ACCOUNTING EDUCATION, 2017

VOL. 26, NO. 2, 109–126

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09639284.2016.1274909

Social cognitive career theory and the goal of becoming

a certified public accountant
Jerry Schoenfelda, Gerry Segala and Dan Borgiab$
a
Lutgert College of Business, Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers, FL, USA; bCollege of Business,
University of Idaho, Moscow, ID, USA

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

A primary goal for professors in academia is to facilitate the career Received 29 January 2015
success of their students by providing them with the necessary Revised 11 November 2016
subject knowledge, skills, experience, and confidence. In this Accepted 17 December 2016
paper, we propose the Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT)
KEYWORDS
model as a useful tool to explain how accounting students’ career Accounting education;
interests, goals, and intentions are related to their self-efficacy accounting careers; certified
beliefs and outcome expectations. Results showed that the goal to public accountant;
become a certified public accountant (CPA) was significantly and accounting pedagogy
positively correlated with the independent variables of self-
efficacy and outcome expectations. These findings are further
interpreted and pedagogical recommendations are provided for
educators to utilize in their curriculum to enhance students’
accounting self-efficacy and outcome expectations. These
recommendations may be used to help boost students’ interests
and intentions to major in accounting and pursue a career as a CPA.

Introduction
The decision to pursue becoming a certified public accountant (CPA) is daunting for an
undergraduate student choosing their career path. A student who seeks this career option
does so with the recognition he or she will face numerous and rigorous preparatory stan-
dards, which are arguably more challenging than those faced by many of their peers in
other majors. A primary goal for educators is to facilitate the career success of their stu-
dents by providing the necessary subject knowledge, skills, experience, and confidence.
However, educators often do not know why their students choose their major and what
can be done to facilitate and reinforce their career choice. Building upon the research
from the career literature, this paper explores factors that can help to explain why a
student would pursue a career as a CPA.
CPAs perform an essential role in protecting the financial interests of the public. Each
state, through their state board of accountancy, establishes stringent standards designed to
ensure the caliber of CPA professionals. These standards typically focus on the ‘Three
E’s’ – Education, Examination, and Experience. Educationally, all states now follow the
150-hour rule, which represents either a fifth year of accounting education beyond the

CONTACT Jerry Schoenfeld gschoenf@fgcu.edu

$
Present address: Canisius College, Buffalo, NY, USA.
© 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
110 J. SCHOENFELD ET AL.

traditional four year degree program or pursuit of a graduate degree with sufficient credits
in taxation, auditing, and business law, among other business related courses. The edu-
cation requirement normally must be fulfilled as part of the eligibility criteria to sit for
the Uniform Certified Public Accountant Examination (Uniform CPA Exam). The
uniform CPA exam is a four-part exam that is designed to ensure that only qualified indi-
viduals are certified to use the Certified Public Accountant designation. It has a pass rate
between 45% and 55% for each exam part (AICPA, 2014). Applicants for a CPA certifica-
tion may also need to fulfill an ethics requirement, such as completion of an ethics course
and/or an ethics exam. In addition, those interested in being registered as a CPA in their
state often are required to obtain a specific amount of professional work experience in
public accounting (the required amount and type of experience varies according to each
state licensing jurisdiction).
Once a student has met these requirements and has become a certified CPA, he or she
must meet requirements defined by their state board of accountancy to maintain their
CPA certificate. Often this requires that a CPA continually maintain and enhance his
or her skills through continuing professional education courses and other professional
development requirements.
CPAs are therefore among the most extensively trained business professionals. Under-
going extra education and educational expense, preparing for the difficult CPA exam,
often through paying to participate in review courses, and obtaining relevant work experi-
ence, requires a time and financial commitment well beyond that of typical business students
in other majors. While all CPAs are accountants, not all accountants will become CPAs. In
fact, fewer than half of accounting students go on to become CPAs (Reigle, 2008).
In a review of the accounting education literature, Apostolou, Hassell, Rebele, and
Watson (2010) and Apostolou, Dorminey, Hassell, and Watson (2013) found very
limited research on accounting as a major choice and career. What research has been con-
ducted has focused on a wide variety of intrinsic, extrinsic, and other job factors. The lit-
erature on the choice to become a CPA is even more limited.
Research by Mohrweis (2006) focused on pre-business students who received a grade of
‘A’ or ‘B’ in an introductory accounting course. Students who received a letter that:
(1) listed the advantages of an accounting career, (2) encouraged enrollment in a higher
level accounting class, and (3) invited a visit to the accounting department website for
more information, were more likely to enroll in further accounting classes than those in
a control group.
Tan and Laswad (2006) surveyed students in Principles of Accounting courses to
examine the factors that influence a student’s intention to pursue the accounting major.
They found differences on three variables between those students who indicated an inten-
tion to pursue an accounting degree and those who were interested in non-accounting
majors: (1) personal perception of the work and work load in accounting, (2) perceptions
of the accounting field held by significant others (e.g. parents), and (3) perceived self-
control (e.g. possessing necessary quantitative skills). Furthermore, in a longitudinal
follow-up and expansion of their study in 2009, Tan and Laswad surveyed students two
years after they had completed the introductory accounting course. They found that a
higher proportion of accounting majors selected their major prior to beginning their
college education and that they were less likely to change their major once in college
than were those not majoring in accounting.
 ACCOUNTING EDUCATION 111

