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Abstract

In China, unethical behaviour in academic work is regarded as a severe problem in higher education that has the potential to stifle the growth of creativity and innovation. However, research on ethical behaviour in academic work is still uncommon in private colleges, particularly from the perspective of undergraduate students. As a result, the purpose of this qualitative study is to explore Chinese private college students’ perceptions of the concept of ethical behaviour in academic work. Bandura’s social cognitive theory examined and analysed students’ perceptions and perspectives on ethical behaviour in academic work. To assess participants’ perceptions, one-on-one semi-structured interview, focus group discussion, and reflection in narrative story writing were conducted. The study sample consisted of five participants from three private colleges in three cities in China. According to the content analysis findings, Chinese private college students’ perspectives of the concept of ethical behaviour in academic work are social and professional academic ethics and academic malpractices. Meanwhile, Chinese private college students’ perspectives of the concept of ethical behaviour in academic work are academic misconduct and academic professional standards. The results have practical significance for helping private college students overcome ethical behaviour problems in academic work.

Keywords

perspective higher education ethical standards student attitudes academic honesty

Introduction

Developing the country and civilization is an essential condition for improving the quality of national education. Higher education cultivates competent, familiar, and farsighted citizens to undertake certain obligations of innovation. The need for the latest knowledge and expertise is rapidly increasing in highly compeitive global societies, and higher education plays a vital role in developing emerging economies and societies. Moreover, students in higher education will become the country’s future leaders (Yang, 2023a). Higher education cultivates students in all fields of society, such as doctors, engineers, scholars, and intellectuals, to contribute to society and realize the country’s overall development, personnel management, and progress (Arefeen et al., 2020). Therefore, higher education plays a significant role in developing the country and cultivating talent (Shen & Hu, 2021).

Ethics is a naturally stable quality in the human soul, which governs a person’s behaviour towards good and evil. Islam focuses on good morals and values them at the world level. The Holy Quran mentions ethics in more than (300) verses, and ethics is mentioned more than 2,200 times in the hadith of the prophet (Al-Kubaisi et al., 2012). Historically, one of the main goals of higher education is to influence the ethics and ethical development of the members of society while being reflected in the development of students’ moral ability in addition to providing education for students and enabling their intelligence to promote the growth and prosperity of the society. However, there is an apparent contradiction, though some studies found that students in higher education do not comply with ethics and standards has increased (Taha & Obeidat, 2021; Wang, Yang and Maresova, 2020).

In China, the moral degradation of the masses is the country’s top concern (Shafer et al., 2007). Therefore, ethical education courses are being taught by academic institutions at all levels, from kindergarten to national academia (Bettignies & Tan, 2007). Ethical behaviour in academic work is an important aspect of ethical behaviour and is essential for higher education (Eaton & Turner, 2020). However, issues of ethical behaviour in academic work have been a long-standing problem at all levels of education worldwide. It is increasingly rampant, especially among college and university students. In academia, it should have no place, as it will threaten the authenticity of any discipline. Students vary widely in the extent of issues of ethical behaviour in academic work across the globe in higher education (Cutri et al., 2021). However, the seriousness of the issues of ethical behaviour in academic work is alarming and is considered equally serious in China (Ahmed, 2020).

Private colleges refer to the institutions of higher learning or related educational institutions developed by citizens, social organizations, enterprises, and institutions through non-state financial and educational allowances, mainly at the junior college and undergraduate levels. Generally speaking, students’ tuition fees in private colleges are 3–4 times that of public colleges and universities. At present, China advocates the establishment of private colleges to achieve a beneficial supplement to Chinese public colleges and universities. Up to now, private colleges have developed in China for more than 30 years, and both student management and school management tend to be mature, which has strongly promoted the popularization of higher education in China (Li et al., 2020). The characteristics of private colleges determine that private college students also have different features, including behaviour from public college and university students, Luo & Chan (2023) say. First, their behaviour tends to be utilitarian and pay more attention to personal interests. Second, their learning goals are unclear, and they encounter setbacks or, because of a series of problems, give up, slowly feel the heart is willing but insufficient, and lose confidence in their own. The original goals and ideas are gradually erased, and the enthusiasm for learning is steadily reduced and even affects their peers. Lack of learning motivation and confidence is a significant feature of private college students. Third, they do not pay much attention to the lectures and are addicted to the network and games. The requirements of self will be reduced, in the behaviour will also present some states, such as solitary, weariness, addiction to the network, and so on (Yu, 2021). Therefore, the ethical behaviour issues in private college students’ academic work differ severely from public colleges and universities.

