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Factors Influencing Students' Choice of an Accounting Major in Australia
Satoshi Sugahara a; Gregory Boland b; Andrea Cilloni c
a Hiroshima Shudo University, Japan b University of Canberra, Australia c Universita Degli Studi Di Parma,
Italy
Online Publication Date: 01 March 2008
To cite this Article Sugahara, Satoshi, Boland, Gregory and Cilloni, Andrea(2008)'Factors Influencing Students' Choice of an
Accounting Major in Australia',Accounting Education,17:1,S37 — S54
To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/09639280802009199
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Factors Influencing Students’ Choice of
an Accounting Major in Australia
SATOSHI SUGAHARA, GREGORY BOLAND and ANDREA
CILLONI†
Hiroshima Shudo University, Japan, University of Canberra, Australia, †Universita Degli
Studi Di Parma, Italy
Received: November 2006
Revised: August 2007; October 2007; January 2008
Accepted: February 2008
ABSTRACT This study explores the influential factors that affect business students’ selection of a
major course of study at the tertiary level in Australian universities. The present research
examined the differences in the impact that various influential factors had on the decision to
major in accounting among students studying at Australian universities. The sample was
collected from a survey of undergraduate and graduate students studying at two large Australian
universities in November 2005. A total of 46 domestic and 68 international students participated
in this study. The results showed that domestic students possessed higher levels of creativity and
were more likely to select majors in subjects other than accounting. Conversely, it was found that
although Chinese students possessed relatively lower levels of creativity, they were more likely to
major in accounting when studying in Australia. Another finding from this study was that Asian
students other than Chinese perceived the accounting profession as a career with less procedural
characteristics so they were more likely to major in accounting compared to domestic Australian
students who regarded the profession as one that had greater procedural characteristics. This
paper contributes to a better understanding of the differences in students’ creativity and
procedural images of the accounting profession among domestic and international students and
of how these factors influenced their choice of an accounting major.
KEY WORDS: Accounting professions, major choice, vocational expectation factor, cognitive style,
perception
Introduction
Changes in both economic conditions and the business environment over recent decades
have meant that the nature of tasks undertaken by the accounting profession has signifi-
cantly changed. In response, the profession and academia have encouraged candidates
who possess various generic skills to apply for entry. However, contrary to such
changes, there has been a global decline in the number of students majoring in tertiary
Accounting Education: an international journal
Vol. 17, Supplement, S37 – S54, September 2008
Correspondence Address: Satoshi Sugahara, Faculty of Commerce Sciences, Hiroshima Shudo University,
Asaminami-ku, Hiroshima, Japan. E-mail: sugahara@shudo-u.ac.jp
0963-9284 Print/1468-4489 Online/08/S10037– 18 #2008 Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/09639280802009199
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accounting particularly in countries such as the USA (Albrecht and Sack, 2000), UK
(Marriott and Marriott, 2003) and Ireland (Byrne and Willis, 2005). As a result, accounting
academics and professional bodies in these countries have been left with the dilemma on
how to attract students into accounting.
In contrast, Australian universities are experiencing the reverse situation. Recent studies
by the accounting professional bodies in Australia (including the Institute of Chartered
Accountants in Australia (ICAA) and CPA Australia), have shown that the growth in enrol-
ments of students majoring in accounting has increased substantially (ICAA, 2001). Birrell
and Rapson (2005) revealed that this increase is primarily due to the increasing number of
full-fee paying overseas students entering Australia to study accounting. However, claims
have been made that, despite this increase, a serious problem has been created for employers
in accounting firms who believe these overseas students lack the generic skills, particularly
language communication skills, that they seek (Birrell, 2006). Given these underlying
conditions, some previous studies have attempted to identify the factors that drive overseas
students to study accounting in Australia. For example, Jackling and Keneley (2007)
investigated the differences in possible influences that certain factors may have on the
supply side of accounting graduates. Their subjects were local and international accounting
undergraduates in an Australian university. Of note, Jackling and Keneley’s (2007) study
was the first to focus on the impact that permanent residence (PR) may have on international
students studying accounting in Australia. Using statistical evidence, they found that the
prospect of obtaining PR status in Australia was a strong driver of their intention to major
in accounting and become an accounting professional. However, it was also found that
other intrinsic and extrinsic factors contributed to their decision making process besides
this PR factor (Jackling and Keneley, 2007; Jackling, 2007).
In September 2007 the Australian government amended the procedure of assessing PR,
whereby overseas students who wish to gain PR would be required to focus on several other
important perspectives depending on the profession they chose (see web site for Australian
Government, Department of Immigration and Citizenship: http://www.immi.gov.au).
This latest amendment also turns our attention to other possible, yet unique, factors
which may influence overseas students when choosing to major in accounting compared
to domestic students (who are not affected by this PR policy, of course).
Other studies have addressed the unpopularity of accounting among domestic students
in Australia, whose numbers are stagnating compared to the enormous increase in account-
ing students from overseas. Mladenovic (2000) found that students’ negative views toward
the accounting profession were associated with their image of complex numerical skills
being required. Jackling (2002) reported that introductory accounting courses did not
produce positive perceptions of the accounting profession for students. Jackling and
Calero (2006) found that the motivation of students to pursue an accounting career was
influenced by their intrinsic interest and perceptions. This latter study found that the
greater the perception that accounting requires complex number skills, then the less
likely that students would be interested in pursuing a career in this field.
The research question posed in this current study is whether there are significant differ-
ences in the impact that broader influential factors may have on a decision to major in
accounting by both international and domestic students studying in Australian universities.
