Unethical Behaviour and Academic Performance of Undergraduates in Rivers State

Abstract

The study investigated unethical behaviour and academic performance of undergraduates in Rivers State. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted the descriptive survey design. The population of the study comprised of the 377-teaching staff in three public universities in Rivers State. The sample of the study was 590, consisting 327 male and 263 teaching staff drawn from the three public universities in Rivers State, through stratified random sampling technique. The instrument used to generate data was a self-structured 12 – itemquestionnaire titled 'Unethical Behaviours and Academic Performance of Undergraduates in Public Universities Questionnaire” (UBAPUPUQ). Test re-test was used to record the reliability coefficient of the instrument at 0.85. The research questions were responded to using simple average mean statistics, while the hypotheses were tested at 0.05 alpha level using the z-test. The study revealed that unethical behaviours deny undergraduates the opportunity to acquire the specialized skills and knowledge and reduces the confidence of students to pass their examinations with high grade, and destroys students' zeal to study earnestly to pass their examination. It also showed that organizing regular orientation for students to encourage them to take their studies serious supporting underachieving students with counsels and tutorials would assist to improve their academic performance. Furthermore, this study recommended that university authorities should install information communication technologies in the school and exam halls surveillance, supervision of examination and checking of plagiarism. Moreso, universities should regularly organize orientation and sensitization for students in order to educate students on the dangers of engaging in unethical behaviours and the need to for them to take their studies serious