Implications for practice and research

• The dishonest student may rationalise the behaviour as acceptable or insignificant under the circumstances, thereby maintaining a self-concept as an honest person.

• Behavioural cataloguing may be an important variable to help explain why nursing students act dishonestly.

• This phenomenon offers a rich opportunity for future research.

Context

The academic integrity of nursing students is of much interest to nurse educators as evidenced by the increasing number of scholarly articles published on this topic. Consequences of academic dishonesty extend beyond students’ grades to potential patient harm.1 Reported to occur more frequently within the classroom learning environment, there is evidence of correlation between perceptions of dishonest behaviour in classroom …