Contract cheating & the market in essays

Dan Rigby; Michael Burton; Kelvin Balcombe; Ian Bateman; Abay Mulatu

doi:10.1016/j.jebo.2014.12.019

Contract cheating & the market in essays

Dan Rigby (Lead Author), Michael Burton, Kelvin Balcombe, Ian Bateman, Abay Mulatu

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

86 Citations (Scopus)

11 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 language	English
Pages (from-to)	23-37
Number of pages	15
Journal	Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization
Volume	111
Early online date	26 Dec 2014
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2014.12.019
Publication status	Published - Mar 2015

Keywords

Cheating
Choice experiment
Mixed logit
Risk preference
Gamble
Asymmetric information

Access to Document

10.1016/j.jebo.2014.12.019Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

Rigby et al 2015 Cheating JEBO
Open access
Final published version, 834 KBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

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KW - Mixed logit

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