Abstract
Contract cheating has become increasingly an issue as universities adapt to online and hybrid teaching, learning, and assessments. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, higher education institutions began to administer examinations more frequently online, and it led to the emergence of websites and commercial service providers who offer contract cheating services globally. In this paper, we examine the key elements that lead students to turn to contract cheating as well as the elements that deter the students from engaging in such unethical behaviour. We also investigate how assessment design can encourage authentic learning, although assessment design alone cannot eliminate contract cheating. The effects of contract cheating on academic standards and quality assurance are also examined. Mainly the study results show that the act of contract cheating is a result of interrelated internal and external factors in an individual. Although a number of measures, including authentic evaluations and digital tools, have been implemented to discourage students from cheating, no strategy is strong enough to control the issue permanently. Hence, academic integrity is still not assured, highlighting the necessity of a global movement to solve the problem.