مجله علوم روانشناختی (Jun 2024)
Structural equations modeling of academic dishonesty based on personality characteristics with mediating moral identity in students at Tehran
Abstract
Background: Academic dishonesty not only undermines the values of integrity and fairness but also impacts the learning environment, hindering the genuine development of knowledge and skills. A deeper understanding of the psychological and personality processes involved in academic dishonesty can offer solutions to enhance moral identity and the overall quality of students' educational experiences. Despite the significance of this issue, the interplay between personality traits, moral identity, and academic dishonesty has remained understudied in the existing literature. Aims: The purpose of this study was to structural equation modeling prediction of academic dishonesty based on personality characteristics with mediating role of moral identity in students in Tehran city. Methods: This study was conducted in the presence of 500 people by available sampling method among high school students in Tehran city in year academic 2021-2022. To measure the variables, academic dishonesty scale (ADS) of Witherspoon and et al (2010), neo personality inventory (NEO-PI-R) of McCrae and Costa (2008) and moral identity questionnaire (MIQ) of Black and Reynolds (2016) were used. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation and structural equation modelling with using SPSS-24 and AMOS software was investigated. Results: The results showed that there is significant relationship between personality characteristics and moral identity with procrastination (P< 0.01). The results also showed that most of the direct paths of this study were significant and the indirect paths of personality characteristics were significant through the mediating role of moral identity on academic dishonesty. Also, proposed model had an acceptable fitness to the data (RMSEA= 0/052, P-value< 0/05) and evaluated model has a good fit and is an important step in identifying the factors that are effective in academic dishonesty in high school students in Tehran city. Conclusion: The findings of this research offer valuable insights towards reducing academic dishonesty among students by considering the roles of personality traits and moral identity. Several proactive measures can be implemented in this regard, such as organizing webinars aimed at improving personality traits and moral identity to diminish tendencies towards dishonesty and academic cheating among students.
