Data Contamination by Social Desirability Response Bias: An International Study of Students' Cheating Behavior

Abstract

Our study examines the effect of social desirability on modeling cheating behavior using self-reported data. We believe that social desirability response bias contaminates many of the variables that previous research uses in modeling academic cheating. We initially examine the effect of variables in prior research to demonstrate that our sample is equivalent to those in prior studies. We then examine the effect of social desirability response bias on students' intolerance toward cheating; their cynicism about cheating; and one's intention to cheat in the future. We find that social desirability response bias contaminates students' self-reported data on cheating and the variables frequently used to predict cheating.

JEL Classification: A20, C93