Similarly, studies using Australian students have found that factors such as intrinsic
value of an accounting career, career prospects in accounting, job market opportunities,
working environment, financial rewards, and the influence of others have all been
shown to influence the selection of an accounting major (Sugahara & Boland, 2009; Suga-
hara, Boland, & Cilloni, 2008).
More recently, Demagalhaes, Wilde, and Fitzgerald (2011) introduced generational
differences in students’ career and employer choices. They looked specifically at the influ-
ence of Generation Y (Gen Y) values on a variety of factors that may impact accounting
students’ employment choice. As a generation class, Gen Y’ers (born between 1974 and
1994) are typified by having a strong sense of morality and civic duty, possessing high
self-esteem and self-confidence, being technologically adept, demonstrating lower firm
loyalty than previous generations, and desiring a greater work/life balance (Yeaton,
2008). Accounting students surveyed indicated that the factors most important to them
in choosing employment included flexible work schedules, employer culture, job security,
employer location, opportunity to gain experience that can be used elsewhere, and career
advancement opportunities among an assortment of extrinsic and intrinsic factors.
In another study, the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) was used in a longitudinal
study of accounting students to identify characteristics associated with choosing a career
in accounting (Swain & Olsen, 2012). Results showed that those students classified by the
MBTI as being both sensing and judging are more attracted to accounting as a career
choice. Those students whose MBTI profile classifies them as perceiving and intuition
based tend not to make a career decision for accounting.
The Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) model for career choice was used to explore
Canadian accounting students’ decisions to become a chartered accountant, which is
equivalent to a CPA in the United States. The TRA examines the relationship between atti-
tudes and career choice using a theoretical framework from social psychology (Sheppard,
Hartwick, & Warshaw, 1988). Using the TRA model, Felton, Dimnik, and Northey (1995)
found that a student’s decision to become a chartered accountant is based on a ratio
between the beliefs that certain outcomes (e.g. work variety, earnings potential, and
career advancement) will be achieved by becoming a chartered accountant and the
value the student places on these outcomes, compared to the perceived costs of becoming
a chartered accountant.
As research into accounting as a major and career choice continues to develop, there is a
need for accounting education to move from a theoretical and exploratory process to
research that is grounded in theory (Apostolou et al., 2013). Exploration of theories from
the career development field appear ripe for application within the accounting education
field. SCCT (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994, 2000) provides one such theoretical framework
that attempts to explain the processes and mechanisms through which students develop
major interests, make career choices, and achieve performance outcomes. While SCCT
has received a good deal of empirical support, researchers have tended to focus primarily
in the areas of math, engineering, and science-related fields and there has been a call for
the application of the model to other academic and career domains (Lent, Sheu, &
Brown, 2010). The current study’s contributions are to build on the body of research utiliz-
ing social cognitive theory and the SCCT research model to help explain a student’s motiv-
ation to pursue the accounting major and the career choice of becoming a CPA. The goals of
the present study are to introduce the established SCCT model to accounting faculty and
112 J. SCHOENFELD ET AL.

illustrate how the SCCT model can provide powerful predictive insights to explain why stu-
dents choose an accounting major and decide to pursue a CPA through an exploratory test
of the SCCT model, using a sample of current accounting students. In addition, the impli-
cations for accounting educators in developing and delivering their curricula are considered.
Specifically, suggestions for what educators can do to reinforce and facilitate a student’s
interest and commitment to becoming a CPA are discussed.
This paper has been structured as follows. The proceeding section has introduced the
purpose of this study and its significance for all accounting educators. Background on the
research hypotheses and the SCCT model is provided in the next section. This is followed
by the discussion of the survey methodology including focus on the sample utilized in this
study and the dependent and independent variables. The research findings section will
document the connections between the core variables of self-efficacy and outcome expec-
tations with the goal of becoming a CPA. Next, these findings are further interpreted and
pedagogical implications are provided for accounting educators to utilize in their curricu-
lum to enhance students’ accounting self-efficacy and outcome expectations. Finally, the
conclusions and implications are presented and the limitations of the current study and
areas for further research are identified.

