Academic Integrity in the Information Age: Virtues of Respect and Responsibility

This study examines business students’ ethical awareness for two virtues needed to maintain academic integrity, respect, and responsibility. Using the multidimensional ethics survey, five dimensions (i.e., ethical philosophies) were measured for six scenarios representing student behaviors using Information Technology (IT). The results indicate that students are ethically aware in respect situations, but are more neutral in responsibility situations. Of the five ethical dimensions, moral equity and relativism appear to be the strongest influences in academic integrity scenarios utilizing IT. This study provides guidance for business professors in their pursuit of ethical excellence in the classroom and for researchers in search of greater understanding of ethical judgments of students. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015