Gender moderating the relationship among academic stress, malevolent creativity, and academic dishonest behaviours among post graduate students

Abstract

This study explores how gender influences the link among academic stress, malevolent creativity, and academic dishonest behaviours among Ghanaian postgraduate students. The study aims to investigate the levels of academic stress, malevolent creativity, and dishonest behaviours among students at the University of Education, Winneba, as well as how gender influences these relationships. It draws on the Person-environment fit theory by French et al., Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behaviours, and the Dark Triad Theory. 450 postgraduate students participated in the study, which used a descriptive survey approach. The psychological toll of academic demands was highlighted by the findings, which showed a strong correlation between academic stress and both academic dishonesty and malevolent creativity. Often used as a stress-reduction strategy, malevolent creativity took the form of damaging or dishonest activities. However, the association between academic stress and dishonest conduct was not significantly moderated by gender. The study comes to the conclusion that ethical training programs and stress management techniques are essential for lowering the incidence of unethical academic behaviour. The implementation of counselling services and courses targeted at giving students better coping mechanisms for stress are among the recommendations. Additional study ideas include investigating environmental and cultural elements that can affect academic dishonesty in various Ghanaian educational contexts.