Background: Cheating includes behaviors that reflect a lack of justice values, disregard for honesty, and violations of rules by individuals in order to gain personal advantages in the form of success across different domains.
Aim: Accordingly, the present study aimed to determine the effect of mentally activating self-enhancement personal values on cheating behavior and to examine the moderating role of personality traits.
Method: This research employed a quasi-experimental design with pretest–posttest and a control group. The statistical population consisted of all students at Persian Gulf University, Bushehr, during the 2023–2024 academic year. The present study sample consisted of 59 students who were randomly assigned to three groups: the self-enhancement experimental group (19 participants), the self-transcendence experimental group (19 participants), and the control group (21 participants). Costa and McCrae’s NEO Five-Factor Personality Inventory (1992) and the Schwartz’s Value Survey (2012) were used as measurement instruments. Finally, the data were analyzed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).
Findings: The results of this study showed that, compared to the control group, participants primed with self-enhancement values engaged in more cheating behaviors (p < .05). In contrast, priming self-transcendence values led to fewer cheating behaviors than in the control group (p < .05). Furthermore, the Big Five personality traits did not moderate the effect of self-transcendence value activation on cheating (p > .05), whereas they did moderate the effect of self-enhancement value activation (p < .05).
Conclusions: Based on the findings, it can be concluded that personal values, particularly self-enhancement and self-transcendence values, play a fundamental role in shaping moral behaviors and personality development. The results of this study may be applied in educational planning, the promotion of mental health, and the improvement of social interactions within