The results of the study suggest that students’ expectations from the accountancy profession are significant and positively related to academic performance. Our finding confirms the result of Guney (2009), who found that future career expectations have a positive effect on academic performance. However, it is not consistent with the results reported by Byrne and Flood (2008) and Arquero et al. (2009), who found no association between expectations and academic performance. The positive link implies that students’ academic performance is enhanced by their belief that the accountancy profession will boost their chances of getting a good job, good remuneration, and prestige/respect from society. This finding suggests that students’ exposure to and understanding of the future benefits associated with pursuing the accountancy profession matter a lot. The result also implies that expectation becomes a conditionality for students, which may serve as a useful guide to action. This may include developing effective strategies to facilitate better academic performance. Thus, an expectation sets in motion appropriate and reasonable actions for the task at hand, which can help the achievement of the desired outcome. Also, when students have expectations, they display quality, intensity, and persistent behaviors, which combine to shape their academic performance better. This may be seen in the light of expectancy theory, as future desired rewards have a link with performance. The effect of expectancy on performance can be explained by the high level of uncertainty avoidance in the national fabric of Ghanaian society, which increases the individual need for security. This creates the belief that good academic performance is more likely to be rewarded in the accounting profession, which, to some extent, is the reality in Ghana. Therefore, in line with the social capital view, family, communities, and the educators’ ability to clearly communicate to students about the future opportunities that exist for pursuing the accountancy profession is more likely to yield positive outcomes since it creates the necessary expectation, which is a motivator in this regard.
Similarly, the result indicating that volition has a statistically positive and significant association with academic performance suggests that where the choice of accounting programme is not imposed on a student by immediate parties but is an act of choice by the student, it is likely to have a positive impact on academic performance. The finding supports our assertion that students’ volition for studying accounting is a crucial determinant of students’ academic performance. This is not surprising given the fact that once an individual is allowed to own a decision that has an implication for their future, their input in the decision serves as their ‘investment,’ which they may wish to protect at all costs to avoid ‘loss’ – in this case, peer/social humiliation. Moreover, such students are motivated to perform better in a cultural setting like Ghana, where ‘children students’ making their own decisions are generally seen as non-conformers, and failure is an expected outcome. Such students are more likely to display academic behaviors associated with high motivation, such as spending more time on academic activities, which have a positive effect on academic performance, in order to prove their point. This result is an indication that a need for freedom in a collectivist society like Ghana when it comes to individual choices is important. The hierarchical order should not be used to make individuals sacrifice their true choice. The result further indicates that the respect and preferential treatment for the elderly in Ghanaian society should be used to provide relevant information to individuals, who then should be allowed to make their own choice from the available alternatives.
The results also show that accounting students’ level of academic interest is significant and positively associated with academic performance, which is consistent with the findings of previous research (Fallan & Opstad, 2014; Gracia & Jenkins, 2003). A possible reason could be that students with a high level of interest in the subject resort to self-regulated learning and are more likely to read advanced course materials, which improves their academic knowledge level as a result of the deeper understanding obtained. Certainly, students opting to read accounting and finding it enjoyable may develop their interest and effort in the subject. This leads them to seek better understanding and intellectual development in the chosen programme. This impacts their academic performance since interest allows one to engage and commit to the subject. Moreover, since interest is a mental resource, students with subject interest may focus all their attention, work longer, and persist at a given accounting task even in the face of difficulties. From the interest theory perspective, this develops from the specific relationship between the person and the activity of interest, such that the interest activity becomes unavoidable and also realizable (Schiefele et al., 1983). This promotes learning, which invariably enhances academic performance.
The results also indicate that attitude is significant and positively associated with academic performance, which may be a reflection of how a positive learning attitude, such as class attendance, making an effort at learning new things, and spending time on your books, may subsequently influence academic performance. It has been suggested that students who show such a learning attitude usually engage in deep learning, which positively affects academic performance. Another possible reason could be that a good learning attitude results in the better organization of relevant learning materials, which helps reduce anxiety, especially in critical moments such as the examination period, which can affect performance badly. It can be concluded from the results of this study that a good learning attitude involving the adoption of good study habits can lead to improved academic performance. The adoption of a good attitude clearly demonstrates the behavioral intention of the student to exert effort to attain a certain level of performance (Ajzen, 2011). The high level of positive attitude in Ghanaian society may support this finding since such an attitude may facilitate effective self-directed learning, which may help meet the perceived behavior expected by society. The findings of the current study support those of Naser and Peel (1998) and Guney (2009), which suggest that a good attitude of accounting students in relation to class attendance has a positive association with academic performance.
Finally, our control variables also have a significant association with academic performance. The gender of students has a significant association with academic performance. This is consistent with the result reported by Arthur and Everaert (2012) but contrary to the non-significant association between gender and academic performance found by Fogarty and Goldwater (2010) and Fallan and Opstad (2014). Also, the level of study has a significant and positive relationship with academic performance. Thus, studying at the tertiary level has much impact on academic performance, which may be due to ‘academic maturity’.
We then divided our sample into two sub-samples based on the level of study (i.e., secondary or tertiary institution). The purpose of this division was to examine the impact of the independent variables on secondary and tertiary level students separately. The results of the sub-sample analysis from Table 4 indicate that academic interest and learning attitude have a statistically significant relationship with academic performance at both secondary and tertiary levels. However, volition and expectation have a different effect at both levels of study: expectation was significantly positive only at the secondary level, while volition was significant only at the tertiary level.
This may indicate that at the secondary level, accounting students may have very high expectations about the future due to their programme. This has a significant effect on their academic performance, but guidance in course choice is important since volition has no significant effect on academic performance. The insignificant effect of volition at the secondary level may also be attributed to the strict Ghanaian culture of the parent/guardian having greater input in course choices at this level. However, this influence decreases as one moves up the educational ladder, which may increase the impact of volition at the tertiary level. On the other hand, tertiary accounting students’ expectations might have decreased due to the acquisition of unfavorable information relating to the accounting profession both from real case studies and academic practitioners, which might have been unknown to them earlier. However, the effect of volition on academic performance is significant. This may be as a result of the lessening of the Ghanaian control culture, which allows the Ghanaian accounting students to feel in charge of important future decisions. Academic maturity and the need to avoid the social humiliation of being seen as a failure in handling his/her own affairs may be contributing to this result. Also, gender only has a significant influence among accounting students at the secondary level. This may suggest that at the tertiary level, the culturally stereotyped notion of females being the lesser of the two genders in need of education might have given way to equality and ability.
