Exploring Underlying Motivations Behind Extreme Cases of Plagiarism in Tourism and Hospitality Education

This article is a follow-up to a study on plagiarism research published in the Journal of Teaching in Travel & Tourism by E. Goh (2013) and seeks to report qualitative findings with regard to why students engage in extreme plagiarism behavior. Extreme plagiarism is identified in this article as more than 75% similar text match. Out of the sample group of 369, 11 undergraduate students were identified as extreme plagiarism cases. Six key reasons were identified: (a) poor time management, (b) fear of failure, (c) improve grade point average, (d) personal/family problems, (e) poor level of English, and (f) unsure about referencing and plagiarism policy. A key finding in this study is that senior students plagiarize for self-actualization needs (to improve their grade point average), whereas Year 1 students tend to engage in extreme plagiarism because of their poor level of English and uncertainty about referencing and plagiarism policies.