Understanding the Interplay Among Regulatory Self-Efficacy, Moral Disengagement, and Academic Cheating Behaviour During Vocational Education: A Three-Wave Study

The literature has suggested that to understand the diffusion of unethical conduct in the workplace, it is important to investigate the underlying processes sustaining engagement in misbehaviour and to study what occurs during vocational education. Drawing on social-cognitive theory, in this study, we longitudinally examined the role of two opposite dimensions of the self-regulatory moral system, regulatory self-efficacy and moral disengagement, in influencing academic cheating behaviour. In addition, in line with the theories highlighting the bidirectional relationship between cognitive processes and behaviour, we aimed to also examine the reciprocal influence of behaviour on these dimensions over time. Overall, no previous studies have examined the longitudinal interplay between these variables. The sample included 866 (62.8% female) nursing students who were assessed three times annually from the beginning of their vocational education. The findings from a cross-lagged model confirmed that regulatory self-efficacy and moral disengagement have opposite influences on cheating behaviour, that regulatory self-efficacy negatively influences not only the engagement in misconduct but also the justification mechanisms that allow the divorce between moral standards and action, and that moral disengagement and cheating behaviour reciprocally support each other over time. Specifically, not only did moral disengagement influence cheating behaviour even when controlling for its prior levels, but also cheating behaviour affected moral disengagement one year later, controlling for its prior levels. These findings suggest that recourse to wrongdoing could gradually lead to further normalising this kind of behaviour and morally desensitising individuals to misconduct

Interventions to reduce sexual prejudice : a study-space analysis and meta-analytic review

Sexual prejudice is an important threat to the physical and mental well-being of lesbians, gay men, and bisexual people. Therefore, we reviewed the effectiveness of interventions designed to reduce such prejudice. A study-space analysis was performed on published and unpublished papers from all over the world to identify well-studied and underexplored issues. Most studies were conducted with North American undergraduates and were educational in nature. Dissertations were often innovative and well designed but were rarely published. We then performed meta-analyses on sets of comparable studies. Education, contact with gay people, and combining contact with education had a medium-size effect on several measures of sexual prejudice. The manipulation of social norms was effective in reducing antigay behavior. Other promising interventions, such as the use of entertainment media to promote tolerance, need further investigation. More research is also needed on populations other than American students, particularly groups who may have higher levels of sexual prejudice