Patnayakuni Anitha and Suresh Sundaram
Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development, Sriperumbudur
Pages 47-57
Academic dishonesty is a growing barrier to quality education and a global issue which
requires deeper understanding. The present study explored the relationship between
academic dishonesty, neutralization attitude and cognitive style among a sample of 324
engineering undergraduate students. The data was collected through survey method
using the Cognitive Style Questionnaire, Neutralization Attitude Scale and Academic
Dishonesty Scale. One-way ANOVA, correlation, and regression analysis were done
the results indicated that academic dishonesty is negatively correlated with systematic
cognitive style and is positively correlated with neutralization attitude. It was found
that students from rural areas showed high neutralization attitude toward academic
dishonesty in academic settings than students from urban areas. Similarly, students from
joint families were involved in a higher level of academic dishonesty and showed high
neutralization attitude than students from nuclear families. The students who perceived
a higher level of academic dishonesty around them showed high neutralization attitude
and scored high in self-reporting academic dishonesty behaviours than others.
Keywords: Academic Dishonesty, Cognitive Style, Neutralization attitude, family
structure, Engineering Students.