Personality and cyberbullying behaviours among undergraduates in a West Malaysian public university

Abstract

Social media has become a veritable platform of communication and interaction amongst young adults in the university environment as well as the larger society. As important as it is, certain users of the various platforms have been using it to cause psychological and emotional trauma to others through cyberbullying. This study therefore examined the personality profile and cyberbullying behaviours of undergraduates in a West Malaysian public university. It was a quantitative study and it adopted a correlational survey design. A total of 400 undergraduates were purposively selected from faculties of computing, electrical engineering and management. An adopted inventory entitled “TAJMA Personality Profile (TPP3)” and a researcher-developed questionnaire entitled “Engagement in Social Media Use and Undergraduates’ Cyberbullying Behaviours (ESMU)” were used for data collection. The instruments (TPP3 and ESMU) yielded coefficients of .95 and .92 respectively using Cronbach’s alpha reliability. Three research questions were raised. One null hypothesis was formulated and tested at 0.05 alpha level of significance. Data were analysed using Structural Equation Modelling Partial Least Squares 3 (SEM-PLS3). The findings revealed that there was a significant relationship between personality profile and cyberbullying behaviours of the university students. Hence, personality, particularly the distortion trait related to cyberbullying behaviours of undergraduates. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that undergraduates be properly and periodically educated and skilfully empowered on how to handle cyberbullying, and avoid distorted personality traits in their dealings with others, which is a likely strategy for stemming the menace of cyberbullying activities among undergraduates, particularly in a public university in West Malaysia.