From Accounting Professional to Accounting Professor: The Gravitational Hypothesis as an Explanation for Career Change

Abstract

According to the Accounting Education Change Commission (AECC), students should identify with the accounting profession in a number of areas, including knowledge, skills, and values [AECC, 1990]. One way students begin to gain this identification is through interactions with members of the accounting profession. However, research of accounting students has shown that many accounting majors have limited, if any, exposure to accountants outside the academic setting [Davidson and Dalby, 1995]. Consequently, students may decide to become accountants because of their identification with faculty and their perceptions that the interests, values, and abilities of accounting faculty reflect those of practicing accountants. Research has shown that faculty do indeed influence the career choice of accounting students [e.g., Ames and Ames, 1984; Reid, 1979]. Given this influence, it is surprising that more research has not focused on identifying the values, skills, and abilities of accounting faculty, factors that likely affect student perceptions of what an accounting career will involve and the factors career research has shown to be important in career decision making [e.g., Holland, 1973]. This research is especially needed since decision making literature has found that information accessibility is often a better predictor of information use than is information quality [O'Reilly, 1982] even though accurate information is a better predictor of intentions to stay in a job [Caldwell and O'Reilly, 1985].