Self-perceived plagiarism from the perspective of non-business students of public university in Malaysia
List of Authors
  • Norashikin Hussein , Syezreen Dalina Rusdi

Keyword
  • self-perceived plagiarism, internet facilities, negative attitude, pressure and lack of competencies

Abstract
  • Plagiarism is among recurring issues present at all levels of education globally. Specifically, higher learning institutions have known to hold responsibility in shaping graduates to become future leaders with a high level of integrity. Due to this fact, identifying the factors that influence a student's decision to engage in plagiarism is imperative to minimize its occurrence. Even so, existing literature on academic misconduct exclusively stresses on students in Western countries. The findings on plagiarism behavior in Asian countries such as Malaysia have been limited, especially among non-business students. Therefore, this study is aimed at determining the plagiarism level as perceived by non-business students. This study will also identify the relationships between internet facilities, negative attitude, pressure, and lack of competency on self-perceived plagiarism. Data were gathered from 368 tertiary students of six non-business faculties in a public university in Malaysia, using a self-administered survey. The level of self-perceived plagiarism was found to be at medium as perceived by the non-business students. On the relationships between variables, internet facilities were found to have the highest influence on self-perceived plagiarism. This is followed by a negative attitude and lack of competency. Surprisingly, pressure was found to have no link with self-perceived plagiarism. The findings of the study are significant to the Ministry of Education and institutions of higher education in particular, in understanding the plagiarism behavior among tertiary students in Malaysia. The results of the study shall also be useful in creating awareness among the community and in providing input in designing relevant programs to minimize the occurrence of plagiarism behavior.

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