It is expected that the findings of this study may assist accounting educators, particularly
those who teach students from overseas, to become more understanding and sensitive as to
the reasons why students choose an accounting major. Similarly, the results may assist
policy makers and regulatory authorities to reform their agendas in an attempt to
achieve a well-balanced supply of domestic and overseas students who have the necessary
skills sought by the accounting profession.
S38 S. Sugahara et al.
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The next section reviews prior studies that have revealed important issues for
accounting academics in this area. Following this section, the research method used in
the current study together with the two hypotheses are described. The results of our empiri-
cal study are then analysed and interpreted. The paper concludes with a general discussion
of the findings, together with implications and limitations.
Literature Review
Prior studies have sought to identify the factors that influence a student’s choice of
an accounting major and compared their results across nationalities. These include
students’ backgrounds, the influences of other persons, vocational expectation factors,
cognitive styles, and perceptions of the accounting profession. The present study has
categorized prior studies into three themes according to the characteristics of such
factors previously examined. These include vocational expectation factors, perception
of the accounting profession and cognitive style. In previous studies, Saemann and
Crooker (1999) investigated relationships between perceptions of the accounting
profession, cognitive styles of creativity and decisions to major in accounting among
students in a US university. Their findings reported that negative perceptions of the
profession, together with heavy workloads required in accounting courses, discouraged
students who also possessed a high creativity of cognitive ability from choosing an
accounting major. This previous study, however, did not focus on multi-cultural
attributes or differences affecting students’ choices of particular majors. The present
study attempted to extend this research to examine the impact of additional vocational
expectation factors across different nationality groups.
Vocational Expectation Factors
Studies of students’ choice of a major in accounting originated with research investi-
gating vocational choice because it was believed that students’ intention of majoring in
accounting was associated with favourable job expectations. Some of these studies
investigated factors such as intrinsic values, financial factors and social prestige (e.g.
Gul et al., 1989; Ahmed et al., 1997; Mauldin et al., 2000). On a broader scale,
researchers have found that the impact of these vocational expectation factors relating
to the choice of one’s major may be different across nations or between cultural groups.
Using Paolillo and Estes’ (1982) 12 influential factors, Auyeung and Sands (1997)
compared perception of these factors between Australian and Chinese students.
Although their study focused on the impact of factors toward a career choice in
accounting, the results supported the notion that nationality differences exist in
terms of vocational expectation factors such as job availability, social prestige,
and earnings potential. The findings indicated that Chinese students were more con-
cerned with these factors than their Australian counterparts were. In New Zealand,
Tan and Laswad (2006) used the psychological analysis model known as the Theory
of Planned Behavior (TPB) to explore factors affecting accounting choice including
personal perceptions, perceptions of influential people and perceived control for both
domestic and international students. Among the findings, it was discovered that
both domestic and international non-accounting students held different views on
earning potential and job opportunities within the accounting profession. These
studies may indicate that the effectiveness of vocational expectation factors vary
according to nationality differences.
Students’ Choice of an Accounting Major in Australia S39
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Perceptions of the Accounting Profession
Other studies have found that the primary driver inspiring students toward an accounting
major have been their perceptions of the profession. These studies occurred in different
parts of the world and they have investigated the effectiveness of perceptual factors influ-
encing a student’s major and career choice. They concluded that significant differences in
this factor profile existed between accounting and non-accounting students in the USA
(Geiger and Ogilby, 2000; Allen, 2004), the UK (Fisher and Murphy, 1995; Marriott
and Marriott, 2003), Ireland (Byrne and Willis, 2005), Australia (Jackling, 2002) and in
New Zealand (Tan and Laswad, 2006). However, no specific studies have been undertaken
to investigate the perception of students from Chinese and other Asian countries, who gen-
erally constitute the majority of overseas students studying in Australia. Jackling (2002)
researched the multi-cultural environment existing in Australian universities by using
students from an introductory accounting course to examine potential differences in
their perceptions of the accounting profession but did not address nationality difference
as being a factor.
In other countries, Sugahara et al. (2006) found unique perceptions existing toward Cer-
tified Public Accountants (CPA) within Japanese society. The CPA exam in Japan is very
competitive and the government-certified CPA licence only allows those students who
pass the CPA examination to practice auditing activities independently. Therefore, such
a competitive selection process is likely to assure dignity and prestige for the profession.
The CPA examination in Korea is also very competitive (Joo et al., 2007), so Korean stu-
dents may also perceive the accounting profession differently. Accordingly, differences in
perceptions between students from different nationalities may generate a considerable gap
on the supply side of accounting professionals.
Cognitive Style
Students’ cognitive style is also considered an important driver affecting one’s choice of
major. Research has identified particular cognitive styles affecting the decision-making of
students who major in accounting. Such research was considered necessary due to the
rapid development and ever-changing nature of our economy, which has placed great
pressure on the accounting sector to recruit students who possess different cognitive
styles. For example, using a particular psychological instrument—the Myers – Briggs
Type Indicator (MBTI), some studies discovered that accounting students have very intro-
verted cognitive styles (e.g. Oswick and Barber, 1998), while other studies have found that
these students have cognitive styles with a strong bias towards sensing, thinking and
judging (Lawrence and Taylor, 2000; Ramsay et al., 2000). Despite the demand by the
accounting profession for a variety of diversified cognitive styles to suit the changing
work environment, most prior studies succeeded only in revealing that a strong and
unique cognitive bias existed among accounting students.
