pursue good grades by any means necessary. These incentives have arisen in the same era as easily accessible ways to cheat electronically and with almost intolerable pressures that result in many students being diagnosed as clinically depressed during their transition from childhood to adulthood. However, Blum suggests, the real problem of academic dishonesty arises primarily from a lack of communication between two distinct cultures within the university setting. On one hand, professors and administrators regard plagiarism as a serious academic crime, an ethical transgression, even a sin against an ethos of individualism and originality. Students, on the other hand, revel in sharing, in multiplicity, in accomplishment at any cost. Although this book is unlikely to reassure readers who hope that increasing rates of plagiarism can be reversed with strongly worded warnings on the first day of class, My Word! opens a dialogue between professors and their students that may lead to true mutual comprehension and serve as the basis for an alignment between student practices and their professors' expectations.
Article
In this article, I use Baumrind's (1971) research on parenting styles to help understand the structure and dynamics of the college classroom. I argue that the way professors view their students affects course syllabi and teaching style. The discussion also reflects the development of my own teaching style and philosophy.
Article
Students in institutions of higher learning should take advantage of information available on the Internet in their coursework. The Internet is also utilised for social and other non-academic functions. Hence, it is desirable, for students to strike a balance in the time spent online for academic and non-academic purposes. In this study, the durations spent on the Internet for academic and non-academic purposes were investigated based on a survey on 1675 students randomly selected from five different fields of study, viz. social sciences, sciences, engineering, agriculture and computer sciences. On average, the participants accessed the Internet 4.48 hours per day. There were also significant differences in the time spent using the Internet among students in different fields of study, with computer science students spending more time online (5.61 hours per day) than the others. In terms of Internet use for academic purposes, students in social sciences, agriculture and computer sciences scored the highest. In an analysis involving all the students in this study, the total time on the Internet was found to be weakly correlated with the time spent online specifically for academic purposes. For social science students, a low but significant positive correlation existed between the overall time spent online and the time spent on the Internet for academic research. In a similar analysis carried out for science students, a negative low correlation was observed. In the fields of agriculture, engineering and computer sciences, however, no correlation was found between Internet access duration and the use of the Internet for academic purposes. The very low correlations encountered above, even though statistically significant, showed that students who spent more time on the Internet did not make much greater use of it for academic purposes as compared with students who used the Internet less.
Article
Academic dishonesty is a persistent problem in institutions of higher education, with numerous short- and long-term implications. This study examines undergraduate students’ self-reported engagement in acts of academic dishonesty using data from a sample of 321 participants attending a public university in a western Canadian city during the fall of 2007. Various factors were assessed for their influence on students’ extent of academic dishonesty. More than one-half of respondents engaged in at least one of three types of dishonest behaviours surveyed during their tenure in university. Faculty of enrolment, strategies for learning, perceptions of peers’ cheating and their requests for help, and perceptions and evaluations of academic dishonesty made unique contributions to the prediction of academic dishonesty. High self-efficacy acted as a protective factor that interacted with instrumental motives to study to reduce students’ propensity to engage in dishonest academic behaviours. Implications of these findings for institutional interventions are briefly discussed.