Contributing Factors of Accountability among Undergraduate Students in Higher Education Institution in Malaysia

Abstract

People often view young people, especially those who study at tertiary education levels, as the nation's future leader. Attached with this vision are leaders with exceptional leadership skills and integrity in themselves, which is acquired by participating in various programmes and activities held by university. This paper suggests the factors that contribute to accountability among undergraduate students in Malaysian higher education institutions, as accountability is regarded as part of a leader's integrity. Data collected from a set of questionnaires prepared were analysed by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM SPSS) 23.0 and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) were employed to test the validity of questionnaires that has been answered by 744 participants. There were abundant studies and discussions from previous research regarding accountability that focused on government and corporate workers, school’s accountability, and others while little research are found related to student’s accountability. Results show that identity, environment, moral values, pressure, and students’ perception of corruption were the contributing factors of accountability among undergraduate students while religion and culture were insignificant factor in this study. Thus, this study is compelling as it is solely focused on undergraduate students that are part of the public community and academic community.