Research hypotheses and the SCCT model

The SCCT model builds upon social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1986, 1997) and highlights
the reciprocal interaction of personal, behavioral, and environmental variables that sub-
sequently contribute to the formation of academic and career interests. Over the last 20
years, the SCCT model has been employed in numerous settings to examine academic
and career behavior. This includes a focus on academic choices such as, engineering students
(Lent, Sheu, Gloster, & Wilkins, 2010); high-school students (Lent, Paixão, da Silva, &
Leitão, 2010); psychology students (Blanco, 2011); students in computing and information
technology disciplines (Lent, Lopez, Lopez, & Sheu, 2008; Smith, 2002); and entrepreneur-
ship students (Segal, Schoenfeld, & Borgia, 2002). The SCCT model has also been applied to
diverse populations such as first generations in college (Gibbons & Borders, 2010), Chinese
middle-school students (Jiang & Zhang, 2012), rural Latino youth (Ali & Menke, 2014), and
Native Americans (Verbos, Kennedy, Gladstone, & Birmingham, 2015).
The SCCT provides a comprehensive framework that attempts to explain the dynamic
processes that lead to the development and pursuit of an academic major and career
choice. The SCCT process is affected by a variety of personal inputs and environmental
and situational contextual factors that interrelate and change as a function of time. The
SCCT model’s three main variables, which are the focus of this exploratory study, are
depicted in Figure 1. The model postulates that career intentions result from self-efficacy
beliefs, outcome expectations, and goals. The stronger the self-efficacy beliefs and outcome
expectations students develop, the more likely they will pursue and remain committed to
the achievement of a challenging career goal. In addition, the model postulates that higher
self-efficacy leads to higher outcome expectations. Social cognitive theory, as utilized in the
SCCT model, may be applied to the study of accounting students’ decision to pursue the
CPA certification.
The use of the SCCT model within the accounting education field has been limited.
James and Hill (2009) and Hayes and Credle (2008) have applied the SCCT model to
 ACCOUNTING EDUCATION 113

Figure 1. SCCT and CPA career intentions model.

explore African-American student interest in the accounting major and public accounting
as a profession. Building on James (James, 2008) earlier propositions for why African-
Americans are underrepresented in accounting, James found that African-American
students value outcomes provided by accounting careers but have less self-confidence
(self-efficacy) than Caucasian students to be able to complete the requirements to enter
the profession. Looking further to public accounting as a career choice for African-
American students, Hayes and Credle (2008) found a positive relationship between
career self-efficacy and the decision to select public accounting as a career choice. Simi-
larly, the decision to pursue public accounting as a career choice was positively related
to outcome expectations of the public accounting profession.
Within the SCCT model, goals are broadly defined to include plans, aspirations, or
intentions. Goals are the determination to engage in a particular activity (Bandura,
1986). Under goal setting theory, goals are a strong predictor of planned behavior
(Locke & Latham, 2002). The setting of the specific goal to become a CPA can help the
student to organize and direct their behavior in a sustained manner and increase the like-
lihood that desired goals will be achieved (Lent et al., 1994).
The model emphasizes the role of self-efficacy beliefs in enabling a student to steer their
career. Self-efficacy is a set of beliefs and thoughts on one’s capability to achieve a desired
level of performance. It is unrelated to more objective measures of an individual’s skills
or abilities. According to Bandura (1997, 1986), the probability of pursuing any activity
can be explained in part by the level of belief one holds in their capability to achieve a
desired level of performance. Self-efficacy regulates human behavior and is a strong predic-
tor of the course of action one chooses to pursue, the amount of effort one will exert in the
pursuit of a goal, and the perseverance that will be displayed when faced with setbacks or
difficulties (Bandura, 2000). A number of meta-analyses (Brown, Lent, Telander, & Tra-
mayne, 2011; Lent et al., 1994) have found that self-efficacy beliefs strongly relate to
career interests. It would seem that the pursuit of becoming a CPA, with the additional
requirements needed to earn this designation, would require strong self-efficacy. Therefore
it is hypothesized that:
Hypothesis 1: There is a positive relationship between an individual’s Self-Efficacy in becom-
ing a CPA and his or her Goal of becoming a CPA.
114 J. SCHOENFELD ET AL.

Outcome expectations play an important role in motivating individuals toward goals.

