The positive role of religiosity in dealing with academic dishonesty

Ridwan, Ridwan; Diantimala, Yossi Article The positive role of religiosity in dealing with academic dishonesty Cogent Business & Management Provided in Cooperation with: Taylor & Francis Group Suggested Citation: Ridwan, Ridwan; Diantimala, Yossi (2021) : The positive role of religiosity in dealing with academic dishonesty, Cogent Business & Management, ISSN 2331-1975, Taylor & Francis, Abingdon, Vol. 8, Iss. 1, pp. 1-29, https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1875541 This Version is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/270206 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. 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Published online: 24 Jan 2021. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 2922 View related articles View Crossmark data Citing articles: 1 View citing articles ACCOUNTING, CORPORATE GOVERNANCE & BUSINESS ETHICS | RESEARCH ARTICLE The positive role of religiosity in dealing with academic dishonesty Ridwan Ridwan 1 * and Yossi Diantimala 1 Abstract: This study examines the role of religious knowledge and activity in dealing with academic dishonesty. Furthermore, we investigate whether the locus of control and personality strengthen the relationship between religious knowledge and activity and academic dishonesty. The study investigates 235 respondents from accounting and medical undergraduate students of Syiah Kuala University, the largest university in Aceh Province, Indonesia. They are prospective accountants, auditors, and doctors. The sample is determined by using a random sampling technique, where all students have the opportunity to fill out the online questionnaire provided through Google form. The questionnaire can be accessed in 2 months, June-August 2019. Respondents are directed to answer 97 questions divided into five specific sections of the variables. Respondents must complete each section before going to the next section and unable to change the previous section’s answers. To test the hypothesis, we employ path analysis. The results show that religious knowledge is the main predictor in dealing with academic dishonesty and the basis for building the character of the students. Locus of control strengthens the effect of religious knowledge on academic dishonesty, but personality does not. Ridwan Ridwan ABOUT THE AUTHOR Ridwan is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh, Indonesia. He holds a doctorate in strategic management from the University of Padjajaran, Bandung, Indonesia. His research interests are accounting education, Islamic accounting, managerial accounting, and strategic management. Yossi Diantimala is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh, Indonesia. She holds a doctorate in Financial Accounting from the University of Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Her research interests are financial accounting standards, disclosure, corporate governance, and accounting education. PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT Academic dishonesty has become a serious unsolved problem at all levels of education. A person who commits academic fraud during the studies has a higher tendency to behave in an unethical and fraudulent manner at the workplace. People who have better religious knowledge must become an honest person. However, some people with better religious education are not honorable. The causes are personality and locus of control. The different personalities and locus of control cause different views and perceptions in dealing with something. Some of them are shy and have low self-esteem, while others are aggressive, etc. Things that are not common in someone’s view become a customary view for others. Things that make someone embarrass will not necessarily embarrass others. The results show that religious knowledge would become the main predictor of honest behavior and the basis for building the character of the students depending on their locus of control. Ridwan & Diantimala, Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1875541 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1875541 Page 1 of 29 Received: 18 October 2020 Accepted: 07 January 2021 *Corresponding author: Ridwan Ridwan, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh, Indonesia E-mail: [email protected] Reviewing editor: Collins G. Ntim, Accounting, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK Additional information is available at the end of the article © 2021 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license. Religious knowledge and activity should be synergized in the higher education system and must be well arranged and structured to function well in preparing honest accountants, auditors, and doctors. Subjects: Business, Management and Accounting; Higher Education; Philosophy of Education Keywords: academic