Malaysia’s Independence Day represents an important national commemoration associated with patriotism, national identity and social unity. Although previous studies have examined patriotism and nationhood education among university students, limited attention has been given to students’ perceptions of campus-based Independence Day celebrations. This study examines the relationships between awareness of Malaysia’s Independence Day, attitudes towards patriotism and perceptions of campus-based Independence Day celebrations among students at Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology (TAR UMT), Johor Branch. The study also examines the mediating role of patriotic attitudes in the relationship between Independence Day awareness and perceptions of campus-based celebrations. A quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted involving 100 undergraduate and diploma students who participated voluntarily through an online questionnaire. Data were analysed using SPSS version 29 through descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, correlation, regression and mediation analysis. The findings showed significant positive relationships among Independence Day awareness, patriotic attitudes and perceptions of campus-based celebrations. Awareness significantly predicted patriotic attitudes (? = .559, p < .001), while both awareness (? = .333, p = .001) and patriotic attitudes (? = .337, p < .001) significantly predicted students’ perceptions when included in the same regression model. The mediation analysis indicated that patriotic attitudes partially mediated the relationship between Independence Day awareness and perceptions of campus-based celebrations. The findings provide context-specific evidence on the relationships among Independence Day awareness, patriotic attitudes and students’ perceptions of university-organised commemorative activities. As the study involved students from a single branch campus and used non-probability sampling, the findings should be interpreted within the context of the institution studied.
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