Whereas self-efficacy is concerned with, ‘Will I be able to do this?,’ outcomes are con-
cerned with, ‘If I do this, then what will be the outcome?’ Outcome beliefs form as a
result of an individual’s expectations about the consequences of their behavior (Vroom,
1964). Under the SCCT model, students will have greater interest in a career choice
and will establish an intended career goal when they anticipate desirable outcomes
(Gore & Leuwerke, 2000). Outcome expectations from pursuing a CPA certification
may include higher income, better job security, advancement potential, social prestige,
self-employment opportunities, and intrinsic rewards such as challenging and interesting
work. The more accounting students value the expected outcomes of becoming a CPA, the
stronger their intention to achieve this challenging goal.
Hypothesis 2: There is a positive relationship between an individual’s Outcome Expectations
from becoming a CPA and his or her Goal of becoming a CPA.

As shown in the Figure 1 model, self-efficacy beliefs not only impact intentions or goals
for becoming a CPA but students who are efficacious are likely to expect favorable out-
comes (Lent, Lopez, Sheu, & Lopez, 2011). Self-efficacy not only contributes to interests
and goals directly, but also through its effect on outcome expectations (Bandura &
Locke, 2003). SCCT postulates that self-efficacy serves as an important basis for
outcome expectations because, in general, students are likely to expect to receive favorable
outcomes when pursing activities in which they feel efficacious (Lent, Paixão et al., 2010).
Hypothesis 3: There is a positive relationship between an individual’s Self-Efficacy in becom-
ing a CPA and his or her Outcome Expectations from becoming a CPA.

Students who have stronger self-efficacy beliefs and more positive outcome expec-
tations are more likely to pursue the difficult challenge of achieving the CPA credential
than those accounting students who have weaker efficacy and less positive outcome expec-
tations. In other words, to develop a goal or intention to become certified as a CPA, one
must believe that he or she can perform well and that it will lead to positive outcomes.

Methodology
This section examines the methodology used in the present study, including sample data,
measures, and research design.

Sample data and variables

Sample data
We began this research with a survey instrument consisting of 16 simple questions, which
required respondents to identify their responses on a five point Likert scale. We adminis-
tered this survey to 228 upper division undergraduate students in a required course for
accounting majors at an AACSB accredited college of business of a public university in
the southeastern United States. A required core course in accounting was chosen to
ensure the sample included the majority (54%) of declared accounting majors (228/
426). Participants completed a printed questionnaire that was administered during
regular class time after being assured there were no right or wrong answers and that
 ACCOUNTING EDUCATION 115

their participation was completely anonymous. A total of 15 student responses were

incomplete so it was necessary to drop these responses, resulting in a final sample of
213 responses. Student respondents were close enough to graduation to contemplate
the accounting career choices of pursuing a CPA designation after graduation.

Dependent variable
As previously discussed, the primary dependent variable in this CPA Career Intentions
Model is a person’s intention of becoming a CPA. To measure intentions we asked the
question ‘At the present time, what do you think is the probability that you will
become a CPA?’ Respondents were asked to self-identify the probability they would
become a CPA based on a five point scale from 1 (0–20%) to 5 (80–100%).

Independent variables
The CPA Career Intentions Model employs two independent predictor variables. The first
independent variable is the Outcome Expectations index. Based on our review of the litera-
ture and informal discussions with several accounting professors at a mid-size southeast-
ern United States public university, we identified seven desired outcomes explaining the
decision to pursue a CPA: (1) higher income, (2) job security, (3) advancement potential,
(4) status and prestige, (5) interesting work, (6) work independence, and (7) challenging
work. To develop the Outcome Expectations Index, we first multiplied the importance of
each of these seven outcomes ranked from 1 (not important at all) to 5 (extremely impor-
tant) by the self-reported confidence that the respondent (again on a scale from 1 to 5)
could achieve the outcome through becoming a CPA.1 The product of the responses to
these two questions for each outcome resulted in seven outcome expectations variables:
(1) higher income outcome, (2) job security outcome, (3) advancement potential
outcome, (4) status and prestige outcome, (5) interesting work outcome, (6) work inde-
pendence outcome, and (7) challenging work outcome. We then summed the responses
to these seven variables to create an Outcomes Expectations Index.2
Table 1 summarizes the results of Pearson correlations among the seven components of
the Outcomes Expectations Index. The correlations among all variables were positive and
significant. In addition, we conducted an analysis of internal consistency using Cronbach
α. The analysis resulted in an acceptable value of α of .766 and is summarized in Table 2.
The second independent predictor variable employed in the CPA Career Intentions
Model is a respondent’s Self-Efficacy, which was measured by one question designed to
assess an individual’s self-confidence in his or her ability to become a CPA. Specifically,
the question put to respondents was ‘How confident are you that you could successfully
accomplish everything necessary to become a CPA? This includes, successfully completing
all coursework, preparing for and passing the CPA exam, and all other necessary tasks and
activities.’ Respondents were asked to rate their confidence on a scale ranging from 1 (not
at all confident) to 5 (completely confident).