Specifically, the study aims to achieve the following main objective: to explore Chinese private college students’ perceptions of ethical behaviour in academic work. Then following the main research questions:

1. What are the Chinese private college students’ perceptions of ethical behaviour in academic work?

2. What are the Chinese private college students’ perspectives of the concept of ethical behaviour in academic work?

This study aims to explore the causes of the issues of ethical behaviour in academic work in private colleges from the perspective of private college students’ cognition to find the corresponding solution strategies.

Literature review

The term “ethics” was developed after the Greek term “ethos” sense “character” or “tradition”. Ethics can be summarized as the interpretation of moral philosophy or principles, determining whether the activity is correct and whether the consequences are decent or corrupt. A code of ethics is “a set of principles and standards by which a person’s actions are judged as correct or wrong, honest or dishonest, fair or unfair” (Weygandt et al., 2003). In this study, ethics refer to a set of principles and standards in academic work in private college by which a student’s actions are judged as correct or wrong, honest or dishonest, fair or unfair. Ethical behaviour is the external manifestation of an individual’s ethical qualities; it is the actual behaviour that is beneficial or harmful to the individual and society. Ethical behaviour is subject to (or judged against) generally accepted norms of ethical behaviour. Behaviour that can be interpreted here as violating ethical norms is usually considered unethical, such as lying, cheating, and stealing (Dobosz & Hetmańczyk, 2023). In addition, behaviours that meet or exceed specific minimum ethical standards are generally regarded as ethical, such as honesty, obeying the law, and whistleblowing (Yang, 2023b). In this study, unethical behaviour is behaviours contrary to ethical norms and those that reach or exceed some minimal ethical standard.

Academic work is defined as intellectual property and scholarly, pedagogical, research, or creative or artistic works in any medium developed by a faculty member, researcher, or student. Academic work may include illustrations, fiction and nonfiction books, textbooks, articles, dramatic works, visual artworks, musical compositions, musical scores, screenplays, choreography, data sets, or software. Academic work also includes course syllabi, tests, problem sets, course websites, and class notes, whether in essays, e-courses (i.e., online courses), or others (Policy and procedures…, 2020). Academic work is a series of activities to explore and develop knowledge, such as academic research, evaluation, and awarding activities. In this study, academic work is a series of activities to explore and develop knowledge in private colleges, including attending classes and lectures, assignments, dissertations, scientific research competitions, examinations like classroom tests, final examinations, national examinations (Karpenko, 2022).

The present scenario of ethical behaviour in academic work in China: Research conducted in six universities in Shanghai found that problems with students’ ethical behaviour in academic work are common. Jian et al. (2020) also examined Chinese college senior students’ attitudes toward academic dishonesty and found these students believed their academic misconduct was sometimes acceptable and justified. It can be seen that ethical behaviour problems in academic work generally exist in Chinese higher education and have become increasingly intense (Petruzziello et al., 2023). Sotiriadou et al. (2020) investigated the importance of academic integrity for the scientific and educational community as a whole. Guerrero-Dib et al. (2020) also examined the role of academic integrity in relation to workplace ethical behavior.

This study adopts social cognitive theory (SCT) as a theoretical framework to explore Chinese private college students’ perceptions of the concept of ethical behaviour in academic work. Bandura (1986) SCT includes three core elements of triadic reciprocal determinism, observational learning, and self-efficacy.

