Contract cheating & the market in essays

D. Rigby, M. Burton, K. Belcombe, I. Bateman, Abay Mulatu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

61 Citations (Scopus)
23 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

We conduct the first empirical economic investigation of the decision to cheat by university students. We investigate student demand for essays, using hypothetical discrete choice experiments in conjunction with consequential Holt–Laury gambles to derive subjects’ risk preferences. Students’ stated willingness to participate in the essay market, and their valuation of purchased essays, vary with the characteristics of student and institutional environment. Risk preferring students, those working in a non-native language, and those believing they will attain a lower grade are willing to pay more. Purchase likelihoods and essay valuations decline as the probability of detection and associated penalty increase.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)23-37
JournalJournal of Economic Behavior & Organization
Volume111
Early online date26 Dec 2014
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2015
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No-Derivatives license

Keywords

  • Cheating
  • Choice experiment
  • Mixed logit
  • Risk preference
  • Gamble
  • Asymmetric information

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