Results
After identifying and computing variables, we used regression analysis to test the efficacy
of the CPA Career Intentions Model as previously described in Figure 1. The model pre-
dicts that a person’s perceived Outcome Expectations are directly related to his or her
 116
Table 1. Outcome expectations variables Pearson correlation coefficients.

J. SCHOENFELD ET AL.
Higher Job Advancement Status and Interesting Work Challenging
income security potential prestige work independence work
Outcome expectation for higher income Pearson 1.000
correlation
Sig. (2-tailed)
N 213
Outcome expectation for job security Pearson 0.468a 1.000
correlation
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.000
N 213 213
Outcome expectation for advancement Pearson 0.549a 0.571a 1.000
potential correlation
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.000 0.000
N 213 213 213
Outcome expectation for status and Pearson 0.427a 0.398a 0.484a 1.000
prestige correlation
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.000 0.000 0.000
N 213 2132 213 213
Outcome expectation for interesting Pearson 0.215a 0.289a 0.390a 0.299a 1.000
work correlation
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.002 0.000 0.000 0.000
N 213 213 213 213 213
Outcome expectation for work Pearson 0.247a 0.241a 0.283a 0.315a 0.300a 1.000
independence correlation)
Sig. (2-tailed 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
N 213 213 213 213 213 213
Outcome expectation for challenging Pearson 0.262a 0.234a 0.320a 0.152b 0.398a 0.175b 1.000
work correlation
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.000 0.001 0.000 0.026 0.000 0.010
N 213 213 213 213 213 213 213
a
Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
b
Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).
 ACCOUNTING EDUCATION 117

Table 2. Outcome expectations index reliability and descriptive statistics.

Cases N %
Valid 213 100.0
Excludeda 0 0.0
Total 213 100.0
Cronbach’s α Cronbach’s α based on standardized items N of items
.774 .778 7
Item Mean Standard deviation N
Outcome expectation for higher income 15.7465 4.87887 213
Outcome expectation for job security 17.0704 4.81935 213
Outcome expectation for advancement potential 15.8732 5.00828 213
Outcome expectation for status and prestige 12.3756 5.29326 213
Outcome expectation for interesting work 12.0047 5.94193 213
Outcome expectation for work independence 10.4366 5.58654 213
Outcome expectation for challenging work 13.6854 4.97822 213
a
Listwise deletion based on all variables in the procedure.

intention to pursue a CPA. Furthermore, the model predicts that an individual’s Self-Effi-
cacy or confidence affects his or her intention to become a CPA. As we tested the model
using regression, the appropriate comparative diagnostic was the Adjusted R 2 and
F-statistic.
The CPA Career Intentions Model results are presented in Figure 2 and in Tables 3 and
4. Table 3 reports the results and significance of Pearson correlation analysis. All three
variables were positively and significantly correlated. Figure 2 and Table 4 show significant
support for the CPA Career Intentions Model. The regression results in Table 4 support
the hypotheses and indicate that ‘self-confidence’ influences perceptions of ‘outcomes
expectation’ and both self-confidence and outcomes expectations significantly influence
a student’s goal of pursuing a CPA designation. The Adjusted R 2 for the overall model

Figure 2. SCCT and CPA career intentions model results.

118 J. SCHOENFELD ET AL.

Table 3. CPA career intentions model descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation statistics.
Standard
N Minimum Maximum Mean deviation
Self-efficacy (confidence in becoming a CPA) 213 1.0 5.0 2.96 1.124
Outcomes Expectations Index (expected benefits of 213 34.0 160.0 97.1925 23.84988
becoming a CPA)
Intentions (intention/goal of become a CPA) 213 1.0 5.0 2.39 1.322
Self-efficacy Outcomes Expectations Intentions
(confidence in Index (expected benefits of (intention/goal of
becoming a CPA) becoming a CPA) become a CPA)
Self-efficacy (confidence in Pearson 1.0
becoming a CPA) correlation
Sig. (2-
tailed)
N 213
Outcomes Expectations Pearson 0.364a 1.0
Index (expected benefits correlation
of becoming a CPA) Sig. (2- 0.000
tailed)
N 213 213
Intentions (intention/goal of Pearson 0.550a 0.501a 1.0
become a CPA) correlation
Sig. (2- 0.000 0.000
tailed)
N 213 213 213
a
Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

was 0.401 and the F-statistic was 71.82 (p < 0.001). A detailed discussion of the findings of
each of the three model hypotheses follows.
Hypothesis 1: There is a positive relationship between an individual’s Self-Efficacy in becom-
ing a CPA and his or her Goal of becoming a CPA.

