Exploring the Personal and Environmental Factors Promoting Academic Dishonesty among University Students: The Contribution of AI Tools

Abstract

Academic dishonesty refers to students’ attempts to present others’ academic work as their own. The main purpose of the current study was to explore the personal and environmental factors that promote academic dishonesty among university students and the contribution of AI tools. Quantitative research design was used. The target population comprises all undergraduate and graduate students studying at the University of Sargodha. A stratified random sampling was employed to gather data from 371 students using a closed-ended questionnaire. Data were analyzed through frequencies, percentages, mean score, and standard deviation, independent sample t-test and ANOVA. The major findings of the study revealed that most of the university students disagreed that personal and environmental factors lead them towards academic dishonesty. The findings also revealed that most of the university students agreed that they use AI tools in learning and use AI tools for dishonest academic practices. Research study recommended that universities and departments should arrange training workshops and sessions for students because most of the university students even do not think so that the usage of AI tools in academic settings could be unethical.