Along similar lines, Auyeung and Sands (1996) explored cognitive learning styles of
accounting students in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Australia to examine whether the differ-
ence in cultural dimension of individualism/collectivism could influence students’ cogni-
tive development. Desai and Taylor (1998) also examined how the degree of individualism
affected learning styles between Australian and Asian students. The findings from both
studies revealed significant differences in learning style preferences between Australian
and other students. Similarly, Hutchinson and Gul (1997) investigated the relationship
between cognitive styles of extroversion/introversion and the cultural dimension of indi-
vidualism/collectivism for students studying at universities in Hong Kong. This study
S40 S. Sugahara et al.
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discovered that the effect of cultural differences depended on the degree of extroversion/
introversion of these students. Such prior studies indicate that a student’s cognitive style
will be influenced by differences in nationality, which may eventually drive a student’s
choice of a major in accounting.
Accordingly, some prior studies relate the impact of culture and nationality differences
to various types of influential factors affecting a student’s choice of an accounting major.
However, the findings of these studies have not provided sufficient evidence to address the
unique circumstances existing in Australia today where the number of domestic students
majoring in accounting is plateauing while such majors for international students are on
the increase.
Research Method
Data Collection
The data for this study was collected via a questionnaire completed by students who were
studying undergraduate and graduate degrees at two large Australian universities. These
two universities cater for both domestic and international students with one being per-
ceived as research-based while the other is a teaching-based institution. The students sur-
veyed in this study were mainly majoring in business-related subjects such as business
administration, finance, commerce and accounting. The questionnaire was administered
during the final week of the second semester (in November, 2005).
Of the 144 students sampled, usable responses totalled 114 (giving an effective response
rate of 79.17%). The reason for eliminating 30 students from the study sample was primar-
ily due to incomplete questionnaires. Table 1 shows the sample’s descriptive information.
This comprised 68 international students and 46 domestic students. International students
were also classified into three sub-categories: Chinese, other Asian, and others. The data
collection was anonymous. The respondents were given class time to complete their ques-
tionnaire and these were collected immediately upon completion. To determine compar-
ability among the four student groups, this study applied the Analysis of Variance
(ANOVA) for age and Chi-square tests for major, academic level and gender. The
results of these preliminary analyses revealed significant differences in academic levels
(
x
2
¼20.662, sig. ¼0) and gender (
x
2
¼12.551, sig. ¼0.006). Such results left open
the question of homogeneity among the student groups, which must be taken into
account when drawing interpretations from our primary analysis.
Developing the Research Design
This study initially investigated whether various influential factors were statistically
associated with a student’s choice of a major in accounting. A logistic regression was
applied to examine the association of students’ choice of a major in accounting with
various factors. This technique enables us to predict a discrete outcome for students’
major choice from a set of independent variables. This was supported by the ANOVA
to determine if differences in nationalities affected each factor. The logistic regression
in this study used students’ choice of major in accounting as the dummy variable
similar to the Worthington and Higgs (2003; 2004) studies that investigated relationships
between independent variables and a student’s choice of a major in finance or econ-
omics—coded zero for YES and one for NO. This current study applied the coded
dummy according to students’ choice of a major in accounting as being the dependent
variable.
Students’ Choice of an Accounting Major in Australia S41
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Second, the current study attempted to identify the compound factors obtained from the
preliminary principal component analyses. This technique was employed separately to
analyse each set of principal components from the influential factors for both vocational
expectation factors and perceptions of the accounting profession. For vocational
expectation factors, this study analysed students’ responses to 18 influential attributes
that may affect their vocational selection process regardless of their intended careers.
These attributes, as shown in Table 2, were mainly replicated from previous literature
(e.g. Paolillo and Estes, 1982; Ahmed et al., 1997; Auyeung and Sands, 1997). Students
were asked by questionnaire to rate all 18 attributes on a five-point Likert scale, where
Table 2. Attributes influencing a student’s vocational selection
1 An interesting job 10 Advancement opportunities
2 Good long-term earnings 11 Chance to make a contribution to society
3 Good initial salary 12 Social prestige
4 Job availability 13 Gives you a powerful authority
5 Security of employment 14 Length of work hours
6 Job that challenges you intellectually 15 Interaction with others
7 Job where creativity is encouraged 16 Gender equality
8 Job that allows for independence 17 Sufficient time for your personal life
9 Give flexibility in career options 18 Good physical working conditions
Table 1. Descriptive information
Student categories
(number)
Australian
students (46)
International students (68)
Total (114)Chinese Other Asian
a
Other
b
Number 46 23 34 11 114
Major
(
x
2
¼4.958, Sig. ¼0.175)
Accounting 19 15 21 6 61
Non-Acc 27 8 13 5 53
Academic level
(
x
2
¼20.662, Sig. ¼0)
Undergraduate 38 10 12 6 66
Postgraduate 8 13 22 5 48
Gender
(
x
2
¼12.551, Sig. ¼0.006)
Male 26 6 24 8 64
Female 20 17 10 3 50
Age
(F ¼0.997, Sig. ¼0.397)
Min 18 20 18 20 18
Max 50 38 35 43 50
Mean 25.56 24.91 24.03 27.70 25.14
a
Other Asian: India, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Pakistan, Thailand and
Vietnam.
b
Others: USA, UK, Peru, Iran, Trinidad and Tobago, Finland, Poland, Mauritius, and Jordan.
S42 S. Sugahara et al.
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a score of one indicated that the factor had little importance on career choice and a score of
five indicated their response to be very important.