The triadic reciprocal determinism, in which cognition (and other human factors), behaviour, and the environment interact and influence each other (Bandura, 1986). It is a theoretical entity that views subject factors, environmental factors, and behaviour as independent and mutually determining. The subject mainly refers to the person’s cognitive ability, the ability to use symbols, the foresight ability, the ability to observe and learn, and the self-regulation ability. With these abilities, people can adjust and control their environment and behaviour. Of course, cognitive ability is not an independent and autonomous mechanism outside of behaviour and environment but the mutual influence and limitation of subject, behaviour, and environment (MacLeod & Eaton, 2020). Bandura (1965) defined observational learning as learning a specific novel response by observing the actions of others and their reinforcement outcomes or correcting certain behavioural response characteristics that a person already has. Meanwhile, the observer did not explicitly demonstrate the response. In observational learning, the observed object is called the model, and the observed object is called the observer. Bandura (1965) defined observational learning as an information-processing activity that transforms information about behavioural structures and environmental conditions into symbolic representations to guide behavioural activities. The third crucial element of Bandura's (1965) theory is ‘self-efficacy’. It refers to an individual's belief in their abilities to achieve a particular outcome. High self-efficacy encourages confidence in managing challenging situations, while low self-efficacy can hinder one’s perseverance. This belief system significantly influences a person’s approach to tasks, challenges, and goals. For instance, an individual with high self-efficacy might view challenges as opportunities to be embraced rather than obstacles to be avoided. Such individuals are more likely to set challenging goals and remain committed to them, as they believe in their capacity to succeed. They are also more resilient in the face of difficulties and are less likely to become disheartened or give up when facing setbacks.

In summary, Bandura emphasized the subjective and cognitive factors that regulate human subjectivity. The existence of human subjectivity makes the whole process of acquisition, performance, development, and change of human behaviour related to cognitive activity. The determinants of behaviour are determined based on the cognition of the behaviour subject. The determining role of the environment in behaviour is a manifestation of the perception of the relationship between environmental factors. The behaviour subject’s cognitive representation of the outcome can form the motivation for the behaviour. SCT is an essential guide for developing the concept of ethical behaviour in the academic work of private college students. SCT is used as a theoretical framework for the research questions to understand the different perceptions of the concept of ethical behaviour in the academic work of private college students.

Materials and methods

This research employed a qualitative design using the case study approach. Case studies allow real-life situations or processes to be explored within the boundaries of a specific definition. Yin (2017) argues that case studies are ideal for exploring “how” and “why” questions, such as the ones to be explored in this study. This approach pays particular attention to understanding private college students’ perceptions of the concept of ethical behaviour in academic work from their perspective within the boundaries of a specific definition and using small sample sizes to ensure data richness. Five graduates were recruited from three private colleges in Beijing, Xi’an, and Wuhan. All students were school leavers between the ages of 21 and 23 years. They have completed four years of college study career and have a more comprehensive and profound understanding and experience of ethical behaviour in academic work during private college. They graduated from private colleges no more than one-year lapse to better reflect on their experience in ethical behaviour in academic work in their college life. They had experienced ethical behaviour in academic work in their private college life. Besides, they were from the same city as the private college they graduated from, those who knew more about the higher educational characteristics of the district.

Recruitment included purposeful and snowball methods with a purposeful understanding of the study’s research questions and central phenomena. This stops when the collected data reaches saturation, and no new information is found. Pilot testing was conducted to test the three protocols’ validity one month before the initial research. While ethical approval was granted by the Ethic Committee for Research Involving Human Subject of University Putra Malaysia (JKEUPM), confidentiality and anonymity were also considered due to the sensitive nature of the research topic. The protection of the identity of the participants and the data collected was outlined in the signed consent form to ensure that the information would not be disclosed to anyone outside of the study. Data was stored on encrypted, inaccessible computer-based files. Pseudonyms were used for anonymity. Finally, all participants in the study were recent graduates and not affiliated with the college; this helped them to answer interview questions and write more efficiently and with less threat of repercussions. All participants were assured that they could withdraw at any time.

These data were collected through a series of one-on-one semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and reflection in narrative story writings. This allowed for an ongoing exploration of the topic to provide a deeper understanding of people’s perspectives and experiences. Each one-on-one interview was conducted face-to-face and lasted 60–90 minutes with audio recording. The five participants were from different cities in China and were assigned to work on weekdays. Due to time, distance, and cost considerations, the focus group discussions were held through the online platform Tencent Meeting, and each lasted approximately 120 minutes with video recordings. Each reflection in narrative story writing was sent back by participants in an electronic edition via email within ten days when they received the instruction. All recordings used Iflytek for transcription in this study. All one-on-one interviews, focus group discussions, and reflection in narrative story writings were conducted mainly in Chinese. They were translated into English by a registered translator for data analysis based on the content analysis technic.

