The Influence of Ethics Instruction, Religiosity, and Intelligence on Cheating Behavior James M. Bloodgood William H. Turnley Peter Mudrack ABSTRACT. This study examines the influence of ethics instruction, religiosity, and intelligence on cheating behavior. A sample of 230 upper level, undergraduate business students had the opportunity to increase their chances of winning money in an experimental situation by falsely reporting their task performance. In general, the results indicate that students who attended worship ser- vices more frequently were less likely to cheat than those who attended worship services less frequently, but that students who had taken a course in business ethics were no less likely to cheat than students who had not taken such a course. However, the results do indicate that the extent to which taking a business ethics course influenced cheating behavior was moderated by the religiosity and intelligence of the individual student. In particular, while students who were highly religious were unlikely to cheat whether or not they had taken a business ethics course, students who were not highly religious demonstrated less cheating if they had taken a business ethics course. In addition, the extent of cheating among highly intelligent students was significantly reduced if such students had taken a course in business ethics. Likewise, individuals who were highly intelligent displayed significantly less cheating if they were also highly religious. The implica- tions of these findings are discussed. KEY WORDS: cheating, ethics instruction, intelli- gence, religiosity Cheating suggests behavior that diverges from ethical norms and involves violating rules deceptively in an effort to gain something of value. Although estimates vary on both the frequency and magnitude of cheating behaviors (West et al., 2004), cheating does seem prevalent in business schools (Premeaux, 2005) and in academic settings more broadly (Granitz and Loewy, 2007; Kerkvliet and Sigmund, 1999; Lawson, 2004). Cheating in both academic and business settings has the potential to cause serious problems. In the classroom, cheating distorts the assessment of learning and may put those who do not cheat at a disadvantage both in terms of the grades they receive and their ability to compete successfully for positions upon graduation (Callahan, 2004). For example, many firms that engage in on-campus recruiting require minimum grade point averages for students who sign up for interviews. Thus, the advantage gained by students who have cheated may extend beyond the grade earned in a particular course. In addition, even in cases where companies do not require a specific grade point average to interview, students’ GPAs are typically considered to be an important selection criterion. Likewise, in the busi- ness world, cheating may put honest organizations and individuals at an unfair disadvantage and may result in the inequitable distribution of scarce re- sources. For instance, if a division manager inflates the expected revenue from a proposed new product in order to achieve a higher projected return on investment (ROI), corporate leaders may end up selecting that project for funding. The purpose of cheating seems obvious; that is, to gain personal advantage in a situation. However, cheating is generally viewed as inappropriate and unethical for a variety of reasons. Most broadly, cheating violates norms of justice and fairness (West et al., 2004). Cheaters seemingly have an unfair advantage over others in that their performance is not based on skill, ability, preparation or even ran- dom occurrence. Moreover, cheating may create additional consequences that are less immediately apparent. Peers of the cheater may be harmed through no fault of their own. For example, all Journal of Business Ethics (2008) 82:557–571 Ó Springer 2007 DOI 10.1007/s10551-007-9576-0