dishonesty; locus of control; personality; religious knowledge; religious activity; university 1. Introduction Academic dishonesty has become a serious unsolved problem in all levels of education, including higher education, throughout the world (Hadjar, 2017; Ives et al., 2017). The problem of dishonesty in higher education institutions has been widely studied and succeeded in attracting the researcher’s attention from various countries (Khan et al., 2019). Several studies prove that more than 50% of students in various universities have cheated at least once in examinations or assignments during their study (Ives et al., 2017; Winardi et al., 2017). Furthermore, various studies have been carried out to find out the cause and effect of a student committing academic fraud and the factors influencing it (Ampuni et al., 2019; Ballantine et al., 2014; Ives et al., 2017). Ampuni et al. (2019) find that lower moral integrity and higher level of moral disengagement affect academic dishonesty among students. Ballantine et al. (2014) show that academic dishonesty is caused by ethical ideology and idealism. Ives et al. (2017) demonstrate that a student cheating because he saw another friend cheating frequently. The other issues related to academic cheating is religiosity. A high level of religiosity fortifies someone to commit cheating. Al-Ebel et al. (2020) examine the impact of religiosity and accounting expertise on audit report lag and the results show that a religious top leader with accounting expertise avoids audit report lag. However, the other studies show dissimilar results. Williamson and Assadi (2005), Huelsman et al. (2006), and Hadjar (2017) find that religiosity does not have a significant influence on academic cheating behavior. Meanwhile, Sofyani and Rahma (2015) prove that Islamic religious knowledge has a significant influence on the honest behavior of the students. Based on the inconclusive results, this paper intends to examine whether Islamic religious knowledge and Islamic religious activity affect students’ academic dishonesty. Academic cheating is related also to attitude and behavior (Khan et al., 2019). The willingness to cheat depends on someone’s personality (Giluk & Postlethwaite, 2015; Hendy & Montargot, 2019) and locus of control (Sofyani & Pramita, 2015). Different from previous studies, we examine the role of locus of control and personality on the effect of Islamic religious knowledge and Islamic religious activity on students’ academic dishonesty. Previous studies investigate the effect of religiosity, locus of control, and personality as independent variables on academic dishonesty as dependent variable. This study demonstrates that locus of control and personality are moderating variables in the relationship between religiosity and academic dishonesty. Someone’s locus of control and personality can strengthen or weaken the correlation between religiosity and academic dishonesty. Given the empirical evidence of the impact of religious knowledge and religious activity on academic dishonesty, our study contributes to the development of the literature on cheating behavior in terms of the research model. In contrast to previous studies that test directly the impact of religiosity on dishonesty (Hadjar, 2017; Sofyani & Rahma, 2015); Khan et al., 2019), locus of control on dishonesty (Sofyani & Pramita, 2015; Winardi et al., 2017), and personality on dishonesty (Giluk & Postlethwaite, 2015; Hendy & Biderman, 2019; Hendy & Montargot, 2019), this study employs locus of control and personality as moderating variables which strengthen or weaken the impact of religious knowledge on students’ dishonesty. This is the novelty of this study. Ridwan & Diantimala, Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1875541 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1875541 Page 2 of 29 Strong logical reasoning why these two factors can moderate the relationship between religiosity and academic dishonesty is a tendency to commit academic dishonesty even though they have good religious knowledge depending on his/her locus of control and personality. In fact, the attributes inherent in a person are not the only locus of control and personality, but also self-control (Flores et al., 2020; Zhang et al., 2019). Self-control is a person’s action of controlling the desire to commit a crime (Cochran et al., 1998). Religious knowledge is a form of thought that is obtained systematically, philosophically, and scientifically from religious education and religious science (Burns, 1914). Higher religious knowledge combined with lower self-control encourages a person to commit crimes (Kerley et al., 2011). Therefore, the relationship between religious knowledge and academic dishonesty is not only influenced by the locus of control and personality but is also influenced by self-control (Kerley et al., 2011). This means that