Understanding unethical behaviors at the university level: a multiple regression analysis

Abstract

Unethical behaviors such as corruption pose an important challenge for students, professors, and other university members. We aimed to clarify students’ willingness to engage in corruption in a Spanish public university. In all, 3,475 undergraduate, postgraduate, and PhD students completed an online questionnaire assessing four corruption scenarios: favoritism, bribery, fraud, and embezzlement. Multiple regression analysis suggested that justifiability, risk perception, and perceived corruption played a key role in explaining corrupt intention. Behavioral intention to engage in corruption is a complex phenomenon explained by not only peers’ behaviors, but also individuals’ justifications of their acts and risk perceptions.