Hardiyanti Pratiwi
Research misconduct in academia is a global concern, typically attributed to individual moral failure or deliberate intent to deceive. However, growing evidence suggests that structural, cultural, and emotional pressures play a significant role in shaping unethical academic practices, especially in non-Western higher education systems. This study explores how Indonesian academics engage with, rationalize, and adapt to research and publication misconduct under such constraints. Employing a phenomenological approach grounded in Merton’s theory of unintended consequences and Weick’s sensemaking theory, in-depth interviews were conducted with 34 faculty members across various institutions. Findings reveal that misconduct frequently functions as a coping strategy rather than a conscious violation, driven by performative academic cultures, status-based authorship hierarchies that reward seniority over contribution, market-oriented pressures to publish for income or promotion, and chronic emotional fatigue stemming from metric overload and lack of institutional support. Participants justified practices such as ghost authorship, data fabrication, and commodified publishing through shared narratives and peer group normalization. The study calls for reform initiatives anchored in Indonesian scholarly values and emphasizes the importance of mentoring, faculty development, and a shift toward formative rather than punitive approaches to research integrity. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2025.
Faculty of Education and Teacher Training, Antasari State Islamic University, Banjarmasin, Indonesia; Educational Science, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
