Defining corruption, tolerating corruption: heterogeneity in student attitudes toward corruption in Ukrainian higher education during wartime

Defining corruption, tolerating corruption: heterogeneity in student attitudes toward corruption in Ukrainian higher education during wartime | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Defining corruption, tolerating corruption: heterogeneity in student attitudes toward corruption in Ukrainian higher education during wartime Serhiy O. Semerikov, Yuliia V. Yechkalo, Viktoriia V. Tkachuk This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8741403/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 8 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Corruption in higher education undermines institutional integrity and socializes future professionals into practices that may persist across their careers. This study examines the structure and heterogeneity of corruption attitudes among 479 Ukrainian university students surveyed in February 2025, during the third year of full-scale war. Applying latent class analysis and network psychometrics -- methods not previously combined in this context -- we identify two distinct attitudinal profiles: ``Narrow Definers'' (64%) who recognize fewer behaviors as corrupt yet show higher tolerance (48% endorsing conditional justification), and ``Broad Definers'' (36%) who maintain expansive definitions alongside lower tolerance (26% justification). This inverse relationship between definitional breadth and corruption tolerance suggests that students accommodate to corrupt environments through definitional narrowing rather than explicit acceptance. Network analysis reveals nepotism and extortion as central nodes bridging corruption definitions to justification attitudes, identifying potential intervention leverage points. Discrimination was reported by 7.3% and sexual harassment by 1.7%, likely underestimates given established reporting barriers. These findings demonstrate that corruption attitudes are neither monolithic nor randomly distributed but organize into coherent configurations with distinct implications for anti-corruption education. Interventions targeting gray-zone practices like nepotism, rather than focusing exclusively on already-condemned behaviors like bribery, may produce broader attitudinal effects through the attitude network structure we document. Corruption attitudes Higher education Ukraine Latent class analysis Network psychometrics Institutional socialization Academic integrity Wartime education Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviewers agreed at journal 06 May, 2026 Reviews received at journal 03 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 05 Feb, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 04 Feb, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 04 Feb, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 03 Feb, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 03 Feb, 2026 First submitted to journal 30 Jan, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8741403","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":586455686,"identity":"1c869ecd-7886-492e-9eec-15792ee0dd99","order_by":0,"name":"Serhiy O. 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