Linking cheating in school and corruption

Previous research suggests a link between academic cheating and corruption. However, no prior empirical studies examined this link with cross-cultural data. The present study aims to fill this gap and it examines their link by considering cultural values such as in-group collectivism and economic background in terms of GDP per capita. Self-reported data were collected regarding collaborative academic cheating. The database of Transparency International was used for assessing the level of perceived corruption, and the in-group collectivism data was derived from the GLOBE study. Structural equation modeling was used in order to identify their relationship pattern. In the present study, using data from 40 countries, a strong relationship between self-reported academic cheating on exams and the country level of the corruption perception index was found. The present results also support evidence of a strong relationship between collaborative academic cheating and in-group collectivism in a sample comprising 30 countries. This link remains significant if GDP per capita, as an indicator of economic development, is controlled. However, path analysis showed that if both GDP per capita and in-group collectivism are considered, the link between corruption and cheating disappeared. These results suggest that GDP per capita as an economy-related background variable and in-group collectivism as a societal value have independent effect on collaborative cheating and perceived corruption and these broader background variables can diminish the strong link between collaborative cheating and perceived corruption. Des travaux antérieurs (2009) ont montré l’existence d’une corrélation entre le favoritisme à l’égard de l’ingroup en lien avec le niveau de collectivisme du pays et le niveau de corruption. Néanmoins aucun travaux précédent à notre connaissance n’a fait l’étude comparative de différents pays. Cette étude vise à combler ce manque en examinant les liens entre des variables culturelles, telles que le niveau de collectivisme et le PIB par habitant. Des données auto-rapportées sur la tricherie à l’école ont été collectées. La base de données Transparency International a été utilisée pour évaluer le degré de perception de la corruption et les données de l’étude GLOBE ont permis de mesurer le degré de collectivisme (in-group collectivism). Le modèle d’équations structurelles a été utilisé pour identifier les types de relations. Ainsi, à partir des données de 40 pays, nous