Sense of Competence, Self-Control and Moral Compass As Determinants of Academic Dishonesty among Form Four Students in Baringo County, Kenya
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Date
2023-09
Authors
Kemei, Daniel Kimutai
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Academic dishonesty has been a common occurrence in Kenya’s education system
in recent years. Stringent measures put in place have not succeeded in eliminating
the vice as cases of secondary school students engaging in it are still being
reported. A research study focusing individual reasons for academic dishonesty
could potentially lead to new ways of addressing the vice. Therefore, the objectives
of the present study were: to find the association between sense of competence and
academic dishonesty; to establish if there was a connection between self-control
and academic dishonesty; to find out the relationship between moral compass and
academic dishonesty; to establish the interrelationship between sense of
competence, self-control; moral compass and academic dishonesty; and to
ascertain if there existed gender differences in academic dishonesty. The study was
anchored on three theories namely: general theory of crime; identity development
and cognitive dissonance theory. It adopted correlational and explanatory
sequential research design. All 4,414 form four students from three selected sub
counties in Baringo constituted the accessible population. Purposive, stratified and
systematic sampling was carried out to select three sub-counties, 10 schools and
396 respondents (203 female; 193 male). The results from a pilot study featuring
43 students obtained acceptable Cronbach alphas. Descriptive statistics revealed
that 12.1% of the respondents had never engaged in academic dishonesty. Results
from Pearson Moment Correlation Coefficient found a weak, inverse and
significant relationship between: sense of competence and academic dishonesty(r =
-0.27, p=.000); self-control and academic dishonesty (r = -0.42, p = .000); moral
compass and academic dishonesty (r = - 0.22, p= .000). Standard multiple
regression found that the three predictor variables significantly predicted academic
dishonesty (F (4,391) = 9.05, p < .001) with the model accounting for 21.7% of
variance. Path analysis disclosed that self-control fully and partially respectively
mediated the relationship between moral compass, sense of competence and
academic dishonesty. Finally, independent sample t-test showed that gender
difference in academic dishonesty were non-existent (t (335) = 1.03, p > .05. It was
concluded that sense of competence, self-control and moral compass play a key
role in predicting one’s engagement in academic dishonesty. It was therefore
recommended that all stakeholders come together to foster students sense of
competence, self-control together with moral compass which in turn may assist in
reducing incidences of academic dishonesty
Description
A Thesis Submitted to the School of Education and Lifelong
Learning in Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award
Of Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Psychology of
Kenyatta University September, 2023
Keywords
Sense of Competence, Self-Control and Moral Compass, Competence, Self Control, Moral Compass, Determinants of Academic Dishonesty, Academic Dishonesty