Factors Influencing Students' Choice of an Accounting Major in Australia
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.
Keywords: Accounting professions; cognitive style; major choice; perception; vocational expectation factor
Document Type: Research Article
Affiliations: 1: Hiroshima Shudo University, Japan 2: University of Canberra, Australia 3: Universita Degli Studi Di Parma, Italy
Publication date: 01 March 2008
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