PLAGIARISM AMONG JUNIOR LECTURERS IN INDONESIA: HOW AND WHY?

Purpose of the study: Lecturers of public universities in Indonesia are encouraged to publish articles in internationally reputable journals frequently. Due to their workload and tight schedule, they may be tempted to copy some or part of their works. This study aimed at investigating the reasons for young lecturers on plagiarism in English academic writing. Methodology: A quantitative method was used to describe and explain the phenomenon of the junior lecturers’ plagiaristic conduct. A set of questionnaires was used as the instrument to obtain the data. The data were collected from 82 young lecturers who were attending an English intensive program at the Language Centre of Syiah Kuala University, the oldest and biggest university in the province of Aceh. Main Findings: The results show a contradiction between junior lecturers’ awareness of their practical behavior. Their high awareness of plagiarism was not a benchmark from the misconduct or plagiarism. Surprisingly, the findings show some of the junior lecturers were intentionally plagiarizing by paying more professional writers to finish their articles. They also copied the whole source or part of it to produce better writing work. Finally, lack of consequences and lack of ability in academic writing are the major reasons why young lecturers plagiarized. Applications of this study: This study applies to the area of English Teaching and Learning. However, it does not rule out the possibility that the study result applies to other fields of study. Novelty/Originality of this study: Moreover, the study result might be useful for readers’ conceptual development because there is very little research related to lecturers’ plagiaristic behavior, especially in Indonesia. A more in-depth investigation can be obtained and tested using this study result.