self-control also influences people to commit crimes or cheating even though their religious knowledge is high. This study does not test self-control to avoid a wider relationship among the moderating variables. Personality and locus of control are closely related to self-control (Flores et al., 2020; Zhang et al., 2019). Besides, this study employs the theory of planned behavior. Using the locus of control and personality as moderating variables support the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991). We suggest to include self-control in a more comprehensive model in future studies. The second novelty is juxtaposing locus of control and personality concurrently in one model as moderating variables that strengthen or weakens the relationship between religiosity and academic dishonesty. Previous studies have not used these two factors as moderating variables either individually or simultaneously. Employing locus of control and personality as moderating variables simultaneously to get a comprehensive picture of why someone who has a good religious knowledge commits academic dishonesty. 2. Background The state of dishonest behavior in academics has become the spotlight all over the world, where it occurs due to the engagement of students in unethical academics behavior (Ballantine et al., 2014). From the 1960s, academic dishonesty had been seen as a trivial problem related to one’s academic achievement (Ampuni et al., 2019; Bonjean & McGee, 1965). However, this problem becomes a major issue when researchers found a significant relationship between academic dishonesty and someone’s unethical behavior at work (Ives et al., 2017). A person who commits academic fraud during the studies has a higher tendency to behave in an unethical and fraudulent manner at the workplace (Khan et al., 2019; Williams & Williams, 2012). The forms of fraud resulted from the cheating habit during someone’s study are corrupting, giving false documents, duplicating documents or reports from others for a similar activity, not being professional at work, etc. In the world of health, the common fraud in Indonesia according to Minister of Health Regulation No. 36 of 2015 (Kementerian Kesehatan RI, 2015), that often occurs is divided into two classifications. First, the act of medical fraud committed by a doctor, such as manipulating diagnoses to increase the size of claims by falsifying medical diagnoses and/or actions; plagiarism of claims from other patients (cloning) by copying and pasting all or part of existing medical records and/or patient data; unnecessary treatment; no medical value; increase the length of time on the ventilator usage. Second, administrative fraud such as false claims (phantom billing) are claims for services that have never been performed/provided to patients; Inflated bills for drugs and/or medical devices (inflated bills); solving episodes of service in accordance with medical indications but not in accordance with statutory provisions; services unbundling or fragmentation; prolonged length of stay. The act of cheating is generally an act that someone feels is reasonable (Rettinger & Jordan, 2005). An accountant is a profession promoting honesty and moral responsibility, due to the obligation for producing financial information used by other parties in making business decisions. When an Ridwan & Diantimala, Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1875541 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1875541 Page 3 of 29 accountant does not uphold the value of honesty and moral responsibility, the financial information produced can be misleading and detrimental to the user. Therefore, starting their study as an accountant, the students are taught to raise their honesty value in all aspects including truthfulness in academics. Similarly, a medical doctor as a profession related to human life has also prioritized honesty and high moral responsibility to prevent malpractice that can harm human life. When a doctor does not follow the honesty value and high moral responsibility, they may not report the actual diagnosis, but tend to report the results that benefit himself. Furthermore, the forms of honesty and moral responsibility between accountants and medical doctors are different. However, they promote a similar concept of honesty which is regulated in their professional code of ethics. Besides, accountants and doctors must also have high moral responsibility and professionalism. Therefore, they have to be equipped with religious education and high professional knowledge that can foster feelings, empathy, honesty, and moral responsibility. People who have better religious knowledge must become an honest person. However, some people with better religious knowledge are not honorable. The causes are personality and locus of control in which the personality and locus of control among people are different. The different