Postgraduate students' perceptions towards academic dishonesty

Abstract

Academic dishonesty in tertiary education has become a pressing issue. Many previous studies examined undergraduate students' perceptions towards academic dishonesty at institutions of higher education in developed countries but limited research focusing on postgraduate students' perceptions towards academic dishonesty at developing countries. Most studies on academic dishonesty focused on demographic factors of undergraduate students but very limited study focused on demographic factors involving postgraduate students. This study fills this gap by examining postgraduate students' perceptions of academic dishonesty based on age, gender, working experience, and academic discipline. A survey questionnaire was distributed to postgraduate students of engineering, social sciences, and science and technology at one public university. A total of 388 postgraduate students involved in this study. Results showed that age, gender, working experience and academic discipline of postgraduate students plays no significant role in influencing perceptions towards academic dishonesty among postgraduate students. The findings of this study indicated that inclinations to cheat among postgraduate students are not depended on age, gender, working experience, and academic discipline.