Attitude toward cheating among Ghanaian undergraduate students: a parallel mediational analysis of personality, religiosity and mastery

Abstract

Attitude toward cheating drives academically dishonest behaviors particularly at higher education institutions. Personality, mastery and religiosity are common associates of attitude toward cheating; however, these relationships have received little research attention in Ghana. This study therefore explores the relationship between these variables among undergraduate students in Ghana. A total of 333 students (M = 20.84; SD = 4.68) were conveniently sampled to complete measures on Big Five Personality Inventory, Dimensions of Religiosity Scale, Pearlin Mastery Scale and Attitude Toward Cheating Scale. Findings from correlational and regression analysis revealed that personality traits (i.e., conscientiousness, agreeableness, and neuroticism), mastery and religiosity were related to attitude toward cheating. Further exploration of the data with path analysis revealed that both mastery and religiosity indirectly influenced the relationship between conscientiousness and attitude toward cheating. Taken together, these findings highlight the need to design intervention programs that seek to reduce incidences of academic cheating behaviour by targeting students’ attitude toward cheating via mastery and religiosity.