personalities and locus of control cause different views and perceptions in dealing with something (Ajzen, 1991). Some of them are shy and have low self-esteem, while others are aggressive, etc. Things that are not common in someone’s view become a customary view for others. Things that make someone embarrass will not necessarily humiliate others. Personality differences also encourage someone to have different views about the concept of honesty (Giluk & Postlethwaite, 2015; Hendy & Biderman, 2019). As an example, giving assignments to be copied by other students will be considered as a natural reason for helping friends, but others will view this activity as unnatural and violate the concept of honesty. Thus, this study examines the influence of personality on the relationship between religiosity and academic dishonesty. Also, another factor moderates the effect of religious education and religious activity on academic dishonesty is a locus of control. Investigating these factors, Sofyani and Pramita (2015) find a positive significant correlation between locus of control and students’ academic dishonesty. Winardi et al. (2017) agree that personality and locus of control influence ethical behavior. Hendy and Biderman (2019) and Giluk and Postlethwaite (2015) also support the finding that certain types of personality tend to commit fraud or dishonest behavior. In section 3, we explain the theoretical literature review, Theory of Planned Behavior. In section 4, we discuss empirical literature review and hypothesis development. In this section, we explain the relationship between variables. Section 5 will describe the research design. The empirical results will be presented in section 6, followed by the discussion in section 7. Finally, the conclusions are presented in section 8. 3. Theoretical literature review 3.1. Theory of planned behavior The phenomenon described in this paper is explained by the Theory of Planned Behavior which is developed by Icek Ajzen (Ajzen, 1985, 1991). The theory describes how to predict and explain human behavior in specific contexts. Social, personality traits (Ajzen, 1987), and cognitive selfregulation (Ajzen, 1991) help to predict and explain human behavior. The general attitude is influenced by the institutions or organizations that are frequently visited, certain groups and people who frequently interact (Ajzen, 1991). Someone is more likely to adopt a behavior if he has a positive attitude towards the behavior, gets approval from the other one who is close to and related to the behavior, and believes that the behavior can be done well (Ajzen, 1985). There is an intention–action relationship (Ajzen, 1985). Intention to accomplish a specific behavior is affected by attitudes toward the behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control (Ajzen, 1991). The intention to do something is not necessarily carried out into real action. The actual behavior is determined by the interaction between the intention and perceived Ridwan & Diantimala, Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1875541 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1875541 Page 4 of 29 behavioral control (Ajzen, 1991). In the context of cheating, the intention to do cheating is not an action. It is influenced by religious knowledge and religiosity activity as perceived behavioral control. The study examines the effect of perceived behavioral control directly on dishonest behavior (action). The intention-action relationship can be moderated by psychological characteristics, namely locus of control and personality traits (Ajzen, 1991). The theory is empirically supported by Bernardus et al. (2020). Further, Bernardus et al. (2020) examine which characteristic of psychology strengthen the intention-action relationship and conclude that internal locus of control reinforces the intention-action relationship. Even thought they examine the theory with the other context, the principle of the relationship can be adopted. Giluk and Postlethwaite (2015) and Hendy and Montargot (2019) examine the impact of personality traits on dishonesty by implementing the Theory of Planned Behavior. The results show that individuals personality affect students’ cheating behavior. 