Mobility, independent agency, and cosmopolitan settlement: Evidence from Chinese senior undergraduates

Cosmopolitan cities share similarities with historical frontiers, including potential opportunities for economic success, high social mobility, weakened traditional conventions, and adventure and novel experiences. Individuals with high independence typically prefer to settle in cosmopolitan cities. However, previous research testing this cosmopolitan settlement hypothesis did not consider the influence of relational mobility and residential mobility. Moreover, the mechanisms that drive people to prefer cosmopolitan cities remain unclear. This study examines the relationships among independence, relational mobility, residential mobility, and preference for cosmopolitan cities among 296 Chinese senior undergraduates. The results indicate that: (1) independence remains a positive predictor of the preference for cosmopolitan cities above and beyond relational mobility, residential mobility (i.e., history, state, and intention), and other covariates; (2) intention of residential mobility also positively predicts preference for cosmopolitan cities when controlling for related covariates; and (3) relational mobility indirectly predicts perceived preference for cosmopolitan cities through dependence. This research underscores the importance of identifying the factors and mechanisms affecting cosmopolitan settlement.

Students' Perceptions of University Corruption in a Spanish Public University: A Path Analysis

Most research on corruption in educational settings has focused on a cross-national and macro-level analysis; however, to our knowledge, few papers have sought to explore individual perceptions that explain corruption in higher education. The present research aimed to disentangle students’ predictors of corrupt intention in a Spanish public university. A total of 933 undergraduate, postgraduate, and Ph.D. students filled out an online survey measuring four corruption scenarios: favoritism, bribery, fraud, and embezzlement. Path analysis (PA) revealed that justifiability, risk perception, and perceived prevalence of corruption were significant factors in predicting corrupt intention. Moreover, willingness to report a corrupt act was predicted by corrupt intention, justifiability, and risk perception. Corrupt behavior is a complex phenomenon explained not only by peers’ behavior, but also by their individual justifications and perception of risk. Education is not free of corruption, and universities must address this urgent problem in order to avoid future economic, societal, and ethical problems.