Purpose
This study aims to explore whether the COVID-19-related circumstances hindered these academic-related variables.
Design Methodology Approach
The authors surveyed two groups of undergraduate business students (42% male) who completed the questionnaires at the beginning and at the end of the semester. One group of students attended only face-to-face classes in the 2018/2019 academic year (n = 126) and the other group transitioned to online classes because of the COVID-19 outbreak in the 2019/2020 academic year (n = 99).
Findings
The findings show no statistically significant group differences between the pre- and post-test in students’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, feelings of attachment to the university and engagement dimensions of absorption and vigour. Nevertheless, a moderate negative effect was found in the dedication engagement dimension.
Practical Implications
The authors discuss the main results in terms of some practices that may contribute towards attenuating the effects of future emerging pandemics in the higher education setting.
Originality Value
The COVID-19 pandemic imposed a rapid transition to online instruction in education institutions worldwide. However, it remains unclear to date how students’ engagement, motivation and attachment to the university were negatively affected by the first COVID-19 outbreak.
Abstract. This study provides initial insights on the relation between psychopathic traits (disinhibition, meanness, and boldness) and academic fraud (prevalence and severity), while considering important mediators of fraud (perceived capability, opportunity, motivation, and rationalization). Based on a large sample of university students ( N = 967), two structural equation models (test and replication) were built to test the study’s main hypothesis and probe the robustness of the results. A direct link from disinhibition to prevalence was found, suggesting that disinhibition is associated with social deviance in the academic context. Higher motivation for cheating exclusively mediated this path. In meanness, rationalization explained lower rates of perceived severity of academic fraud, indicating that cognitive self-justifications trigger dishonest behavior in meanness. Boldness explained the prevalence of academic fraud via perceived capability, suggesting that low-fear, although adaptive in evaluation contexts, may increase the perceived capability for cheating. The reported significant associations support that academic fraud is part of the nomological network of psychopathy and unveil the complexity of the phenomenon.
Despite being extensively modelled to explore decision making processes in economic tasks, there are no studies exploring the neurophysiological correlates of the Predator-Prey Game, a game theory paradigm designed to operationalize attack and defence conflicts. In the present study, we explored the relationship between the ERP components associated with feedback, namely feedback-related negativity (FRN) and feedback -elated P3b, and investment in an adapted version of the Predator-Prey Game (PPG), operationalizing attack and defence. Forty-seven (28 female) community-dwelling volunteers without history of neurological disease were recruited. Participants played the PPG game both as attackers and defenders while EEG signal was recorded with a 128 channels sensor net. Behavioural results showed that individuals tend to invest more and decide faster when playing in defence, rather than in attack. Electrophysiological data showed FRN to be sensitive to the valence of feedback, with increased amplitudes of FRN loss feedbacks. On the other hand, the P3b amplitudes were sensitive to the role, with increased amplitude for attack when compared with defence. The integration of the behavioural and ERP findings supports the theoretical model positing that attack elicits more deliberate and less automatic brain processes than defence.
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