Contract cheating and blackmail: A risky business?

This study examines the emergent issue of blackmail and contract cheating through a scenario-based online exercise completed by 587 university students in Western Australia. Participants were presented with two consecutive scenarios, each involving a difficult assignment. The possibility of blackmai...

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Main Authors: Yorke, Jon, Sefcik, Lesley, Veeran-Colton, Terisha
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/88646
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author Yorke, Jon
Sefcik, Lesley
Veeran-Colton, Terisha
author_facet Yorke, Jon
Sefcik, Lesley
Veeran-Colton, Terisha
author_sort Yorke, Jon
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description This study examines the emergent issue of blackmail and contract cheating through a scenario-based online exercise completed by 587 university students in Western Australia. Participants were presented with two consecutive scenarios, each involving a difficult assignment. The possibility of blackmail was introduced prior to (and within) the second scenario. The exercise included survey questions which examined participants’ knowledge and attitudinal perspectives towards the issue of contract cheating and blackmail. Although a small percentage of students (2.4%) elected to cheat in this study, almost 90% claimed not to have been aware of the risk of blackmail. Knowledge of the risk of blackmail reduced the number of students willing to cheat by half. Some participants had direct or indirect experience of blackmail, revealing new insights into the providers of cheating services. Possible approaches to the issue of blackmail are examined in the light of the implications of this research.
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
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language English
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publishDate 2020
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-886462022-06-14T08:19:42Z Contract cheating and blackmail: A risky business? Yorke, Jon Sefcik, Lesley Veeran-Colton, Terisha Social Sciences Education & Educational Research Academic integrity contract cheating blackmail risk academic misconduct MARKET This study examines the emergent issue of blackmail and contract cheating through a scenario-based online exercise completed by 587 university students in Western Australia. Participants were presented with two consecutive scenarios, each involving a difficult assignment. The possibility of blackmail was introduced prior to (and within) the second scenario. The exercise included survey questions which examined participants’ knowledge and attitudinal perspectives towards the issue of contract cheating and blackmail. Although a small percentage of students (2.4%) elected to cheat in this study, almost 90% claimed not to have been aware of the risk of blackmail. Knowledge of the risk of blackmail reduced the number of students willing to cheat by half. Some participants had direct or indirect experience of blackmail, revealing new insights into the providers of cheating services. Possible approaches to the issue of blackmail are examined in the light of the implications of this research. 2020 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/88646 10.1080/03075079.2020.1730313 English ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD restricted
spellingShingle Social Sciences
Education & Educational Research
Academic integrity
contract cheating
blackmail
risk
academic misconduct
MARKET
Yorke, Jon
Sefcik, Lesley
Veeran-Colton, Terisha
Contract cheating and blackmail: A risky business?
title Contract cheating and blackmail: A risky business?
title_full Contract cheating and blackmail: A risky business?
title_fullStr Contract cheating and blackmail: A risky business?
title_full_unstemmed Contract cheating and blackmail: A risky business?
title_short Contract cheating and blackmail: A risky business?
title_sort contract cheating and blackmail: a risky business?
topic Social Sciences
Education & Educational Research
Academic integrity
contract cheating
blackmail
risk
academic misconduct
MARKET
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/88646