The data analysis process was carried out through NVivo12. Validity and reliability are always issuing in qualitative research. This study used triangulation (including data, methodological, and theory triangulation), member-checking, and peer debriefing to portray the participants’ perceptions. Triangulation was achieved by using multiple data collection methods (individual interviews, focus groups, narrative reflections), collecting data from participants across different majors and colleges, and analyzing the data through multiple theoretical lenses. For member checking, participants were provided with transcripts of their individual interviews and focus group discussions to review and confirm that their perspectives were accurately captured. Peer debriefing involved discussions with two colleagues not involved in the study to get their input on the data collection procedures, data analysis, and interpretation of findings.

Results

This qualitative research study provides insights into the topic of private college students’ perceptions of the concept of ethical behaviour in academic work in China. In the following sections, a comprehensive description of their perceptions is presented. For research question one, the analysis supported by quotes from all participants identified two higher-level themes that their views on ethical behaviour in academic work. For research question two, the analysis supported by quotes from all participants also identified two higher-level themes of their interpretation and definition of the concept of ethical behaviour in academic work.

RQ1

What are the Chinese private college students’ perceptions of ethical behaviour in academic work? The participants showed their perceptions of ethical behaviour in academic work.

As a result of the analysis, the authors established that ethical behaviour in academic work is a tangible manifestation of social and professional academic ethics in research activities, as well as an essential criterion for assessing the ethical status of academic researchers. It mainly concerns the code of ethical conduct and qualities that should be possessed in scientific research activities. Adherence to basic ethical standards and codes of conduct in the academic research activities of people means respect for intellectual property rights and scientific achievements. Their violation leads to the fact that students disregard intellectual property rights and the results of other people’s research. When quoting someone’s achievements, the source is given inaccurately. It can be noted that respect for other people’s intellectual property, research results, and accurate citation are ethical conduct in academic work, as evidenced by the participants’ responses. They define ethical behaviour as the basic ethical standard and code of conduct that people should adhere to in academic research. This standard is an important criterion for evaluating the ethical position of academic researchers. It is also seen in the students’ answers that ethical behaviour in academic work is a tangible manifestation of social and professional ethics in scientific research activity, which primarily concerns the ethical code of conduct and qualities that scientific researchers should possess in scientific research activity. Based on this, ethical behaviour in academic work is social and professional ethics, a basic ethical standard, as well as a code of conduct and an ethical code of quality.

Unethical behaviour in academic work as participants is a form of academic misconduct. This academic misconduct includes plagiarism (students copying scientific models, copying assignments, plagiarizing research papers, research results, and thesis theories), cheating on exams, forging academic records, stealing others’ academic progress, switching classes and exams, and using other information without citing sources. Students’ answers show that copying scientific models in research and plagiarism are a type of ethical behaviour in academic work (Zelenin, 2023). Therefore, the most powerful evidence for students to demonstrate their research and theoretical findings, particularly the thesis, which is the student’s knowledge and synthesis of their major, may be the issue of “plagiarism”, which has been the subject of intense debate in China, a few years ago. Some of the students take the position that ethical behaviour in academic work should be considered as replacing classes and exams, rewriting assignments, cheating on exams, plagiarizing academic papers, forging academic references and stealing other people’s academic achievements. Thus, violations of academic ethics should include: changing classes and exams, plagiarism, fraud, falsification of academic certificates and stealing other people’s academic achievements.

In this case, changing classes and exams can be considered ethical behaviour in academic work. Substituting classes and exams, rewriting assignments, cheating on exams, plagiarizing academic papers, forging academic references, and stealing other people’s academic achievements can all be considered ethical behaviours. In academic work. Using other information without references is also unethical behaviour in academic work. This is because the accuracy of the final results of academic research must be supported by a significant body of evidence and arguments. However, many college students do not take the time to carefully check the sources of information they use, and even some research and papers still use incorrect information. Based on the responses to the initial questionnaire question, it is evident that three of the students have a clear and accurate understanding of the concept of “academic integrity,” while two students seem to struggle with this comprehension. When it comes to their knowledge about various forms of academic integrity violations, as per their personal experiences, the results are more positive, with four students being able to articulate the definition of academic misconduct and its various types.

