Cheating among Accounting Students in Online Exams during Covid-19 Pandemic: Exploratory Evidence from Saudi Arabia
Ibrahim El-Sayed Ebaid *
Department of Accounting, Faculty of Commerce, Tanta University, Egypt.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
COVID-19 pandemic has affected all of the sectors in all countries in an unexpected way. Among these sectors, one of the most affected sectors was the education sector. The transformation in the educational sector was seen quickly enough. In mid-March 2020, Saudi Arabia decided to completely stop traditional education that take place in a classroom and completely replace it with e-learning. From then until now, all faculty members in Saudi universities give lectures and test students online through the Blackboard platform. This study aims to explore the perceptions of accounting students in Saudi universities of how easy it is to cheat in online exams compared to face-to-face exams, the prevalence of cheating among accounting students in online exams during COVID-19 pandemic, and what are the most common cheating behaviors among accounting students in online exams. By using a questionnaire survey distributed to a sample of accounting students in Saudi universities, the findings of the study reveal that accounting students in Saudi universities perceive that online exams give them a greater chance to cheat compared to face-to-face exams. The findings also indicate that cheating in online exams is a prevalent phenomenon among accounting students in Saudi universities during COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, the study finds that the most common cheating behaviors among accounting students in online exams are: using cell phone text messaging to send or receive exam answers to/from another student, using an open book during an online exam, consulting with other students during an online exam, delaying entry to the online exam for some time to get questions from another students and using personal class notes during an online exam.
Keywords: Chemical Cytotoxicity, Cheating, Leaf extract on Rat Chromosomes, online exams, accounting students, universities, Saudi Arabia.
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