SOCIO-PSYCHOLOGICAL DETERMINANTS OF ACADEMIC INTEGRITY VIOLATIONS

Abstract

Academic integrity is considered a key factor in the development of higher education and in maintaining trust in scientific results. In Ukraine, its violations have become widespread, reducing the quality of the educational process and undermining the legitimacy of academic achievements. The article emphasizes the combination of social, institutional, and psychological factors that determine the behavioral patterns of students and faculty. The analysis shows that tolerance of legal nihilism and corrupt practices in society creates a favorable ground for lenient attitudes toward academic violations. Deficiencies in legislation and the long-standing absence of unified procedures for verifying academic work contributed to impunity and the reproduction of dishonest practices. Despite the formal institutionalization of integrity principles, actual practice demonstrates the persistence of the problem. At the same time, the study of individual student characteristics reveals that low motivation for learning, a lack of academic skills, stress, and procrastination significantly increase the risk of non-compliance with ethical standards. Excessive performance orientation and fear of failure also serve as grounds for rationalizing deception. It is determined that the social environment – peer norms, the example of teachers, family attitudes, and cultural traditions – sets the framework within which academic behavior is formed. When such frameworks tolerate deviations, violations quickly become widespread. An important factor is the role of faculty, since their professional and moral example establishes standards of academic culture. An additional challenge has emerged with digital technologies, which have enabled the fabrication of results and the use of generative artificial intelligence. It is concluded that overcoming the crisis effectively is possible only through the combination of measures at different levels: legislative, institutional, and individual-psychological.