In relation to perceptions toward the accounting profession, students were asked to
complete a 36 five-point scale of opposing adjectives on the basis of their perceptions
of the accounting profession (see Table 3). This instrument was originally developed by
Saemann and Crooker (1999) to assess respondents’ perception toward the accounting
profession. It is referred to as the PAPI, which has been widely applied in research by
several authors (e.g. Worthington and Higgs, 2003: 2004: Byrne and Willis, 2005).
The responses from students’ vocational expectation factors and their perceptions of the
accounting profession were then compiled using principal component analyses separately
in order to decrease the number of perceived factors in each factor group. The compound
factors were used as independent variables in the regression analyses.
Third, Gough’s (1979) 30-item Creative Personality Scale (CPS) was used in our ques-
tionnaire in an endeavour to determine a student’s cognitive style. Among various
methods of measurement for one’s cognitive style, the study focused on students’ creativ-
ity as a form of students’ cognitive type over other popular measures such as the MBTI.
This choice was made due to its conciseness, which allows researchers to investigate as
few as 30 items. Students were asked to choose from a list of 30 adjectives items,
which they believed best described themselves (see Table 4).
The items chosen were awarded a þ1 score, while those which students did not choose
were given a 21 score. Total scores ranged from 212 to þ18. The higher the score the
more creative students were deemed to be. The weighted composite technique was used
to confirm the reliability of the CPS index. This method has also been used in many
prior studies. The score computed for the Cronbach alpha indicating internal reliability
in this current study was 0.613, which is quite plausible compared with 0.60 for
Saemann and Crooker (1999) and 0.70 for Worthington and Higgs (2003).
Preliminary Statistical Analysis
In this study, the principal component analyses were applied as the preliminary statistical
analysis for both students’ vocational expectation factors and perceptions of the
Table 3. The measurement of students’ perception
Creative solution/cut and dry Extrovert/introvert Practical/theoretical
a
Repetition/variety
a
Conceptual/analytical
a
Tedious/absorbing
New ideas/established rules Innovation/compliance Fascinating/monotonous
a
Boring/interesting Intuition/facts Abstract/concrete
Challenging/easy
a
Ambiguity/certainty Effectiveness/efficiency
Dull/exciting Planned/spontaneous
a
Imagination/logic
Flexible/structured Changing/fixed Thorough/superficial
a
Solitary/interaction with
others
a
Methodical/novelty
a
Unpredictable/routine
Conformity/originality
a
Record-keeping/decision-makingDetails/overview
a
Dynamic/stable Benefits society/profit-driven Accurate/imprecise
a
Adaptable/inflexible Prestigious/ordinary
a
Mathematical/verbal
a
Standard operating procedures/
new solutions
a
People-oriented/number crunching Alternative views/
uniform standards
a
These pairs were reverse coded.
Students’ Choice of an Accounting Major in Australia S43
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accounting profession. These analyses were undertaken using the Promax rotation tech-
nique to assist with the interpretation of potential influential factors. The Kaiser Meyer
Olkin (KMO) adequacy values were then used to determine whether a correlation
matrix existed or not between compounded factors. This was calculated at 0.714 for voca-
tional expectation factors and 0.669 for perceptive items indicating that the correlation
matrix was appropriate for factor analyses. Table 5 displays details of the extracted com-
ponents, eigenvalues and percentage of variance for influential vocational expectation
Table 4. Gough’s 30-item creative personality scale
Aclever Acapable Acautious
Acommonplace Aconfident Aconservative
Aconventional Adissatisfied Aegotistical
Ahonest Ahumorous Aindividualistic
Ainformal Ainsightful Aintelligent
Ainventive Amannerly Anarrow interests
Aoriginal Apompous Areflective
Aresourceful Aself-confident Asexy
Asincere Asnobbish Asubmissive
Asuspicious Aunconventional Awide interests
Table 5. The principal component analysis for vocational expectation factors
Principal component factors
12 3 4
Intrinsic
value
(INV)
Career
status
(CAS)
Work
environment
(WOE)
Job market
consideration
(JMC)
Job that challenges you intellectually 0.842
Job where creativity is encouraged 0.811
Job that allows for independence 0.811
Give flexibility in career options 0.617
Social prestige 0.985
Gives you powerful authority 0.920
Sufficient time for your personal life 0.870
Good physical working conditions 0.663
Length of work hours 0.660
Job availability 0.913
Security of employment 0.521
Good initial salary 0.496
Cronbach alphas 0.792 0.896 0.646 0.647
Eigenvalues 4.985 1.984 1.738 1.407
Variance (%) 27.694 11.021 9.654 7.815
Extracted method: Principal component analysis.
Rotation method: Promax technique with Kaiser normalization.
Factor loadings .0.4 reported.
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factor items. Applying Cattell’s scree test, four factor scores were derived from the 18 sur-
veyed items as replacements for the original variables. In this process, scores of greater
than 0.4 were considered a loading for each compounded factor. The resulting factor
scores for vocational expectations produced 56.184% of cumulative percentages of var-
iance within each factor group respectively.
