Student Entitlement in Higher Education: The Investigation of Contributing Personality Characteristics and Variation among Academic Disciplines

Abstract

A growing concern among educators is that a sense of entitlement is running rampant within the American culture. Instructors report anecdotal evidence suggesting there is an increase in academic entitlement (AE) among college students. Faculty state they see evidence of AE exhibited in different ways. For example, students may exhibit blatant incivility, make unreasonable requests, or engage in academic dishonesty. The present study deconstructs the relationship between AE, three subcomponents of narcissism (Leadership/Authority, Grandiose Exhibitionism, and Entitlement/Exploitativeness), self-esteem, and gratitude. The findings suggest that AE is predicted by a combination of four of the variables: Leadership/Authority, Grandiose Exhibitionism, self-esteem, and gratitude. Additionally, the study examined whether mean levels of AE differ based on four classifications of academic disciplines and gender. The students' reported majors were identified as Investigative, Artistic, Social, or Enterprising according to Holland's (1997) theory. Findings suggest that males report slightly more AE than females and that students found in the Social disciplines report statistically significantly less AE than the other three disciplines. Implications for educational practitioners and future research are discussed.