Abstract
ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between the impostor phenomenon (IP) and the academic behavior of stricto sensu postgraduate students in business area courses. Discussing the relationship between psychological variables and student academic behavior is a topic of interest as empirical evidence indicates that these variables affect the environment in which scientific research is developed. It is important to look for elements that help in understanding the IP in order to reduce its impacts on the performance, behavior, and feelings of students. Postgraduate students enrolled in stricto sensu courses may be refusing opportunities to advance in their professional careers and adopting behaviors that are discordant with those desired by universities because they feel like impostors in terms of their abilities. Besides the relevance of the relationships analyzed, this research also uses the Meurer and Costa Scale of Academic Behaviors - Stricto Sensu (MCSAB-SS), which can measure academic behaviors displayed in Brazilian postgraduate courses, enabling the development of new investigations into the topic. The population includes postgraduates enrolled in 2018 in academic master’s, professional master’s, and academic doctorate courses in administration, accounting, and economics, known as the business area. The data collection was operationalized via a survey carried out online, which obtained 1,816 valid participations. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, and the Spearman’s correlation. Higher levels of impostor feelings are positively associated with displays of counterproductive academic behaviors and are mostly negatively associated with academic citizenship behaviors. After identifying the IP in students, actions to minimize these feelings can be implemented, given that postgraduate students with the IP may not be engaging in the activities that permeate stricto sensu, thus damaging the climate and culture of cooperation needed in academia.
Highlights
Meriac (2012) recognizes the importance of transcending quantitative aspects, such as grades in the disciplines, and observing aspects relating to the discretionary behaviors displayed by students in the academic environment, which even though they include non-obligatory attitudes are important for teaching institutions and for students, since they relate to shaping the environment in which the teaching-learning process occurs
This study analyzed the relationship between the impostor phenomenon (IP) and the academic behavior of stricto sensu postgraduate students of business area courses
This study uses the MCSAB-SS research instrument, which is able to measure citizenship and counterproductive academic behaviors displayed in Brazilian postgraduation courses, enabling the development of new investigations into the topic
Summary
Alison Martins Meurer & Flaviano Costa the formal and informal structures of higher education organizations and the profile of students and teachers have changed since the 2000s, the ways of observing and evaluating student performance and behavior have remained practically unaltered, neglecting relevant elements that interfere in the running of a more effective teaching environment (Islam, Permzadian, Choudhury, Johnston, & Anderson, 2018; Meriac, 2012). Meriac (2012) recognizes the importance of transcending quantitative aspects, such as grades in the disciplines, and observing aspects relating to the discretionary behaviors displayed by students in the academic environment, which even though they include non-obligatory attitudes are important for teaching institutions and for students, since they relate to shaping the environment in which the teaching-learning process occurs.Discussions about discretionary behaviors practiced through the individual’s power of choice received more attention at the end of the 1980s and during the 1990s, as the investigations expanded into the consequences of interpersonal relationships in terms of task results and organizational performance. The pioneering study by Organ (1988) addressed the organizational citizenship behavior that is characterized by actions that are not formally required, but which contribute to an organization’s effective functioning and long-term results. Researchers (e.g., Allison, Voss, & Dryer, 2001; Meriac, 2012) have transposed these constructs to the educational context, using different nomenclatures to discuss citizenship and counterproductive behaviors in the university environment. In this investigation, the descriptions “academic citizenship behavior” (ACB) and “counterproductive academic behavior” (CAB) are adopted, which form a general construct known here as “academic behavior.”
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