Strategic Interactions in Academic Dishonesty: A Game-Theoretic Analysis of the Exam Script Swapping Mechanism

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Autori principali: Ganuthula, Venkat Ram Reddy, Singh, Manish Kumar
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Ganuthula, Venkat Ram Reddy
Singh, Manish Kumar
author_facet Ganuthula, Venkat Ram Reddy
Singh, Manish Kumar
contents This paper presents a novel game theoretic framework for analyzing academic dishonesty through the lens of a unique deterrent mechanism: forced exam script swapping between students caught copying. We model the strategic interactions between students as a non cooperative game with asymmetric information and examine three base scenarios asymmetric preparation levels, mutual non preparation, and coordinated partial preparation. Our analysis reveals that the script swapping punishment creates a stronger deterrent effect than traditional penalties by introducing strategic interdependence in outcomes. The Nash equilibrium analysis demonstrates that mutual preparation emerges as the dominant strategy. The framework provides insights for institutional policy design, suggesting that unconventional punishment mechanisms that create mutual vulnerability can be more effective than traditional individual penalties. Future empirical validation and behavioral experiments are proposed to test the model predictions, including explorations of tapering off effects in punishment severity over time.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_15307
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Strategic Interactions in Academic Dishonesty: A Game-Theoretic Analysis of the Exam Script Swapping Mechanism
Ganuthula, Venkat Ram Reddy
Singh, Manish Kumar
General Economics
Economics
Computer Science and Game Theory
This paper presents a novel game theoretic framework for analyzing academic dishonesty through the lens of a unique deterrent mechanism: forced exam script swapping between students caught copying. We model the strategic interactions between students as a non cooperative game with asymmetric information and examine three base scenarios asymmetric preparation levels, mutual non preparation, and coordinated partial preparation. Our analysis reveals that the script swapping punishment creates a stronger deterrent effect than traditional penalties by introducing strategic interdependence in outcomes. The Nash equilibrium analysis demonstrates that mutual preparation emerges as the dominant strategy. The framework provides insights for institutional policy design, suggesting that unconventional punishment mechanisms that create mutual vulnerability can be more effective than traditional individual penalties. Future empirical validation and behavioral experiments are proposed to test the model predictions, including explorations of tapering off effects in punishment severity over time.
title Strategic Interactions in Academic Dishonesty: A Game-Theoretic Analysis of the Exam Script Swapping Mechanism
topic General Economics
Economics
Computer Science and Game Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.15307