TITLE:
Social Representations of Academic Cheating among Grade 9 Students at Lycée Martin Luther King de Bouaké
AUTHORS:
Koffi Julien Kouamé, Touré Ya Eveline Épouse Johnson, N’diamoi Tanoh-Kouamé, Ettien Assoa
KEYWORDS:
Social Representations, Academic Cheating, Fraud, Grade 9 Students, Côte d’Ivoire, Educational Integrity
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Applied Sciences,
Vol.16 No.11,
November
11,
2026
ABSTRACT: Academic cheating poses a major challenge to educational integrity, with particularly pronounced consequences in contexts where examination success determines access to higher education and professional opportunities. In Côte d’Ivoire, despite substantial public investment in education, examination fraud has risen sharply, with reported cases increasing from 383 in 2017 to 16,428 in 2020. This study aims to identify the content and organization of the social representations of academic cheating among Grade 9 students at Lycée Martin Luther King de Bouaké. A hierarchical evocation questionnaire (free association) was administered to 77 Grade 9 students (48 boys and 29 girls). We then analyzed the data through prototypical analysis using EVOC software. The 317 evocations collected (130 distinct words) placed four elements in the central core zone: “stealing” (f = 35; mean rank = 2.26), “lying” (f = 32; mean rank = 2.44), “fraud” (f = 26; mean rank = 1.81), and “cheating” (f = 11; mean rank = 2.00). The peripheral system refers to the material and situational dimension of cheating practices, notably through the Nouchi term “badjô” (cheat sheet). The representation of cheating is thus organized around a negative moral evaluation that coexists with the acknowledgment of routine practices. These findings call for educational interventions addressing both norms and assessment conditions: teacher training in proactive supervision, assessment designs less conducive to cheating, integrity education, and parental involvement.