A Study On The Effect Of Academic Appraisal Stressors On University Teachers' Unethical Behavior

There is progressing concerns on the unethical behaviors of the teachers in Chinese universities behaved in the field of research and teaching. The academic appraisal stressors of universities are the main causes. First, teachers in the high pressure of academic appraisal stressors are eager for quick returns, then the reason they behave unethically is lack of enough energy. Except for the research tasks, "Cultivation" is still the sacred duty of university teachers. Due to the limited energy, teachers will prefer to the rational choice on the tasks "Saying turkey to one and buzzard to another" with the high stress. Thus, the pursuit of academic achievements has become the main task of university teachers, leading to decreased attention to students. However, we can not negate the positive role of the pressure of performance appraisal completely. Performance appraisal pressure is a "double-edged sword". It could have been a huge psychological pressure caused opportunistic individuals to engage in some unethical behaviors, and it also may be motivation stimulating individuals. Based on this point, in this study we divided academic appraisal stressors into challenge stressors and hindrances stressors. Then we discussed how these two kinds of stressors effect on the unethical behaviors of university teachers.This dissertation explored the above problem through studying the following three subjects:(1) what is the effect of academic performance appraisal pressure on unethical behaviours. And what is the degree of the influence? (2) What is the mediating mechanism of academic performance appraisal pressure on unethical behaviors? That is, which variables do play the mediating roles in the relationship between academic performance appraisal pressure and unethical behaviors? (3) The moderating mechanism of academic performance appraisal pressure on unethical behaviors. In other words, which variables do influence the relationship between academic performance appraisal pressure and unethical behaviors? And how do they moderate the relationship? Then, we proposed the relevant research hypotheses based on the theoretical analysis. In addition, we conducted the relevant field study to test all of the hypotheses. Last, relevance conclusions were made as follows:(1) Challenge stressors have negative effort on academic unethical behaviors; hindrances stressors have positive effect on academic unethical behaviors. Both Challenge stressors and hindrances stressors have positive effect on teaching unethical behaviors. At the same time, it is very necessary to explore the "black box" in the process of the influence of academic appraisal stressors on unethical behaviors by exploring the influencing mechanism of academic appraisal stressors on unethical behaviors, which can provide the important theoretic guidelines on the more effective implementation of academic appraisal stressors.(2) Academic appraisal stressors can affect individual's cognitive and emotion. This research indicates academic attention, teaching attention and anxiety take a part mediating role in the relationship between challenge stressors and academic unethical behaviors. Samely, academic attention, teaching attention and anxiety take a part mediating role in the relationship between hindrances stressors and academic unethical behaviors. Academic attention, teaching attention and anxiety take a full mediating role in the relationship between challenge stressors and teaching unethical behaviors; Academic attention, teaching attention and anxiety take a full mediating role in the relationship between hindrances stressors and teaching unethical behaviors.(3) Person's reactions are different when facing the same academic appraisal stressors, not every teacher does unethical behavior. Both condition characters and individual characters have moderate effect between academic appraisal stressors and academic unethical behaviors. This research discusses the moderating effect of organizational support between academic appraisal stressors and academic unethical behaviors. The interactive role in the relationship between challenge stressors and organizational support and academic unethical behaviors is supported; Contrary, the interactive role in the relationship between hindrances stressors and organizational support and academic unethical behaviors isn't supported. It moderates the relationship between two kinds' stressors and teaching unethical behaviors negatively. Additionally, there are three-way interaction among academic-contingent self-esteem, core self-evaluations, and academic appraisal stressors in the prediction academic unethical behaviors.Finally, the main conclusions of this research were summarized and discussed, and the limitation and future directions were also put forward. Then, the study explores the management strategy for university's unethical behavior based on academic appraisal stressors.