Approaches to learning and contract cheating: exploring the mediating roles of authorship perceptions

As an undesired learning behavior, contract cheating has its roots in college students' difficulties in engaging in a challenging written assessment. To better understand this process, the study collects multicampus survey data from 910 Chinese undergraduates to explore the effects of deep and...

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Published in:Studies in higher education (Dorchester-on-Thames) Vol. 50; no. 4; pp. 694 - 708
Main Authors: Zhang, Yinxia, Ni, Fengqin
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Abingdon Routledge 03.04.2025
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects:
academic cheating
Academic writing
Approach to learning
Authorship
authorship perception
Cheating
Chinese college student
College students
contract cheating
Indirect effects
Learning
Learning contracts
Perceptions
Plagiarism
Structural equation modeling
Structural Equation Models
Undergraduate students
Writing
ISSN:0307-5079, 1470-174X
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:As an undesired learning behavior, contract cheating has its roots in college students' difficulties in engaging in a challenging written assessment. To better understand this process, the study collects multicampus survey data from 910 Chinese undergraduates to explore the effects of deep and surface approaches to learning on contract cheating, focusing on the mediating roles of authorship perceptions. The authorship perceptions are measured with three subfactors: understanding authorship and plagiarism (UAP), authorial approach to writing (AAW), and incorporating others' writing (IOW). Structural equation modeling (SEM) reveals a notable positive direct effect of the surface approach to learning on contract cheating and an insignificant direct effect of the deep approach. The results further report significant indirect effects of both deep and surface approaches to learning on contract cheating via UAP and IOW, while the indirect effects via AAW are both insignificant. These results highlight the importance of providing formal and continuous pedagogical support to enhance their learning, particularly academic writing, in inhibiting contract cheating.
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ISSN:0307-5079
1470-174X
DOI:10.1080/03075079.2024.2352055