Academic misconduct: Preventing cheating by affiliation framed and dominance framed messages in syllabi

Relational framing theory was applied to the prevention of academic misconduct. Participants were presented with affiliative or dominant anti-cheating syllabus messages, and were then asked to indicate the likelihood that they would cheat in a class with that syllabus message. Sex of the professor and sex of the participant were also examined to determine possible sex differences.;The framing of the syllabus messages had no significant effect on students' intentions to cheat. The only statistically significant effect was that students were more likely to engage in morally ambiguous cheating behaviors when the professor was a woman. It is advised that universities enact honor codes that will change the ethical culture to prevent cheating. It is also suggested that future research explore the possibility of using fear-then-relief compliance gaining tactics, and cognitive dissonance theories to prevent academic misconduct.