ABSTRACT. Cheating behavior in a school setting has become a major problem in many countries, including those with a dominantly religious population (e.g., Indonesia). This creates a paradox since previous literatures suggest eminent role of spirituality and cheating behavior in religious high school students in Yogyakarta using multi-methods approach. Self-report were distributed to a total of 691 participants using random sampling method. Participants were also given an open-ended questionnaire asking the rationale behind their past cheating behavior. The findings suggested that the role of spirituality in ethical behavior was rather contextual, such as the link between spirituality and awareness of cheating was more robust in the respondents from religious schools. It was found that the participants viewed spirituality as an internal moral compass which may in turn facilitate overt ethical behavior.