After applying this factor analysis four components were chosen and labeled according
to previous studies. The largest factor was referred to as intrinsic value (INV), which was
specifically defined in some prior studies as the factor relating to one’s satisfaction derived
from his/her job such as the chance to be creative, intellectually challenging, independent
and so on (e.g. Ahmed et al., 1997; Nelson, 2002). The second largest factor was career
status (CAS). According to accounting literature, this factor is likely to contain advance-
ment opportunities and social status (Ahmadi et al., 1995) as well as financial rewards
(Ahmed et al., 1997). The third largest factor was referred to as work environment
(WOE). A previous study by Buckley and McKenna (1973) similarly regarded attributes
such as the length of hours worked and other physical working conditions, as crucial
aspects of employers’ job motivation. The fourth and final factor was job market consider-
ations (JMC) which has also been observed in several prior studies, where both job secur-
ity and job availability were considered as labour market attributes (e.g. Paollilo and Estes,
1982; Ahmed et al., 1997).
Table 6 provides results of the extracted components, eigenvalues and percentage of
variance for students’ perception of the accounting profession. Initially, 36 original
variables were measured on a semantic differential scale with one indicating agreement
Table 6. The principal component analysis for perceptions of the accounting profession
Factors
1234
Procedural
(PRO)
Precision
(PRE)
Static
(STA)
Structured
(STR)
Decision-making/record-keeping 0.551
Verbal/mathematical 0.468
Variety/repetition 0.465
Theoretical/practical 0.895
Imprecise/accurate 0.806
Overview/details 0.686
Adaptable/inflexible 0.841
Dynamic/stable 0.792
Unpredictable/routine 0.914
Intuition/facts 0.680
Imagination/logic 0.659
Changing/fixed 0.528
Cronbach alphas 0.616 0.695 0.539 0.636
Eigenvalues 5.641 5.138 2.607 1.747
Variance (%) 15.670 14.271 7.243 4.853
Extracted method: Principal component analysis.
Rotation method: Promax technique with Kaiser normalization.
Factor loadings .0.4 reported.
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with the left hand word and five indicating agreement with the right hand word. Several
pairs of words were reverse coded in the instrument so that they were converted before
this principal component analysis was undertaken (Table 3). Among data obtained from
the principal component analysis, the latent constructs with a greater than 0.4 score
were selected along with each dimension. Cattell’s scree test was then applied to com-
pound the four factors drawn from the 36 items as replacements for the original variables.
Finally, all compounded factors were comprehensively interpreted in order to provide
appropriate labels. The resulting factor scores for students’ perception of the accounting
profession produced 42.037% of cumulative percentages of variance within each factor
group respectively.
The largest component factor was procedural (PRO). All attributes categorized in this
factor were related to the negative image of the CPA the perception of whom was seen
as a professional person dealing only with numbers and calculations (Jackling, 2002).
For our study, the following three attributes of decision-making/record-keeping;
verbal/mathematical and variety/repetition were included in this factor. The second
largest factor was interpreted as precision (PRE), because Saemann and Crooker
(1999), who administered the same instrument in their questionnaire, obtained and
labelled a compound factor as precision (PRE) which contained all three factors drawn
from our analysis. These factors were theoretical/practical; imprecise/accurate and over-
view/details. The third factor was formed from the two attributes of adaptive/inflexible
and dynamic/stable. This component factor was aggregated as static (STA) because
these two adjectives represent the unlikelihood of changing or moving. The fourth
factor label, structured (STR), also came from Saemann and Crooker (1999), as three
out of four attributes, theoretical/practical, imprecise/accurate and overview/details
were similarly categorized as STR in this prior study.
The internal reliability of the responses measured by the Cronbach alphas ranged from
0.646 to 0.896 for vocational expectation factors and from 0.539 to 0.695 for perceived
factors of the accounting profession respectively. These scores were close to the generally
acceptable 0.7 for Cronbach alpha scores. In relation to perceptions of the accounting pro-
fession, however, the scores for these alphas were lower than 0.7 but they still compared
favourably with previous studies that accepted a range from 0.64 to 0.89 (Saemann and
Crooker, 1999) and from 0.41 to 0.89 (Worthington and Higgs, 2003) where this same
instrument was employed.
Hypotheses Development
The study applied the logistic regression analysis to examine students’ major choice of
accounting (CHA) as the dependent variable (one for accounting major; zero for non-
accounting major) with students’ creativity (CPS), vocational expectation factors (consist-
ing of intrinsic value: INV, career status: CAS, work environment: WOE, and job market
condition: JMC) and their perceptions of the accounting profession (procedural: PRO, pre-
cision: PRE, static: STR and structured: STR) as being the independent variables. Accord-
ingly, the first hypothesis, described in null form, is as follows:
H
0
-1: Students’ choice of major in accounting has no relation to their inherent creativities,
vocational expectation factors and perceptions of the accounting profession.
Our preliminary principal component analyses returned eight component factors. Each
factor score obtained from the factor analyses was computed as the mean scores of all
component attributes. Accordingly, the following logistic regression model was created
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to investigate our target hypothesis:
CHA ¼
a
þb1CPS þb2INV þb3CAS þb4WOE þb5JMC þb6PRO þb7PRE
þb8STA þb9STR þ1i
In addition to observing the existence (or not) of any significant linear relationships, the
study attempted to examine differences in the mean scores of all variables between nation-
alities. To compare our outcomes with prior studies (e.g. Desai and Taylor, 1998; Auyeung
and Sands, 1996), two extra categories were created for Chinese and other Asian students.
Accordingly, the sample was divided into four nationality categories with these being
Australian, Chinese, other Asian, and others. The group, other Asian, comprised students
from India, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Pakistan,
Thailand, and Vietnam. The ANOVA test was then applied to explore the following
hypothesis in null form:
H
0
-2: There is no difference in inherent creativity, vocational expectation factors and percep-
tions of the accounting profession between domestic Australian students, Chinese students,
other Asian students and other students.