4. Empirical literature review and hypothesis development 4.1. Institutional setting As an institution organizing higher education and generating prospective accountants and medical doctors, a university is expecting to formulate strategies that can foster the honesty and professionalism of the students (Van Dyk et al., 2020). It is also the place where the formation of character, morals, and ethics are continuously being taught at an in-depth level (Asif et al., 2020; Juanda & Sofyani, 2016). This circumstance is reflected in the curriculum containing religious content, which are religious education, religious activities, and ethics education (Asif et al., 2020; Juanda & Sofyani, 2016). The goal is to shape the character and morals of students to become honest and noble students with the curriculum designed in such a way to contain courses that can shape and develop the nature of honesty (Asif et al., 2020; Juanda & Sofyani, 2016). In most state universities in Indonesia, Religious Education is included in their curriculum as a general course taught in 2 nd semester for both theoretical and practical methods. While, universities with a Moslem majority, the Islamic religious education approach is used, in which the learning materials are divided into 3 major groups: Tawhid, Aqedah, and Akhlak (Moral) (Akko, 2018). This study examines the effect of religious knowledge and religious activity on academic dishonesty with the locus of control and personality as the moderating variables. This study is expected to contribute to higher education institutions in Indonesia regarding the importance of religious education and activities to be included in the curriculum and provide a material consideration in developing learning curricula in higher education that can reduce dishonest behavior among students. 4.2. Religious knowledge, religious activity and academic honesty Religious knowledge is a form of thought that is obtained systematically, philosophically, and scientifically from religious education and religious science (Burns, 1914). Religious knowledge is divine teaching containing values that are universal for human life, which becomes a perfect guide in solving all human life problems (Akko, 2018). The results of the divine teaching shape one’s attitude, mindset, and outlook. From the Islamic perspective, there are three important points in the religious teachings referred to as religious characters, which are: divinity reflected in one’s faith, obedience in carrying out what is ordered and leaving out what is prohibited, and doing good deeds and far from the nature of treason (Akko, 2018). These points shape a person’s behavior and knowledge as a whole which requires serious attention and a long and well-structured process. Therefore, the formation of these religious characters needs to be well planned and programmed in the long-term to form an obedient, honest, and responsible person (Sofyani & Rahma, 2015). Related to students’ attitudes toward academic honesty, religious values formed from the participation in religious education and activities can be factors influencing these individuals in Ridwan & Diantimala, Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1875541 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1875541 Page 5 of 29 performing academic honesty. This process refers to the planned behavior theory developed by Ajzen (1991), in which the intention is the basis of a person’s behavior and it is influenced by attitudes and behavior. The attitude in behaving itself is a function of belief in behaves. This belief may be shaped by religious values embedded in individuals’ religiosity. Thus, religious values are factors that influence individuals in taking actions. An experimental study by Williamson and Assadi (2005) using 65 samples of undergraduate students conclude that religious orientation is not related to the tendency of fraudulent behavior in participants. Similar research by Rettinger and Jordan (2005) with the students from business and liberal art that has religious courses shows that religiosity influences the academic cheating behavior of students, where business students are known to commit more fraud than liberal arts students. The result is consistent with Khan et al. (2019) who show that religiosity but not spirituality is a factor of the mindset of university students toward cheating and cheating behavior. Empirical research related to academic fraud is conducted by Hadjar (2017) using 239 students from the Islamic religious education study programs and study programs of da’wah from one of the leading universities in Indonesia. The results present that 98% of the respondents claim to involve in one or several forms of academic cheating, which conclude that religion (belief and behavior) does not influence the fraudulent behavior of students. Other quantitative studies are carried out at several universities in Malaysia by Mustapha et al. (2016) examining the relationship between Islamic religion and intention of academic fraud among Malaysian Muslim students. The results from 221 respondents found no significant relationship between the Islamic religion and student academic cheating behavior. From prior literature and mixed research findings, it argues that the influence of religious education on academic dishonesty must be extended to find a robust pattern. This study also expects that religious activity held to support and accelerate the objective of formal religious education influences the academic dishonest behavior of students. Hence, the proposed hypotheses in this study are: H1: Religious knowledge has a positive role in dealing with students’ dishonest behavior. H2: Religious activities negatively affect the academically dishonest behavior of prospective accountants/auditors and doctors. 