An Investigation of the Emotional Outcomes of Business Students’ Cheating “Biological Laws” to Achieve Academic Excellence

Despite a vast amount of research in the areas of academic cheating and academic achievement, students' cheating "biological laws" (e.g., taking cognitive enhancement drugs to increase cognitive ability) to improve academic performance has yet to be fully understood. We begin to address this by investigating potential positive (i.e., pride) and negative (i.e., shame and guilt) emotional outcomes of business school students' anticipated consumption of cognitive enhancements to improve academic performance, with the aim of providing insight into ways to reduce such consumption. The results of two experiments show that business school students in low academic ability scenarios anticipate experiencing higher negative emotions when their consumption of cognitive enhancements is known by others than when it is unknown, while business school students in high academic ability scenarios are less sensitive to such social awareness concerns. The results of the third and final experiment demonstrate that business school students in high academic ability scenarios anticipate experiencing higher negative emotions when the consumption of cognitive enhancements is considered an act of academic dishonesty than when it is not, while business school students in low academic ability scenarios are unaffected by such moral concerns. Implications for public-policy makers and educators are presented.