As mentioned in the earlier section of our research design, final interpretation will be
drawn from the combined results of both these hypotheses.
Results
The Logistic Regression Results
Table 7 provides the results of the logistic regression for students’ choice of an accounting
major, which examined potential associations between various independent variables.
Logistic regression was used to identify which variables predict students’ choice of
major and how these variables affect their decision. The score of Chi-square for goodness
of fit was 28.483 with nine degrees of freedom at the 0.001 level of the P-value. The
Table 7. Logistic regression results
Coefficient (B) Std error P-value Predicted sign
(Constant) 20.475 2.825 0.866
CPS 20.181 0.077 0.020
a
2
INV 0.212 0.104 0.041
a
þ
CAS 20.268 0.153 0.080 2
WOE 20.036 0.132 0.786 2
JMC 0.281 0.136 0.039
a
þ
PRO 20.318 0.126 0.012
b
2
PRE 0.044 0.100 0.662 þ
STA 20.022 0.111 0.842 2
STR 20.475 0.172 0.866 2
Overall classification accuracy ¼70.8%.
x
2
¼28.483, degree of freedom ¼9 (Sig. ¼0.001).
R
2
¼0.314.
a
Significance at the 0.05 level.
b
Significance at the 0.01 level.
þpositive effect by the independent variable, – negative effect by the independent variable.
Students’ Choice of an Accounting Major in Australia S47
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function classified 70.8% of cases in the validation sample accurately at the 0.01 signifi-
cance level. The results also indicated a significant and positive relationship between the
intrinsic value (INV) and the job market consideration (JMC) at the 0.05 level. Conver-
sely, the CHA represented a significant but negative relationship between the Creative
Personality Scale (CPS) and the procedural variable (PRO) with statistical significance
at the 0.05 and 0.01 levels respectively. No significant relationships were found with
any other independent variables in this regression model. This result therefore rejected
hypothesis H
0
-1 in terms of the factors with significant association. However, the score
of R
2
was 31.4% indicating limited relationships existing within our model, which
suggests the possibility of stronger influential factors outside the model.
The ANOVA Results
To test Hypothesis H
0
-2, the ANOVA was applied to identify potential differences in
mean scores over several variables according to students from different nationalities.
This analysis method was implemented with the Least Square Difference t-test (LSD)
to capture any latent significant differences in various target factors particularly
between Australian students and the other three nationality groups. The results in
Table 8 reported a significant difference in the Creative Personality Scale (CPS) at the
1% level among nationality groups. In addition, the results of the LSD found that
Chinese students’ CPS was significantly lower at the 1% level compared to Australian stu-
dents. It was also found from the results of the LSD that the Chinese student group pos-
sessed a significantly higher career status (CAS) than Australian students at the 1%
level. Other findings from the LSD revealed that other Asian students had significant
differences in both procedural (PRO) image and precision (PRE) at the 5% level. In con-
trast, the category of others had no significant differences in any other variables compared
to their Australian counterparts. Accordingly, H
0
-2 was rejected in terms of Chinese stu-
dents for their creativity (CPS) and career status (CAS) but not for their perception of the
accounting profession. For the other Asian student group, the H
0
-2 was rejected for the
procedural (PRO) and precision (PRE) of perceptive factors but not for vocational expec-
tation factors and creativity.
Table 8. ANOVA results for students’ nationalities
Australian (46) Chinese (23) Other Asian (34) Others (11) ANOVA
Means (SD) Means (SD) Means (SD) Means (SD) F–value (sig.)
CHA 0.413 (0.497) 0.652 (0.486) 0.617 (0.493) 0.545 (0.522) 1.667 (0.178)
CPS 3.369 (3.035) 0.782 (2.152)
b
2.264 (2.987) 2.909 (2.948) 4.338 (0.006)
a
INV 3.965 (0.577) 3.934 (0.683) 3.963 (0.771) 3.954 (0.940) 0.011 (0.998)
CAS 3.358 (0.904) 3.695 (0.822)
b
3.926 (0.897) 3.454 (1.490) 2.460 (0.067)
WOE 3.985 (0.655) 3.985 (0.554) 4.039 (0.700) 4.090 (0.668) 0.111 (0.953)
JMC 3.949 (0.612) 3.913 (0.786) 4.166 (0.662) 4.060 (0.533) 0.952 (0.418)
PRO 3.289 (0.722) 3.029 (0.864) 2.941 (0.698)
c
2.969 (0.936) 1.595 (0.195)
PRE 3.608 (0.820) 3.246 (0.990) 3.156 (0.865)
c
3.533 (0.819) 2.078 (0.107)
STA 3.228 (0.611) 3.304 (0.985) 3.060 (0.854) 3.000 (0.921) 0.665 (0.575)
STR 3.627 (0.599) 3.608 (0.656) 3.507 (0.569) 3.300 (0.888) 0.852 (0.464)
a
Significant differences via the ANOVA at the 0.01 level.
b
Significant difference by the least square difference t-test (LSD) against Australian group at the 0.01 level.
c
Significant difference by the LSD against Australian group at the 0.05 level.
S48 S. Sugahara et al.
