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ABSTRACT
This study explores the relationships between behavioral measures and behavioral intentions in pursuing accounting as a major. The self-efficacy concept from Social Cognitive Theory is integrated with the two factors, personal interest and social influence, in Fishbein-Ajzen's Theory of Reasoned Action model to construct behavioral measures. Using structural equation modeling, this study finds support that self-efficacy expectations and perceived image of the accounting profession significantly aid in the prediction of personal interest; moreover, personal interest and social influence are significant predictors of behavioral intentions. Findings of this study convey practical implications to the accounting profession to correct its stereotyped negative image in order to secure the supply of qualified accounting students and professional accountants. Likewise, accounting programs should look beyond students with accounting-related technical skill self-efficacy, and vigorously identify and recruit qualified students with superior soft skill self-efficacy by stressing the importance of communication and teamwork skills in the success of accounting study and career.
Key words: Theory of reasoned action, accounting career choice, major in accounting, self-efficacy
Data availability: Data for this study are available upon request.
INTRODUCTION
The decline of accounting majors at the turn of the century roused interest in accounting career choice research. With the image of the accounting profession impa i r ed by corporate accounting scandals and the implementation of the 150-hour education requirement to become a licensed CPA, recruiting qualified accounting majors has become a prominent challenge for most academic accounting programs. Understanding the factors that influe nc e students' choice to major in accounting i s more essential than ever before for accounting programs to better focus their recruiting effort to the target group of potential accounting majors.
This academic inquiry continues the line of the Cohen and Hanno (1993), Allen (2004), and Tan and Laswad's (2006; 2009) studies in investigating the factors that influence students' intention to major in accounting utilizing a general theoretical model for predicting behavioral intention based on attitudinal and normative beliefs. Prior research relied on various statistical methods to predict students' choice of major that are limited to dealing o nly with measured variables. This study utilizes structural equation modeling (SEM), a multivariate procedur e that allows both directly observed (measured) variables as well as latent variables which cannot...