Does Cheating in College Carry Over to the Workplace?

Newswise — Might the business leaders behind our nations’ most unsettling corporate scandals have been cheaters in college? While there have been numerous studies about counterproductive workplace behavior and cheating in college, there has been little attention given to linking the two. This study analyzes the relationship between students who reported engaging in dishonest behavior during college and in the workplace, finding that there is a very large relationship between the two. This finding indicates the possibility of a stable, underlying trait of deviant behavior highlighting the commonality between cheating in college and cheating at work. Given the strength of the relationship, when there is clear evidence of academic dishonesty in college, a student is less likely to be an optimal hire, the researcher said. The study is a meta-analysis which is a thorough review of results from research involving more than more than 1,500 people which identified a pattern among the findings. For more information, contact Nathan Kuncel.