The Relationship of the Moral Components of Selfism and Empathy with Academic Dishonesty

It is of great significance to understand the moral values of accounting students because in the future, they will be employed in the accounting and managing professions, which are needed in an advanced society. The study aims to investigate the relationship of the moral components of selfism and empathy with the academic dishonesty of the accounting students.
The study employs a descriptive, correlational research method. The study population consists of the accounting students of Fars province (The Islamic Azad University of Shiraz and Marvdasht, Payame Noor University of Kazeroun and Noorabad) out of which 311 students were sampled using random sampling. The research tools include the Likert 5 point scale questionnaires of Phares and Erskine (1984), Goldberg (1999) and Bloodgood (2010) and the data were analyzed using the partial correlation coefficient.
The results indicate that there is a negative and significant relationship between empathy and academic dishonesty of the accounting students. The value of partial correlation between the two variables is equal to -0.14. Moreover, there is a significant relationship between selfism and academic dishonesty of the accounting students. The value of correlation between the two variables is equal to 0.74.
Given the disadvantages of the presence of high levels of academic dishonesty among the accounting students, it is recommended that measures be taken to increase the level of moral components present among the university students.