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With significant differences in sample proportions across nationalities in terms of aca-
demic levels and gender, this study firstly applied t-tests to examine differences in the
influential variables. These additional investigations revealed significant differences
only in the mean scores for intrinsic value (INV) between undergraduate and graduate stu-
dents (Table 9). No significant differences were found in any of the factors within gender
groups. Therefore, supplementary analysis was conducted using the ANOVA to examine
any differences in scores for INV between the four student groups in accordance with the
two academic levels and two nationality groups. The results reported that both scores for
graduate groups in Australia and international student groups were significantly higher
than those for international undergraduate students at the 0.05 level. Additionally,
further analysis was conducted to examine the mean score of the INV for international stu-
dents who majored in accounting and non-accounting respectively. Although the sample
number was too small to produce significant evidence, the results indicated that scores for
international undergraduate students who majored in accounting (18 samples) was 3.639
compared to 3.825 for their international undergraduate non-accounting counterparts (10
samples).
Interpretation
Creativity and Nationality Differences
The findings from the logistic regression analysis reported a predicted relationship between
several influential factors and students’ choice of a major in accounting (Table 7). Among
these factors, the ANOVA analysis discovered difference in the Creative Personality Scale
(CPS) between Australian and Chinese students (Table 8). These results indicate that
domestic Australian students, who possessed the cognitive style of higher creativity,
were unlikely to major in accounting, while Chinese students, who were found to be rela-
tively less creative, tended to major in accounting in Australian universities. Although not
significant, the score for other Asian students was also lower than that of their Australian
counterparts. Several studies undertaken in the USA, such as Wolk and Cates (1994) and
Saemann and Crooker (1999), previously discovered that accounting students with strong
interests in accounting subjects were generally less innovative and not as good at managing
unstructured situations using original ideas. Our findings also empirically supported that
this unfavourable correlation existed along with a student’s nationality.
Procedural Image and Nationality Differences
Our ANOVA analysis also revealed significant differences in students’ perception toward
the professional procedural trait (PRO) between Australian and other Asian student
Table 9. Differences in the mean scores for intrinsic value (INV)
Undergraduate (66) Graduate (48)
Australian (38) International (28) Australian (8) International (40)
t-test (SD) 3.815 (2.851) 4.154 (2.463) t¼22.626
c
ANOVA test 3.898 3.705
a
4.321 4.125 F ¼0.038
b
a
Significant difference by the LSD against two graduate student groups at the 0.05 level.
b
Significant difference via ANOVA test at the 0.05 level.
c
Significant difference via t–test at the 0.01 level.
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groups. This association between the PRO and students’ choice of an accounting major
(CHA) was statistically supported by the regression result where the procedural perception
of students toward the accounting profession had a significant and negative relationship
with their choice of a major in accounting. The combined outcomes of our two analyses
indicate that other Asian students, who tended to perceive accounting as a less procedural
profession, were likely to major in accounting, while Australian students, who regarded
accounting as a high procedural profession, avoided majoring in accounting. These stat-
istical results indicate that different perceptions of the accounting profession attract stu-
dents from different nationalities to major in accounting in Australian universities. This
evidence may support the fact that accounting careers are still attractive and competitive
in some Asian countries such as Japan (see the website of the Financial Service Agency,
http://www.fsa.go.jp) and Korea (Joo et al., 2007) compared to other developed western
countries that continue to struggle with the unpopularity of the accounting profession.
Other Variables and Nationality Differences
Although our regression found significant relationships between the intrinsic value (INV),
job market consideration (JMC) and students’ choice of a major in accounting (CHA), no
significant differences were reported in these two independent variables when using the
ANOVA among the various nationality groups. From our regression, it was found that
the more strongly students considered intrinsic value (INV) as an important favourable
factor for their vocational expectation; the more likely they tended to major in accounting.
In contrast, this finding also indicates that, if students did not have a positive image of
intrinsic value for the accounting profession, the more likely they avoided majoring in
accounting. A similar result was found in a previous Australian study by Jackling
(2002) where the perceived work image of accountants held by non-accounting students
was relatively less positive compared to those of accounting students. However, such
an association among students across different countries (as found in the present study)
was not found from the ANOVA results in that prior study.
The results of our regression analysis also revealed that the more strongly students
regarded job market considerations (JMC) as an important factor; the more likely they
tended to major in accounting. Ahmed et al. (1997) previously conducted a survey of
business students from five universities in New Zealand and discovered that accounting
students who intend to pursue a career in accounting placed significantly greater import-
ance on factors such as job availability, job security and earnings. Although our finding in
Australia supported the results of this previous study, the outcome of our study did not
contribute to our research interest regarding the impact of differences in students’
nationalities.
Our ANOVA analyses also found significant differences in precision (PRE) within
different nationalities, but the regression confirmed no significant association of the
PRE with a student’s choice of an accounting major. It was reported that Australian
students viewed the accounting profession as a more precise (PRE) occupation than
other Asian students did. These nationality differences, however, did not become effective
predictors for a student’s major choice in an accounting subject.
The Impact of Differences at Academic Levels
Our additional ANOVA test also discovered that the scores for intrinsic values (INV) for
international students who were studying at the undergraduate level were significantly
lower than those of postgraduate students from both Australia and overseas. Combined
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with the significant regression results between the INV and choice of a major in accounting
(CHA), this ANOVA result implies that undergraduate international students were less inter-
ested in the accounting profession than the two postgraduate groups and this passive intrinsic
attitude was simultaneously linked with their unwillingness to major in accounting. In
particular, this tendency was more obvious for international undergraduate accounting
students. Their negative perception toward the accounting profession may be a cover for
other factors such as aspirations of permanent residency.