4.3. The effect of locus of control on the relationship between religious knowledge, religious activity and academic dishonesty of prospective accountants/auditors and doctors The concept of locus of control is coined by Rotter, a social learning theorist in 1966. Locus of control is a psychological concept that refers to how strongly people believe that they have control over the situations and affect their life (Rotter, 1966). Someone with an internal locus of control believes that the success he achieves is due to his hard work and the failures he suffers are due to his own mistakes. Conversely, someone with an external locus of control believes that the success he achieves is due to his abilities, but his failure is caused by other external factors, like fate, luck, destiny (Rotter, 1966). Someone who believes that events and destiny are caused by control over himself is called an internal locus of control, while things are caused by outside factors called an external locus of control (Robbins & Judge, 2012). In education, locus of control typically refers to how students perceive the causes of their academic success or failure in school. Students with an internal locus of control generally believe that their success or failure is a consequence of their effort and hard work. Adversely, students with an external locus of control generally believe that their successes or failures outcome of external factors beyond their control, such as luck, fate, circumstance, injustice, bias, or teachers who are unfair, prejudiced, or unskilled. Students with an internal locus of control might blame Ridwan & Diantimala, Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1875541 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1875541 Page 6 of 29 poor grades on their failure to study, whereas students with an external locus of control may blame an unfair teacher or test for their poor performance (Rotter, 1966). The influence of religious knowledge and religious activities on academic dishonesty depends on which category of locus of control that students have. Students who tend to an internal locus of control consider that religious education and activities encourage students to be honest when they are completed with confidence and self-motivation (Sofyani & Pramita, 2015). They argue that religious forces control the honesty of prospective accountants and doctors. Thus, it concludes that external locus of control is relying more on someone’s hopes to depend on others and more seeking and choosing favorable situations. While the internal locus of control is relying more on someone’s expectations of themselves and prefer skills rather than just a favorable situation (Winardi et al., 2017). H3: Locus of control moderates the influence of religious knowledge on the academically dishonest behavior of prospective accountants/auditors and doctors. H4: Locus of control moderates the influence of religious activities on the academically dishonest behavior of prospective accountants/auditors and doctors. 4.4. The impact of personality on relationship between religious education, religious activity and academic dishonesty of prospective accountants/auditors and doctors One issue that has received much attention regarding the rise of academic cheating at various levels of education is personality. Various studies have shown that certain personality traits have a relationship with the tendency to cheat (Giluk & Postlethwaite, 2015; Hendy & Biderman, 2019; Hendy & Montargot, 2019). The personality itself is divided into five types based on the Big Five Trait model, which are: Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Openness to Experience. Extraversion is a type of personality where individuals tend to enjoy being in social situations. They are characterized by friendliness, warmth, full of positive vigor, and have high vitality (Giluk & Postlethwaite, 2015). De Bruin and Rudnick (2007) define someone who has a high score in extraversion has a higher tendency to cheat in the test because he tends to be excitementseeking leading him to become a risk-taker. Agreeableness is a type of personality where individuals have higher social concerns and tend to avoid problems with others (Graziano et al., 1996). These individuals tend to have less involvement in academic cheating practices because they avoid conflicts with teachers (Giluk & Postlethwaite, 2015). Besides, conscientiousness is a personality type that drives someone to be full of planning and following the existing rules and norms. This type has a negative relationship with academic cheating (De Bruin & Rudnick, 2007; Muntada, 2013). Openness to