Higher Education Dilemma: The Relationship between Social Bond Theory and Academic Cheating of Public University Students in Malaysia

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to test the moderating effect of locus of control on the relationship between the elements of Social Bond Theory namely attachment, commitment, belief and involvement with academic cheating among public university students in Malaysia. Basically, the main challenge for higher education institutions is to ensure that academic cheating behavior can be curbed so that the graduates who will be born meet the needs of the market and can commit any crime. Therefore, the higher education sector must function as an efficient institution. There is no doubt that the current challenges and developments require human capital that has high integrity values to achieve the organization's goals. Previous studies show that academic cheating is influenced by various factors such as attachment, commitment, belief and involvement. Apart from that, integrity is also one of the main issues in the question of cheating. The study respondents consisted of postgraduate students at public universities throughout Malaysia. A total of 500 questionnaires were distributed to selected respondents. Several hypotheses have been constructed and tested SPSS for Windows version 25.0. The findings showed that Social Bonding Theory explained more than 70 percent of academic cheating. All four constructs established the significant contributor to academic cheating.