An individual’s goal to become a CPA was significantly and positively correlated with
the independent variable self-efficacy. Higher self-efficacy in becoming a CPA was associ-
ated with a higher likelihood to become a CPA with a significant Pearson correlation coef-
ficient of 0.550 (p < 0.001). Higher self-efficacy was associated with a higher likelihood that
an individual would choose to become a CPA. In addition, the model’s link between self-
efficacy and the goal to become a CPA possessed significant explanatory power, with a t-
statistic of 7.41 (p < 0.001), demonstrating that higher self-efficacy leads to greater likeli-
hood that a person will become a CPA.
Hypothesis 2: There is a positive relationship between an individual’s Expected Outcome
from becoming a CPA and his or her Goal of becoming a CPA.

Table 4. Multiple regression for using SCCT to predict the intention to become a CPA (N = 213).
Standard t- F- Adjusted
Variable Coefficient error Statistic p-Value statistic R R2 R2
Intercept (constant) −0.953 0.308 −3.099 0.0022 71.818 0.637 0.406 0.401
Self-efficacy (extent to which 0.498 0.067 7.410 2.92E−12
respondent is confident in
ability to become CPA)
Outcomes expectations 0.019 0.003 6.068 5.95E−09
(outcome expected if
respondent becomes a CPA)
 ACCOUNTING EDUCATION 119

An individual’s goal to become a CPA was significantly and positively correlated with
the independent variable outcome expectations. Higher expected outcomes from pursuing
and becoming a CPA were associated with a higher likelihood to become a CPA with a
significant Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.501 (p < 0.001). In addition, the model’s
link between outcome expectations and goals possessed significant explanatory power,
with a t-statistic of 6.07 (p < 0.001), demonstrating that higher outcomes expectations
led to higher aspirations toward becoming a CPA.
Hypothesis 3: There is a positive relationship between an individual’s Self-Efficacy in becom-
ing a CPA and his or her Expected Outcomes from becoming a CPA.

It is apparent from Table 3 that the dependent variable outcome expectations were
significantly and positively correlated with the independent variable self-efficacy with
a significant (p < 0.001). Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.364. Higher confidence or
self-efficacy in becoming a CPA was associated with higher expected outcomes result-
ing in the pursuit of a CPA. In addition, the model’s link between self-efficacy and
outcome expectations possessed significant explanatory power, with a t-statistic of
5.65 (p < 0.001), demonstrating that higher self-efficacy led to higher outcome
expectations.

Discussion
The CPA designation protects the public interest by ensuring that those who achieve this
credential have a uniform and extensive knowledge base, relevant experience, integrity,
ethics, and an ability to operate independently and with objectivity. The Sarbanes–
Oxley Act, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, and an increase in auditing
and financial reporting oversight have combined to create an increasing demand for CPAs
(Reigle, 2008). The Occupational Outlook Handbook indicates that demand will grow 16%
for the accounting profession between 2010 and 2020 and that those individuals with the
CPA designation will be in the highest demand. Further, it has been estimated that 75% of
CPAs will be at or near retirement age by 2020 (AICPA, 2005; United States Department
of Labor, 2006). Therefore, the decision to pursue becoming a CPA as a career choice is an
excellent opportunity. Yet, many students choose not to pursue the CPA designation
because of the extensive requirements for certification (Nelson, Vendrzyk, Quirin, &
Allen, 2002).
In this study, the use of a well-established SCCT theoretical model (Lent, Brown, &
Hackett, 1996) on career choice was applied to the decision to become a CPA. The
results indicate support for the research hypotheses using a CPA Career Intentions
Model. Those students who have higher self-efficacy toward becoming a CPA have a
greater prospect of establishing a goal of becoming a CPA. Further, higher outcome expec-
tations of becoming a CPA are also strongly related to establishment of the goal of becom-
ing a CPA. Interestingly, the outcome expectations variables of importance include
potential for higher income, job security, advancement, job status, and interesting and
challenging work performed independently. Knowledge of these key linkages between
self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and the goal intention can assist accounting educators
in their teaching pedagogy to advance and strengthen their students’ choice to pursue the
accounting major and become a CPA.
120 J. SCHOENFELD ET AL.

