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Identifying and recruiting future professionals: An empirical study of highly capable individuals' attitudes toward the accounting profession
Abstract
A perceived drop in the quality of accounting graduates, compounded by an expanding profession and a drop in the number of accounting majors, has prompted widespread calls for fundamental change in accounting education, with increased emphasis on developing communication, interpersonal and intellectual skills, and on broadening the knowledge base. A model of learning from the cognition literature posits that characteristics of the learners, such as previously-developed skills and knowledge, is one of three fundamental factors which affect learning outcomes. While most recent approaches to improving accounting graduate quality have focused on changing the educational process, this study addresses student quality. Its motivation is to assist in the identification of capable individuals and attracting greater numbers of them into accounting programs. Measures were developed to identify students likely to succeed in accounting careers and to measure their attitudes toward the accounting profession. A strong relationship between students' attitudes and the likelihood of their selection of accounting as an academic major was confirmed, suggesting that attitudes may be a fundamental factor in major selection. Using a quasi-experimental field study, the introductory accounting course was examined respecting its role as a recruiting tool. Changes in students' attitudes toward the accounting profession during their first semester of accounting were measured, to empirically ascertain the effectiveness of the course in attracting skilled students into accounting programs. Both "traditional" and "innovative" introductory courses were found to cause attitudes to deteriorate. However, the effect was shared by only approximately 60% of the subjects. Differences in the amount and direction of students' attitude changes were found between instructors. Differences in attitudes were also found between levels of student quality. Although better students generally had more favorable attitudes toward accounting, the relationship between student quality and attitude was non-linear. The best students had less favorable attitudes than the middle group. Furthermore, attitude changes during the semester appeared to be different between levels of student quality.
Subject Area
Accounting|Business education
Recommended Citation
Nelson, Irvin Tom, "Identifying and recruiting future professionals: An empirical study of highly capable individuals' attitudes toward the accounting profession" (1992). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9237673.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9237673