Influence of Neutralization Attitude in Academic Dishonesty among Undergraduates

Abstract

Previous literature had proposed that individuals tend to use neutralization to motivate their decisions to engage in deviant behaviours. This indicated that even though students have strong motivations not to cheat may do so anyway after employing neutralizing strategies. Hence, this study attempted to examine the role of neutralization in influencing students' attitude towards academic dishonesty. Students tend to use neutralization technique in order to free themselves from feeling guilty in engaging academic dishonesty. Besides that, it also attempted to study the reasons behind college student academic cheating behaviours. This study employed 620 randomly selected students from six different academic institutions. Results supported that students who engaged in academic dishonesty differ significantly from those who did not engage in this deviant behaviour with respect to their tendency to neutralize cheating. Results showed that cheating and neutralization were positively correlated among students. Through the findings, it showed that the use of neutralization techniques explained why students acknowledged that cheating is wrong but still chose to do it anyway.

Academic Dishonesty of Accounting Students at Higher Learning Institutions

“…Contrary to high-grade scorers, some the low-grade scorers do not strive to obtain better grade and are not prepared before their assessment (Bakar et al, 2010). A similar opinion is expressed by Meng et al (2014) who contend that students, in general, are likely to be involved in an array of academic dishonesty behaviors just to attain a better grade so that a better job opportunity is available. This seems to suggest that students entering universities are not in the hunt for valuable knowledge but rather to earn a scroll of diploma as a ticket for a better future.…”

“…Most often than not, academic dishonesty is committed as a means of getting favorable results in exams (Lupton et al, 2000;Meng et al, 2014). The extant literature often underscores the focus of academically dishonest behavior on cheating activities on examinations, although there are many other forms of dishonesty that occur perhaps the same or even greater frequency than cheating on examinations (Roig & Caso, 2005).…”

Academic Cheating Behavior Reviewed From Neutralization of Cheating Behavior and Gender of the Accounting Students at Universities in Batam

“…Definition of neutralization is defined as an attitude that tends to justify or rationalize cheating they do. Neutralization was measured using a 11-item questions adapted from research Meng et al, (2014).…”

“…One of the things that lead to student academic cheating occurs because of the process of neutralization. According to Meng et al, (2014), neutralization is a student attitude that tend to justify or rationalize their cheating. There is a tendency that makes students think that cheating behavior is legitimate and acceptable in the academic process.…”

The Determinants of Academic Dishonesty in College Student

“…Academic dishonesty is a multidimensional construct. Academic dishonesty can be defined as is deliberate deception, where individuals gain recognition of their work without authority (plagiarism), using unauthorized materials (cheating), falsifying data (fabrication), harming others and facilitating in academic dishonesty (facilitating), such as giving or receiving unauthorized help and receiving benefits over the work of others (Gehring & Pavela, 1994;Meng, Othman, D'Silva, & Omar, 2014). Several factors influence academic dishonesty.…”