RQ2

How do Chinese private college students feel about the concept of ethical behaviour in academic work? The participants showed their interpretation and definition of the concept of ethical behaviour in educational work. This study categorized their perceptions into two themes.

Topic 1: Academic misconduct

From the participants’ perspective, the concept of ethical behaviour in academic work is academic misconduct, including plagiarism, examination cheating, falsification and falsification of research data at will, ghost-writing, and fabrication of citations. As the authors see it, without the permission of the original copyright owner, plagiarism presents all or part of someone else’s work as one’s own or scientific achievement. Such copying of other people’s words and thoughts without indicating the source is more common. Citing the results of other people’s research without indicating the source and combining other people’s articles into your own articles is plagiarism. Based on the students’ findings, plagiarism is copying, in whole or in part, other people’s words and ideas without the permission of the original copyright owner, and citing other people’s research findings without citation. It can be noted that plagiarism means copying someone else’s texts, ideas and research results without permission and citation. The second is test cheating, which includes illegally obtaining and using test papers during the exam, taking small papers for the exam, copying others, or instructing others to copy the exam. Exam cheating consists of illegally obtaining and using exam papers during the exam, copying or allowing others to copy answers, and taking small papers during the exam. Accordingly, in order to score high on the exam, many private college students often ignore their personal integrity and academic ethics and try their best to cheat, including illegally obtaining and using exam papers during the exam, bringing small pieces of paper into the exam room, copying others, or giving to others, copies on the exam.

As far as exam cheating is concerned, it consists of taking small sheets of paper for the exam, copying other people’s answers, giving permission to others to copy his/her answers, illegally obtained and using the examination paper during the exam. Then there is falsification and falsification of scientific research data at will, which includes simply copying the experimental results of others, falsifying experimental data, merging experimental data, modifying experimental results, and falsifying scientific research data to achieve the expected experimental results. Some students treat the experiment superficially, so they cannot obtain valid scientific research data. However, in order to submit an experiment report and receive credit for the experimental course, these students must copy the research data of others or modify or combine the research data as expected. More seriously, some students falsify scientific research data to achieve expected experimental results. These bad phenomena seriously violate the scientific nature and authenticity of the experiment and do not correspond to the principle of seeking truth in facts and pragmatism in scientific research (Nesterenko, 2023).

In turn, falsification and falsification of scientific research data at will is a practice in which private college students simply copy the results of experiments of others, falsify experimental data, combine experimental data, and change the results of experiments in order to submit an experiment report and receive credits for an experimental course. Or falsification of scientific research data in order to achieve desired experimental results. Thus, falsification of scientific research data and falsification of scientific research data is the falsification, compounding and modification of experimental data and results. Ghost-writing means doing assignments, taking exams, writing papers for others, finding someone to do assignments, taking exams, writing papers yourself. According to C. Ellis et al. (2020), ghost-writing is finding someone to do assignments, write papers and take exams for them or do them for others. As for ghost-writing, it is often seen on private college campuses and online, and ghost-writing services are rated according to discipline and difficulty. Some private college students are opportunistic and find someone to do assignments, take exams, and write papers on their own. Other students do assignments, take exams, and write papers for others to earn money.

Some private college students find someone to do their assignments, write their papers, and take their exams for them, or to do it for them. Thus, fabricating citations is also an academic misconduct, including listing references in an article that the author has never read or citing someone else’s literature without citations. Accordingly, when some private college students cite the results of other people’s research, they do not have the right attitude towards academic research. They make low-quality and falsified documents, list unread bibliography, make “falsification” of references. Some students cite other people’s data and text without citations and therefore produce poor quality papers, list unread bibliographies, falsify references, and cite other people’s data and texts without citations. Thus, it can be seen that creating poor quality documents, listing unread bibliographies, falsifying references and citing without references can be considered as citation fabrication (Degtiarova et al., 2022).