Educator implications
Students’ belief that they have the ability to achieve the necessary requirements to become
a CPA, or their CPA self-efficacy, is developed through key processes that include: vicar-
ious experience; verbal persuasion; and enactive mastery (Bandura, 1986). Each of these
processes lend themselves to various teaching pedagogical activities that, if made part of
the accounting curriculum, could lead to increased CPA self-efficacy. These processes
are not mutually exclusive. There are instructional activities, such as case studies, that
can be designed to embody each of these processes to some extent.
Vicarious experiences provide opportunities to learn through observation of the
desired behavior being modeled. Burke and Day (1986), in a meta-analysis of effective
training techniques, found that behavior modeling was among the most effective training
methods. These are often the activities we most closely associate with traditional class-
room pedagogy. An instructor may demonstrate the completion of a consolidated
profit-and-loss statement or double entry accounting on a white board. Textbooks
provide profiles of successful CPAs and examples from real organizations. A guest
speaker may describe what they do and how they do it. A student may establish a men-
toring relationship with a local CPA or have the opportunity to work in a CPA firm as
part of an internship. Students might also benefit from participating in their student
accounting society where they can learn vicariously from area professionals. The
greater the number of these observational learning experiences that are incorporated
into the accounting curriculum, the greater the level of CPA self-efficacy that can be
achieved.
A student’s CPA self-efficacy can also be enhanced through receiving positive feedback
or what Bandura (1986) labeled verbal persuasion. As educators, finding occasions to
provide encouragement and support to students may influence their commitment and
confidence toward pursuit of a CPA. This can be achieved through positive responses
to student questions, encouraging comments written on submitted work, and the willing-
ness to provide assistance during office hours. Peers, especially upper-level classmates, can
provide valuable positive persuasion essential toward the development of CPA self-effi-
cacy. Peer support can be facilitated through student organizations, alumni networks,
internships with area CPAs, and formal mentoring relationships.
To believe that one is capable of achieving a desired outcome begins with the positive
reinforcement one receives from early attempts and successes. Enactive mastery is devel-
oped through repeated performance accomplishment. Bandura (1986) considered enac-
tive mastery as the most important basis for the development of self-efficacy. The sense
of accomplishment dissipates uncertainty and the fear of failure. However, providing
opportunities for enactive mastery does come with risk. To the extent that the student
encounters tasks that they do not have the skills to accomplish, or if they face unexpected
difficulties, the lack of enactive mastery can result in a lessoning of self-efficacy. It is there-
fore vital that educators design course activities that students are equipped to successfully
accomplish and that are ‘hands-on’ learning opportunities. These include activities such as
quantitative problem solving based on real organizational data, case studies, role plays, and
computer simulations. Group projects working with existing organizations are often the
richest learning environment for enactive mastery to occur (Segal, Schoenfeld, &
Borgia, 2007). The feedback received through completion of these real-world based
 ACCOUNTING EDUCATION 121

activities builds confidence by providing reinforcement to the student on their skill

mastery and capability to perform the required behaviors of CPA professionals.
The SCCT model suggests that outcome expectations are also important determinants
of career intentions and goals (Gore & Leuwerke, 2000). Outcome expectations are based
on the personal beliefs that an individual holds for pursuing a particular career. For stu-
dents interested in pursuing a CPA, an important outcome expectation would be the belief
that putting in the required time, effort, and skill development necessary for obtaining a
CPA will result in known desirable outcomes. While outcome expectations are cognitive in
nature, they shape attitudes and behavior while serving the purpose of meeting the per-
ceived needs of the person who holds them (James & Hill, 2009). Therefore, they can
play a major role in the career goals that are set (Brown, 2002). A student’s perception
of the work-related outcomes of a CPA will therefore play an important role in a student’s
determination to pursue a CPA. According to the American Institute of Certified Public
Accountants (2000), students report many negative misconceptions about accounting as a
career choice, such that it is boring, tedious, and monotonous. These misconceptions
reduce the likelihood that a student will pursue accounting as a major. Educators can
help students in their decisions to pursue an accounting major and become a CPA by illus-
trating and reinforcing the desirable outcomes resulting from a CPA designation.
Bandura (1997) identified three areas that relate to the forming of outcome expec-
tations and which can serve as the basis for a student’s motivation to pursue a CPA as
a career goal. The first area identified by Bandura is tangible outcome expectations.
These include factors such as salary, retirement security, working hours, work environ-
ment, standard of living, and work/life balance. Educators can increase student awareness
of positive tangible outcome expectations by utilization of career information from the
Department of Labor, salary surveys, profiles of successful CPAs through the use of
guest speakers, advisory boards, mentors and videos, and in the near term through the
assignment of a tangible grade for the students’ course performance. Nelson et al.
(2002) found that a majority (85%) of students who choose to pursue an accounting
major have established a personal connection to someone who already is a successful
accountant. Beyond these tangible outcome expectations, social-related outcomes –
which include recognition, professional respect, opportunity to interact in team-based
work, and being asked to serve on civic and non-profit organization roles – are also impor-
tant in the development of outcome expectations and should be highlighted and
reinforced by educators. Finally, the highest levels of outcome expectations are those
that are more internally centered. This includes: (1) one’s sense of pride, (2) personal sat-
isfaction with work contributions, (3) moral fairness, (4) a sense of achievement, and (5)
self-actualization. Chen, Jones, and McIntyre (2008) found that a good experience in the
introductory accounting course can lead to higher perceived benefits and lower perceived
costs of pursuing an accounting career. Jackling and Calero (2006) found that satisfaction
with their accounting course was the most significant predictor of a student’s intent to
pursue an accounting degree. Educators can foster these self-evaluative aspects of
outcome expectation development through course-related projects and presentations,
student-based awards and scholarships, and accounting honor societies among other
activities.
In total, these curriculum-related activities enumerated above (e.g. case studies, guest
speakers, behavior modeling, and reinforcing potential outcome expectations) can be
122 J. SCHOENFELD ET AL.

