The Importance of Being Honest: Correlating Self-Report Accuracy and Network Centrality with Academic Performance

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the correlation of self-report accuracy with academic performance. The sample was composed of 289 undergraduate students (96 senior and 193 junior) enrolled in two engineering classes. Age ranged between 22 and 24 years, with a slight over representation of male students (53%). Academic performance was calculated based on students' final grades in each class. The tendency to report inaccurate information was measured at the end of the Raven Progressive Matrices Test, by asking students to report their exact finishing times. We controlled for gender, age, personality traits, intelligence, and past academic performance. We also included measures of centrality in their friendship, advice and trust networks. Correlation and multiple regression analyses results indicate that lower achieving students were significantly less accurate in self-reporting data. We also found that being more central in the advice network was correlated with higher performance (r = .20, p < .001). The results are aligned with existing literature emphasizing the individual and relational factors associated with academic performance and, pending future studies, may be utilized to include a new metric of self-report accuracy that is not dependent on academic records.

KEYWORDS:

• Education
• intelligence
• interpersonal relations
• learning
• peer relations
• personality
• social interaction

Author Notes

Andrea Fronzetti Colladon, PhD, is a Research Fellow and an Adjunct Professor of Engineering Economics at the University of Rome Tor Vergata. His research interests include social network and semantic analysis, innovation management, and organizational communication.Francesca Grippa, PhD, is an Associate Professor and Faculty Director at Northeastern University, College of Professional Studies. Her research and scholarship interests include nurturing and assessing collaborative innovation networks, entrepreneurship and change management, and building resilient communities and organizations.