Systematic review of the academic entitlement scale

Abstract A number of instruments have been developed to measure academic entitlement (AE). These instruments, which were all developed over a fairly short span of time, are based on various theories and define AE in different ways. This systematic review was therefore designed to summarize research findings based exclusively on quantitative data collected with the Academic Entitlement Scale (AES) questionnaire developed by Chowning et. al., in J Educ Psychol. 101(4): 982–997 (2009). The design were based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guideline Page, et. al., in BMJ. 372: n160 (2021). Studies from 2009 to 2023 were included. To supplement the review results, we compiled an overview of mean values of AES and the two subscales, age, sample size, university level, tuition fees, private or public university, country, and how AES scores change across university year level. We found 21 studies with 26 samples that fulfilled all our criteria for inclusion in the systematic review. Our systematic review found studies across a range of subject areas and identified several family and personality traits that may be risk factors for AE. Increased AE may result in negative consequences both for students and the affected lecturers and universities. Future research should examine AE in different countries, cultures, include longitudinal studies, and also investigate whether an intervention can be developed to reduce AE through the support of educationally adaptive constructs.