In the analysis of academic misconduct, it is discernible that plagiarism was reported by four respondents. Examination cheating was identified by three respondents, with two remaining unaffected by this particular malpractice. Falsification was acknowledged by three students, whereas two have not encountered it. Four respondents recognized ghostwriting as a form of academic impropriety they have experienced. Additionally, four respondents indicated familiarity with the fabrication of citations as a misconduct. This data suggests a significant prevalence of various academic malpractices among the cohort, though a substantial segment remains unaffected by these indiscretions.

The obtained results indicate that there are currently many types of violations of academic integrity. During the questionnaire, the students managed not only to name them, but also to characterize the impact on the educational and scientific sphere. It is worth noting that this principle is important for countering the violation of academic integrity, as they can independently analyse their own actions and the activities of other students, as well as determine the sources of illegal behaviour.

Topic 2: Academic professional standards

Such standards contain adherence to the ethical standards of impartiality and fairness, appreciate the scientific research accomplishments of others, abide by ethical code of conduct and quality, social and professional ethics in academic work, and standards and behaviours in academic work. Ethical behaviour in academic work is an ethical standard of academic professionalism and adherence to ethical standards of fairness and impartiality. Ethical conduct in academic work should conform to the ethics of objectivity, fairness, thoroughness and accuracy and be realistic in analysis, evaluation and argumentation. It is worth pointing out that it must meet ethical standards of impartiality, honesty, thoroughness and accuracy, and the analysis, evaluation and demonstration must be grounded in reality. Based on this, ethical behaviour in academic work must meet ethical standards of impartiality, honesty, thoroughness and accuracy based on reality, analysis, evaluation and argumentation. Ethical standards of impartiality, honesty, thoroughness and accuracy, based on real circumstances, characterize ethical behaviour in academic work. It was also found that ethical behaviour in academic work also includes academic professional standards that evaluate the scholarly achievements of others. To adhere to ethical behaviour in academic work, one must value the scientific achievements of others, adhere to academic rules, adhere to the ethical principles of academic ethics, and conduct one’s scientific research ethically and reliably. It is worth pointing out that ethical behaviour in academic work supports academic freedom and dignity and strictly adheres to academic norms of citation that value and respect the academic work and scientific research of others. It is obvious that evaluating the scientific achievements of others is ethical behaviour in academic work, compliance with academic norms and preservation of academic freedom and dignity.

Analysing the positions of students, it can be established that ethical behaviour in academic work represents academic professional standards of compliance with the code of ethical behaviour and quality, which includes laws, regulations and practice in academic activity, and is a fundamental guarantee of proper academic activity. Communication, improvement of academic standards and implementation of academic innovations. When engaged in scientific research, authors must adhere to an ethical code of conduct and quality. This requires compliance with relevant laws, regulations and practices in academic activities. In addition, we must adhere to ethical codes of conduct and quality guidelines when conducting research. These are the basic ethics, rules and code of conduct for every private college student. This is a fundamental guarantee of ensuring normal academic communication, raising the academic level and achieving academic innovations. It includes laws, regulations and practices in academic activities. Thus, adherence to the code of ethical conduct and quality guidelines is ethical behaviour in academic work.

Social and professional ethics in academic work consists of the values and guiding principles established by an organization to help its members and help them fulfil their responsibilities in accordance with its ethical principles. Ethical behaviour in academic work is a tangible manifestation of social and professional ethics in scientific research, which primarily refers to the ethical code of conduct and qualities that researchers should possess in scientific research. In addition, a tangible manifestation of social and professional ethics in scientific research, as values and guiding principles that help students of private colleges to adhere to the ethical principles of the organization and fulfil their responsibilities. Ethical behaviour in academic work embodies a value and a guiding principle that helps students adhere to ethical principles. In this case, the basic ethical standard and code of conduct that people adhere to in academic research is ethical conduct in academic work. This standard is an important criterion for evaluating the ethical position of academic researchers. They are a fundamental guarantee of ensuring a normal academic exchange. In turn, the concept of ethical behaviour in academic work is that the standards and behaviour that should be observed during the conduct of academic research are ethical behaviour in academic work.