Experience is a type of personality where individuals are full of thoughts and like new experiences. These individuals tend to prefer being less involved in academic cheating. Furthermore, neuroticism is a type of personality where individuals have emotional instability; easy to get angry, stressed, depressed, mood-swing, and low self-confident (Costa & McCrae, 1992). Previous researches have associated this type with academic dishonesty because neurotic individuals will prefer to cheat to get success (Barrick et al., 2013). H5: Personality moderates the influence of religious knowledge on the academically dishonest behavior of prospective accountants/auditors and doctors. H6: Personality moderates the influence of religious activity on the academically dishonest behavior of prospective accountants/auditors and doctors. Ridwan & Diantimala, Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1875541 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1875541 Page 7 of 29 Table 3. (Continued) No. Major Acad emic Disho nesty Type Frequency Gender CGPA Female Male 1 2 3 4 5 5 Seeking information about the upcoming examination to the student who has passed it Accounting Once 34 17 4 4 18 21 4 More than once 46 18 5 12 20 19 8 Several times 12 7 5 3 5 3 3 Always 2 2 Medical Once 5 2 1 2 4 More than once 10 2 1 4 5 2 Several times 4 3 5 1 1 Always 1 1 6 Giving information about past examination to the student who has not taken it Accounting Once 33 6 3 3 14 16 3 More than once 37 22 5 13 19 15 7 Several times 10 1 5 3 3 Always Medical Once 3 2 2 3 More than once 12 3 2 5 5 2 1 Several times 3 1 3 1 Always 1 1 (Continued) Ridwan & Diantimala, Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1875541 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1875541 Page 14 of 29 Table 3. (Continued) No. Major Acad emic Disho nesty Type Frequency Gender CGPA Female Male 1 2 3 4 5 7 Copying other students’ answer during Examination Accounting Once 25 7 5 14 9 4 More than once 42 24 7 12 26 15 6 Several times 5 3 3 3 2 Always 1 1 Medical Once 1 1 1 1 More than once 8 2 4 1 1 Several times Always 8 Using a cheat sheet during the examination Accounting Once 42 12 4 10 21 15 4 More than once 32 12 3 10 13 13 5 Several times 4 2 2 Always Medical Once 1 1 More than once 4 2 2 Several times Always Note: The ranges of CGPA are 1) 2.75–2.99; 2) 3.00–3.25; 3) 3.26–3.50; 4) 3.51–3.75; 5) 3.76–4.00. Ridwan & Diantimala, Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1875541 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1875541 Page 15 of 29 Table 4. Religious education No. Major Religious Education Frequency Gender CGPA Female Male 1 2 3 4 5 1 Believe that God always observes everything Accounting Agree 147 56 16 34 72 58 23 Disagree 3 2 1 Medical Agree 22 6 2 12 10 3 1 Disagree 1 1 2 Like to recite Holy Quran Accounting Agree 123 37 10 25 56 49 20 Disagree 24 22 8 9 16 10 3 Medical Agree 15 5 1 9 6 3 1 Disagree 7 2 1 4 4 3 Believe that everything happens is destiny Accounting Agree 145 53 15 34 71 56 21 Disagree 2 6 3 1 2 2 Medical Agree 21 6 2 12 9 3 1 Disagree 1 1 1 1 4 Like to hear a religious lecture that can enhance religious understanding Accounting Agree 124 46 11 29 64 49 17 Disagree 23 13 7 5 8 10 6 Medical Agree 21 5 2 10 10 3 1 Disagree 1 2 3 (Continued) Ridwan & Diantimala, Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1875541 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1875541 Page 16 of 29 Table 4. (Continued) No. Major Religious Education Frequency Gender CGPA Female Male 1 2 3 4 5 5 Will not litter when there is no trash can Accounting Agree 82 25 10 19 35 29 14 Disagree 65 34 8 15 14 10 5 Medical Agree 10 7 1 8 6 1 1 Disagree 12 1 5 4 2 Note: The ranges of CGPA are 1) 2.75–2.99; 2) 3.00–3.25; 3) 3.26–3.50; 4) 3.51–3.75; 5) 3.76–4.00. Ridwan & Diantimala, Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1875541 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1875541 Page 17 of 29 Table 5. Religious-activity No. Religious-Activity Frequency Gender CGPA Female Male 1 2 3 4 5 1 Attendance in Iqra class of UP3AI in one semester Accounting 12 times 64 26 8 10 30 31 11 13 times 3 3 3 3 14 times 24 14 6 7 13 8 4 15 times 27 8 2 5 10 13 5 16 times (always) 29 8 2 9 16 7 3 Medical 12 times 9 3 1 6 3 1 1 13 times 1 1 2 14 times 2 1 1 15 times 3 1 3 1 16 times (always) 7 2 1 6 2 (Continued) Ridwan & Diantimala, Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1875541 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1875541 Page 18 of 29 Table 5. (Continued) No. Religious-Activity Frequency Gender CGPA Female Male 1 2 3 4 5 2 Attendance in the mentoring class of UP3AI in one semester Accounting 12 times 62 23 5 10 30 29 11 13 times 2 5 2 1 4 14 times 25 14 4 7 13 10 5 15 times 25 9 3 6 10 11 4 16 times (always) 33 8 4 10 15 9 3 Medical 12 times 9 3 2 5 3 1 1 13 times 1 1 2 14 times 1 1 15 times 2 2 3 1 16 times (always) 9 1 2 6 2 (Continued) Ridwan & Diantimala, Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1875541 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1875541 Page 19 of 29 Table 5. (Continued) No. Religious-Activity Frequency Gender CGPA Female Male 1 2 3 4 5 3 Attendance in halaqah with UP3AI mentor Accounting Did not join 89 33 10 19 39 38 16 Never 4 4 2 3 3 Once 10 6 1 3 8 3 1 More than one time 23 13 5 4 12 12 3 Always 21 3 5 10 6 3 Medical Did not join 19 4 2 10 9 2 Never Once More than one time 2 1 1 Always 1 3 2 1 1 (Continued) Ridwan & Diantimala, Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1875541 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1875541 Page 20 of 29 Table 5. (Continued) No. Religious-Activity Frequency Gender CGPA Female Male 1 2 3 4 5 4 Reciting Holy Quran in a day during the past year Accounting Never 7 1 4 2 Once 47 17 4 14 18 22 6 Twice 29 9 1 4 15 8 10 Thrice 12 4 1 2 5 7 1 > 4 times 59 22 11 10 32 22 6 Medical Never Once 10 3 5 5 2 1 Twice 5 2 3 Thrice 3 2 1 3 1 > 4 times 4 2 1 3 1 1 5 Reading Quran interpretation in a day d uring the past year Accounting Never 26 18 2 10 16 12 4 Once 51 13 6 13 19 18 8 Twice 23 9 1 1 14 12 4 Thrice 15 2 1 2 6 5 3 > 4 times 32 17 8 8 17 12 4 Medical Never 8 1 4 3 2 Once 8 6 7 6 1 Twice 2 1 1 Thrice 2 1 1 > 4 times 2 1 1 (Continued) Ridwan & Diantimala, Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1875541 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1875541 Page 21 of 29 Table 5. (Continued) No. Religious-Activity Frequency Gender CGPA Female Male 1 2 3 4 5 66 Importance of reading Quran interpretation Accounting Important 146 55 18 33 71 58 21 Not important 1 4 1 1 1 2 Medical Important 22 7 2 13 10 3 1 Not important Note: The ranges of CGPA are 1) 2.75–2.99; 2) 3.00–3.25; 3) 3.26–3.50; 4) 3.51–3.75; 5) 3.76–4.00. Ridwan & Diantimala, Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1875541 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1875541 Page 22 of 29 a day, and 97% accounting students and 100% medical students agree that understanding interpretation of Holy Quran is important (see Table 5). For the locus of control, 60% of accounting students and 52% of medical students have an external locus of control, while the rest of them have an internal locus of control (see Table 6). Special case for the personality, it is difficult to identify the specific personality traits of each respondent due to the questionnaire issue, in which respondents have to fill all the questions that represent all traits of personality at once. This type of questionnaire is built according to the theory that explains, at the very basic, each individual has all traits of personality, but there will be only one dominant trait in each individual. Consequently, the responses given by respondents vary and thus disable for us to exactly identify each personality. Therefore, this study examines the influence of personality in general without specifically examining the influence of each type of personality. 6.3. Hypothesis testing Table 7 illustrates the regression analysis examining the influence of religious knowledge, religious activity, locus of control, and personality on academic dishonesty. Religious knowledge (c = −0.1920, p = 0.0062) has a negatively significant impact on academic dishonesty. Higher religious knowledge, lower the academic dishonesty. The results indicate that religious knowledge has a positive role to reduce the intention to cheat. The result supports hypothesis 1. Other independent variables: religious activity (c = 0.0459, p = 0.1773), locus of control (c = 0.0787, p = 0.6196), and personality (c = −0.0678, p = 0.4821) show no influence on academic dishonesty. Besides, the results show both locus of control and personality as the moderating variables are not the independent variables influencing the academic dishonesty. Further examination on the role of locus of control and personality as the moderating variables in the influence of religious knowledge and religious activity on academic dishonesty illustrates in Table 7. Regression results without interaction Independent Variable C t-value p Religious Knowledge −0.1920 −2.7651 0.0062 Religious activity 0.0459 1.3534 0.1773 Locus of control 0.0787 0.4971 0.6196 Personality −0.0678 −0.7041 0.4821 Dependent variable: Academic dishonesty, *Significance level used is 1% and 5%, R-squared: 0.0433, Adjusted R-squared: 0.0267 Table 6. Locus of control Major Locus of Control Type Frequency Gender CGPA Female Male 1 2 3 4 5 Accounting Internal 57 26 4 16 30 14 8 External 90 33 14 18 42 38 11 Medical Internal 11 3 1 7 4 2 External 11 4 1 6 6 1 1 Note: The ranges of CGPA are 1) 2.75–2.99; 2) 3.00–3.25; 3) 3.26–3.50; 4) 3.51–3.75; 5) 3.76–4.00 Ridwan & Diantimala, Cogent Business & Management (2021), 8: 1875541 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1875541 Page 23 of 29