Other-rated personality and student cheating

  • Thomas H. Stone orcid

    Department of Psychology, Washburn University, Topeka, KS 66504, USA
  • Jeff Foster

    Department of Psychology, Missouri State University, Springfield, MO 65897, USA
  • I. M. Jawahar

    Department of Management, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
Article ID: 3998
DOI: https://doi.org/10.59400/apr3998
Keywords: personality, student cheating, career success, multi-perspectives approach

Abstract

Although considerable research has examined student cheating, relatively few studies have examined personality as an antecedent of student cheating. Its role in career success has been established. This is the first study to examine relationships between student cheating and personality assessed using a multi-perspective approach, i.e., peer, meta-perceptions and self-personality ratings. Results suggest this approach has implications for predicting student cheating and career success. We examine the ability of other-rated Big Five personality traits to account for more variance in student cheating and report cheating than self-rated personality ratings. Online surveys of 121 business college students and 357 other raters provided ratings of six personality traits, cheating attitudes, cheating behavior and reporting cheating. Regression and correlation analysis examined relationships between cheating and personality traits via a multi-perspectives approach: traditional self-ratings, meta-perceptions (how individuals think others view them), and other ratings. Our findings are consistent with the substantial literature demonstrating that personality ratings by others have stronger validity than traditional self-ratings. Specifically, others’ ratings of peer personality traits and meta-perceptions accounted for additional variance in cheating behavior and reported cheating beyond traditional self-ratings. Consistent with virtually all studies of deviant behavior, conscientiousness was highly significant for cheating behavior and report cheating and marginally significant for attitude. Similarly, emotional stability was significant for cheating behavior and report cheating. These findings suggest the use of multi-perspective personality measures to predict outcomes such as cheating behaviors, as previous research has shown college cheating is associated with cheating at work and dysfunctional career consequences.

Published
2026-04-08
How to Cite
Stone, T. H., Foster, J., & Jawahar, I. M. (2026). Other-rated personality and student cheating. Applied Psychology Research, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.59400/apr3998
Issue
Vol. 5 No. 1 (2026)
Section
Article

Copyright (c) 2026 Thomas H. Stone, Jeff Foster, I. M. Jawahar

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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