GENDER AND PERSONALITY TRAITS AS PREDICTORS OF EXAMINATION MALPRACTICE

Abstract

This study investigated gender and personality traits as predictors of examination malpractice. Three hundred (300) participants were employed in the study. They consisted of students from five faculties of Nnamdi Azikiwe University who were randomly sampled. Their ages ranged from 16 to 30 years, with a mean age of 21.1 and a standard deviation of 0.82. Two instruments were adopted for the study, namely the Brief Examination Malpractice Index (BEMI) and the Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI). These instruments measured the extent to which students could engage in examination malpractice and the individual personality dispositions across the five domains of personality traits: openness to experience, extroversion, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and agreeableness, respectively. The study adopted a cross-sectional research design, while multiple regression statistics were used to test the hypotheses. The first hypothesis, which stated that males and females would differ significantly in predicting examination malpractice among undergraduates, was accepted at (F = 2.973, p = .003). The second hypothesis, which stated that personality traits under study (extroversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism) would significantly predict examination malpractice among undergraduates, was also accepted. Openness to experience and extroversion significantly predicted examination malpractice at (F = 2.097, p = .037) and (F = 2.992, p < .003), respectively. Based on the findings of this study, the researchers therefore recommended that the personality traits of individuals, especially students, should be investigated to enable appropriate decisions regarding suitable fields of endeavour before engagement.