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Psychopathy, the Fraud Diamond, and Exam Cheating Among Accounting and Finance Students

David Emerson & Kenneth J. Smith

Accounting Perspectives2026https://doi.org/10.1111/1911-3838.70007article
ABDC B
Weight
0.37

Abstract

Academic misconduct has likely been an issue for as long as there have been graded assessments, and the COVID‐19 pandemic has arguably exacerbated the problem. Not surprisingly, most current research has focused on cheating in the online environment. This paper redirects these efforts to in‐class academic fraud by examining the joint influence of individual‐level psychopathy and elements comprising the fraud diamond on face‐to‐face exam cheating. Our findings indicate a direct and indirect association between psychopathy and exam cheating behaviors, as predicted. Moreover, there are observable differences in the reported cheating behaviors and other responses of interest based on respondents' reported psychopathy levels.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/1911-3838.70007

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@article{david2026,
  title        = {{Psychopathy, the Fraud Diamond, and Exam Cheating Among Accounting and Finance Students}},
  author       = {David Emerson & Kenneth J. Smith},
  journal      = {Accounting Perspectives},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/1911-3838.70007},
}

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Psychopathy, the Fraud Diamond, and Exam Cheating Among Accounting and Finance Students

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Evidence weight

0.37

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.16 × 0.4 = 0.06
M · momentum0.53 × 0.15 = 0.08
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.