Examining the answers of students, it should be established that ethical behaviour in academic work is a standard and behaviour in academic work, it is the basic ethics and norms that college students must follow, and it is a fundamental guarantee of ensuring normal academic communication, increasing academic level and realizing academic accumulations and innovations. From the results obtained by the students, it can be found that ethical behaviour in academic work is a standard and behaviour that every student should follow in order to help students communicate properly in the academic environment and improve their academic standards, academic accumulation and innovation.

Discussion

Three major themes were identified in this study. These were “social and professional academic ethics”, “academic malpractices” and “academic professional standards”. These three themes were discussed in detail in this section. The key findings of Chinese private college students perceiving ethical behavior in academic work as involving social/professional academic ethics and academic misconduct align with Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory. According to SCT, an individual’s knowledge acquisition and ethical conduct are determined by the interplay of personal, behavioral, and environmental influences (Bandura, 1986).

Ethical behaviour in academic work is social and professional academic ethics, which mainly refers to the ethical behaviour and quality guidelines researchers should have in their scientific research activities (Mykhed, 2022). It is the basic ethical standards and codes of conduct that people follow in academic research activities. It is the tangible expression of social and professional ethics in scientific research activities. This definition is in line with ethical behaviour in academic work. It is the basic value standard governing the subjects of academic research, as well as the code of conduct that the subjects of academic research must abide by when dealing with the relationship between human beings, human beings and society, and human beings and nature in the process of conducting academic research activities. The result of academic malpractices is in line with Jiang (2005), who insists that ethical behaviour in academic work refers to disciplines engaging in academic research violating academic ethical guidelines to achieve their academic goals.

Students’ view of ethical behavior reflecting social and professional academic ethics correlates to the personal cognitive factors emphasized in SCT. Their knowledge and internalization of ethical codes of conduct shape their academic integrity. This aligns with Eaton and Turner's (2020) argument that upholding ethics in academic work is vital for higher education. The model of triadic reciprocal determinism, as proposed by SCT encapsulates the intricate interplay between personal values, behavioral tendencies, and environmental influences when examining ethical academic conduct. These values and situational elements bidirectionally affect students’ academic behaviors. Their viewpoints on academic misconduct suggest that the modeling of academic integrity, or the lack thereof, significantly influences their actions. Through SCT's lens, the behaviors of faculty and peers play a pivotal role in shaping students’ ethical or unethical academic decisions via observational learning. Furthermore, references by students to professional standards underscore the crucial role of self-efficacy in guiding academic behavior, where a strong belief in one's capabilities can enhance motivation and persistence, consequently leading to ethical academic pursuits. Alongside, the SCT underscores the importance of environmental motivators—such as institutional policies, cultural norms, and potential incentives—as determinants in either preventing or promoting misconduct. The evident lapses in students’ behavior suggest a deficiency in self-regulation, a cornerstone of SCT (Martyniuk, 2022).

This finding reveals private college students’ understanding of the concept of types of academic misconduct in academic work and the definition of ethical behaviour. Understanding the concept of ethical behaviour in academic work would help private college students clearly understand and distinguish between ethical and unethical academic behaviour to ensure that their academic work is ethical. However, the participants’ understanding of the concept of ethical behaviour in academic work was incomplete. While participants were unfamiliar with all types of academic misconduct, they could explain ethical behaviour in academic work and identify some new types. Here take the Handbook of Scientific Research Integrity Education for Colleges and Universities lists the following types of academic misconduct (Li, Wu, & Zhang, 2020).

However, their understanding of plagiarism is not comprehensive. It does not include changing another person’s work by cutting, adding, without changing the substance of the original, stealing another person’s idea, and not changing another person’s work. Secondly, participants found cheating in the examination, which aligns with academic cheating in the Handbook of Scientific Research Integrity Education for Colleges and Universities. However, participants described in more detail the forms of cheating in exams concerning the student’s experiences at private colleges. Thirdly, participants described tamper with and forge scientific research data at will, which is consistent with tamper and forgery. However, they neglected to falsify and tamper with scientific facts. Fourthly, ghost-writing is the fourth type of academic misconduct, which aligns with ghost-writing in the Handbook (Li, Wu, & Zhang, 2020). However, participants discovered ghost-writing – writing exams instead of someone else or finding someone to write exams on their behalf. Next, fabricating citations is a new finding from the participants. They listed references in their papers that the authors had never read and relied on literature others had not cited. Lastly, participants ignored repetitive publication, improper signatures, and academic corruption.