Conclusion
This study aimed to observe the role that students’ vocational expectation factors,
perception of the accounting profession and cognitive style of creativity in multicultural
Australian universities had on their decision to major in accounting. It was found that dom-
estic students who possessed a relatively higher creativity level were unlikely to major in
accounting. Conversely, it was found that Chinese students possessed a lower level of
creativity and were more likely to major in accounting. From these findings, it is con-
cluded that Chinese accounting students tended to possess lower creativity levels as
measured by the CPS, although their present high intakes into accounting courses may,
in the short term, cover the stagnation in domestic enrolments.
It must also be considered that, whilst Chinese students were found to be relatively less
creative in this study, it does not mean that these students are ineligible applicants for the
accounting profession. This is because the empirical evidence from the present study does
not provide any explanations as to why Chinese students who possess lower creativity are
willing to come to study in Australia. One possible explanation could be given by Cooper
(2004), who explored the associations between preferred learning approaches and accounting
performance among both Chinese and Australian students. This study discovered that the
Chinese tradition of memorization through repetition could be used to deepen an understand-
ing and contribute to higher academic performance. The findings here may imply that being
more repetitive and adaptive could prove quite successful for Chinese accounting students
whose learning approach may not necessarily be one that enhances creativity. It is recognized
that peoples’ cognitive styles may be influenced and formed by how they have previously
been taught in their home countries, but it is difficult to conclude that Chinese students
may not be suitable candidates due to their low creative cognitive styles measured by one
instrument. The important point here is that many Chinese students who possess different
cognitive styles compared to Australian domestic students have chosen an accounting
major and that such diversity in cognitive styles is one of the inevitable characteristics
that the accounting community must accept in our rapidly changing economy.
This finding also provided an important message for accounting educators and admin-
istrators to consider. This is the fact that it would be more effective to apply different
teaching methods to students possessing different cognitive styles, particularly Chinese
students who after all comprise the majority of students studying in the Australian
accounting classroom. The prior study of Hofstede (1986) supports this point by indicating
that students from collectivist societies such as China generally prefer reflective types of
learning styles. Adler et al. (2004) also indicated that international students prefer more
structured and instructor-led delivery of courses rather than a learner-centred approach
in the accounting classroom. To discuss what is the best approach for the current Austra-
lian situation is beyond the scope of this current study, but this issue should be addressed in
future studies.
Another finding from this study was that Asian students other than Chinese who tended
to perceive the accounting profession as a career with a less procedural image did major in
Students’ Choice of an Accounting Major in Australia S51
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accounting, while Australian students who regarded accounting as one with a greater pro-
cedural image did not major in accounting. This finding first implies that Australian uni-
versities and accounting professional bodies still have a window of opportunity to recruit
candidates from many Asian countries because these students tend to have a less negative
image toward the accounting profession than their Australian counterparts do. Second,
Australian students may be opting to choose from a wide choice of elective majors
rather than a specific accounting major, due to the poor image of the profession.
However, the message from the present study also implies that they may return to an
accounting major when their procedural image of the accounting profession is improved.
This is because the present study confirmed a linear association between perception and
choice of major in accounting among these domestic students. To help address this
concern CPA Australia recently instigated a television advertising campaign called
‘Going Places’ and ‘We Mean Business’ (see website: https://www.cpaaustralia.com.au).
The main message emanating from these advertisements is that the accounting profession
should not be viewed simply as being procedural but rather should be seen as a dynamic
career that can take you anywhere in the business world. Such campaigns will need to be
expanded onto high school and tertiary campuses in an attempt to improve the skewed
images perceived by domestic students.
Despite the contribution of this study to the accounting education literature, some limit-
ations need to be addressed. Our study applied the specific inventories such as the measure
for one’s perceptions and Gough’s 30-item Creative Personality Scale (CPS). Although
these instruments are very useful and reliable, the questionnaires tended to be a little
inflexible. For example, creativity as identified by the CPS could be considered too
narrow in terms of ascertaining students’ cognitive styles. Further studies considered by
the authors should broaden these characteristics to achieve a wider definition for creativity
that could then be empirically tested.
Perhaps the major limitation of this study was to omit the effect of permanent residency
(PR) from the analysis target. Although this study primarily attempted to explore other
influential factors commonly affecting domestic and international students, many prior
studies have indicated that the PR factor has a strong impact on the choice of a major
in accounting—particularly for international students (Jackling, 2007; McGowan and
Potter, 2008). Therefore, it is recommended that further studies researching factors affect-
ing students’ choice of an accounting major should incorporate permanent residency into a
wider framework.
Other limitations of this study include sample size and length of time at university for
our subjects. Our study failed to investigate subjects separately over different academic
years due to the relative small numbers of our sample population and the time factor. Jack-
ling (2002) suggested that long-term learning experiences create common occupational
stereotypes and cognitive styles. Therefore, the nationality mixture of our sample
within a particular year of study may have blurred the results. It is recognized that a
smaller sample size will cause outcomes to be more skewed compared to spreading our
subjects over a number of different academic years. Nevertheless, apart from these limit-
ations, this paper seeks to contribute to a better understanding of the unique situation that
exists in the Australian tertiary accounting classroom.
Acknowledgement
The authors gratefully appreciate Professor Richard M. S. Wilson, Editor of Accounting
Education: an international journal, for his enormous assistance in publishing this
paper. We also wish to acknowledge the countless comments received on an earlier
S52 S. Sugahara et al.
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draft from three anonymous reviewers. This research project was funded by the Center for
Academic Development and Cooperation in Hiroshima Shudo University, Japan.
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