Hovhannisyan, AniAniHovhannisyan2023-04-132023-04-132021-09-20https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/109917Corruption erodes education systems worldwide, and the former Soviet countries are among the most affected ones. Being a former Soviet Republic, Armenia is not an exemption. Corruption freely manifests itself in the Armenian Higher Educational System since the implemented anti-corruption practices have not been successful so far. Notwithstanding, only limited research has been done in the prevalence and harm of Educational Corruption in Armenia. This dissertation contributes to the ongoing Educational Corruption research worldwide and the approach is from a psychological perspective. For this purpose, this dissertation pioneers theory-driven research on corruption in Armenia, and uses the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) as well as the Model of Prospective Cognition and Psychological Dynamics as contextual frameworks. Using the term Academic Misconduct as a proxy for Educational Corruption, the research investigates the following main question: How do individual perceptions coupled with a universitys anti-corruption performance impact the educational actors intentions to engage in academic misconduct? To provide a comprehensive answer to the posed question, I follow the Mixed Methods approach and conducted qualitative and quantitative analysis with faculty members, administrators, and students from three Armenian public universities. The integrated findings of this dissertation indicate that cheating and plagiarism are the most common forms of Academic Misconduct, followed by favoritism. These forms of misconduct occur in corrupt interactions between the administration and students, the administration and faculty members, the faculty members and students, the faculty members and colleagues. Depending on the type of interaction, decision making processes entail complex mental simulations and social-psychological dynamics. The administrations decisions not to fight against these practices are mostly guided by the urgency to suppress student dismissals and by the pressure to follow social norms. The faculty members decisions to engage in misconduct are guided by fear and frustration, coupled with the need to follow socially acceptable rules. The students decisions to engage in cheating and plagiarism are mostly guided by their perceptions that Academic Misconduct is a widespread practice, which is relatively easy to perform and can remain unpunished. Overall, the findings indicate that Academic Misconduct is not only perceived as a broad, common, and accepted practice that is not difficult to carry out, but that in most cases, it will go unpenalized, is a justifiable action, and even the right thing to do. As a result, in conditions of malfunctioning anti-corruption rules and regulations, and strong social norms that encourage corrupt practices, Academic Misconduct endures in the Armenian Higher Education System.enKorruptionArmenienBildungEDIS-5110higher educationacademic misconducteducational corruptionHöhere BildungArmeniapsychology of corruptiondoctoral thesis