Additionally, students perceiving ethical behavior as avoiding academic malpractice corresponds to SCT's explanation of how behavioral and environmental factors affect actions. Sotiriadou et al. (2020) and Guerrero-Dib et al. (2020) investigated the importance of academic integrity for the scientific and educational community as a whole. Sotiriadou et al. (2020) established that this is based on four principles: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility. In addition, the researchers point out that as the result of the development of the institute of academic integrity, it also included courage. They point out that the content and essence of academic integrity are set out both in national educational normative legal acts and university local documents. On their basis, this mechanism is formed, as well as its provision within the educational institution. Guerrero-Dib et al. (2020) also tried to assess the importance of academic culture for various educational institutions. They concluded that academic integrity should be ensured on the basis of institutional charters and special codes. They should set out the basic values, as well as the norms related to the practices that operate within the institutional community. The latter is based on such principles as respect for human dignity, its physical and mental integrity, as well as lifelong learning. The researchers proved that the implementation of functions of academic integrity allows to increase the level of knowledge and quality of students’ skills. In addition, they emphasize the priority of encouraging active citizenship and non-discrimination. Comparing the obtained results and the conclusions of this study, it is worth pointing out that they have common features. In particular, the approaches to establishing the autonomy of educational institutions, especially private ones, which should not exempt them from responsibility to society, are the same. The common idea is the consistent provision of the public good on the basis of compliance with the principles of academic integrity among educational subjects.

In summary, analyzing the results through the SCT framework provides theoretical insight into how strengthening personal values, positive behaviors, and environmental support systems can enhance academic integrity based on the study's findings. Further research on interventions guided by SCT is recommended.

Conclusions

This study examined Chinese private college students’ perceptions of the concept of ethical behaviour in academic work. This study was conducted in three cities in China: Beijing, Xi’an, and Wuhan. This study used qualitative methods using individual interview, focus group discussion and reflection in narrative writing as research tools. SCT theory provides an understanding of the concept of ethical behaviour in academic work. The results show that Chinese private college students’ views on the concept of ethical behaviour in academic work are social and professional academic ethics and academic misconduct. At the same time, Chinese private college students’ views on the concept of ethical behaviour in academic work are academic misconduct and academic professional standards. Inevitably, this study also has some limitations. Initially, the study was conducted in three private colleges in China. It is recommended that this study be replicated in other and more private colleges in China. Similarly, future research could be conducted in private universities in other countries. Second, the participants in this study covered only four majors. Therefore, the results of this study cannot be extended to students of other specialties of private colleges.

The study found that Chinese students’ adherence to academic integrity involves ensuring their trust, fairness and responsibility during educational activities. The first principle is the basis for the formation of an appropriate climate in the educational environment, which affects the generation of ideas and the development of individuals. It has been established that fairness allows for a qualitative assessment of students’ educational achievements, as well as their own scientific research. This factor affects the success of the subjects’ career advancement in the future and their receipt of awards. It was revealed in the work that the observance of academic integrity allows for the realization of a constant exchange of ideas between students, regardless of their status and role in the educational and scientific environment. Particular attention was paid when studying the institution of responsibility, which is mandatory for all members of the academic sphere. It is on its basis that the accountability of the educational process is realized, as well as the principle of free expression of views is spread in it. Thus, further researchers are recommended to expand the professional training of the subjects in order to generalize the results. All of the participants in this study are students, and future research could involve graduate students, faculty, staff, administrators of private colleges, to comprehensively examine the ethical behaviour of private colleges in academic work from a broader perspective.

Footnotes

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Norzihani Saharuddin

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An exploration of private college students’ perceptions of the concept of ethical behaviour in academic work in China

Abstract

Keywords

Introduction

Literature review

Materials and methods

Results

Topic 1: Academic misconduct

Topic 2: Academic professional standards

Discussion

Conclusions

Footnotes

Declaration of conflicting interests

Funding

ORCID iD

Appendix

References