The Global Significance of Locus of Control in Ethical Decision Making: A Multi-Country Examination of University Students

Locus of control (LOC) is a personality variable shown to possess potential explanatory power in the study of ethical decision making. There have been, however, diverse results reported in the literature. Whenever differences on this variable are indicated by the research, individuals with an Internal LOC report the more ethical responses. This study extends the examination of the global relevance of the LOC variable to ethical decision making of university students in thirteen universities from eight countries. Using an instrument designed to elicit responses to questionable academic behaviors, this research analyzes ethical responses of university students (n=2,420) to look for differences based on the LOC variable. The behaviors examined are of a collaborative or collectivistic nature, and the students were asked to respond to how unethical they believe the academic behaviors to be. Results indicate considerable support for the global significance of LOC differences in the ethical responses of the students. (Contains 3 tables.)