embodied in individual accounting courses and throughout the accounting major to foster
a greater desire and commitment to pursuing a career as a CPA based on the results of this
study using the SCCT model. The more of these activities that can be incorporated into the
development of instructor course pedagogy, the greater the level of self-efficacy and
outcome expectations that can be fostered throughout the educational experience.
These learning experiences should be as important as the more cognitive and theoretical
information that is essential for the preparation of program graduates for a career in
accounting and the attainment of the CPA designation.

Conclusion and limitations

Since the start of the new millennium, there has been a great deal of interest in the enroll-
ment numbers of students going into the accounting field (Chen, Jones, & McIntyre,
2005). Research has shown that students in introductory accounting classes often have
negative perceptions of accounting that gets created or reinforced in their introductory
course (Mladenovic, 2000). A number of studies have explored factors that increase our
understanding of what may play a role in attracting or deterring students into the field
of accounting (Albrecht & Sack, 2000). These factors include: (1) student perceptions of
the accounting field as a career (Geiger & Ogilby, 2000; Tan & Laswad, 2006), (2) the
grade received in a student’s first accounting class (Mohrweis, 2006), (3) the credit
hour degree requirement (Boone & Coe, 2002), (4) perceptions of professional examin-
ations (Mustapha & Hassan, 2012), and (5) multiple attributes of the student (Ahmed,
Alam, & Alam, 1997; Byrne & Flood, 2005; Nelson et al., 2002). The results of this
study add to the current literature by better specifying the self-selection process contribut-
ing to a student’s intention to become a CPA. The results are relevant in their implications
for the accounting profession and, more specifically, for accounting programs that seek to
attract the ‘best and the brightest’ (Fedoryshyn & Hintz, 2002).
This present research study is subject to limitations. The SCCT model utilized focuses
on the three main variables of self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and goals. There are a
number of related factors that may modify the relationships of these main variables. These
may include personal characteristics and contextual influences.
Relevant individual characteristics include ethnicity, socioeconomic status, innate abil-
ities, education level, and gender. Within the accounting profession where women rep-
resent approximately 50% of new CPA’s (AICPA, 2014), gender may be a particularly
important variable for future research. One recent study found women have lower self-
efficacy beliefs than men when deciding on engineering as their major (Inda, Rodriquez,
& Peña, 2013). Given the continued interest within the profession for gender equity
(Brody, Cox, & Kern, 2015), especially as it pertains to female retention and promotion
to leadership positions, gender is an important variable for further examination using
the SCCT model for accounting majors.
In addition, contextual influences including differential opportunities for role model
exposure, vicarious learning opportunities, and the use of social persuasion to support
or present barriers toward the desire to become a CPA should be explored to examine
their modifying impact on the main SCCT model variables. These contextual variables
have been shown to influence the three foci variables in the SCCT model, which are
self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and ultimately, goal formation (Lent et al., 1994).
 ACCOUNTING EDUCATION 123

While we have explained and reinforced the value and need for accounting educators to
develop course pedagogy that positively impacts many of these potential contextual
factors, future research studies are needed to more clearly understand the relationship
of these moderating variables on the development of self-efficacy, outcome expectations
and the career goal of becoming a CPA.
This study consisted of self-report data and may have been impacted by common
method variance in the analysis of the relationships among variables (Podsakoff, MacK-
enzie, Lee, & Podsakoff, 2003). Outcome expectations were a composite of seven com-
ponents. Further research may look at these components separately as to their
individual impact on the development of self-efficacy and goal intentions. Single-use
items were used to measure self-efficacy and goal intentions. This raises the concern for
measurement accuracy and future studies may consider using multiple-item measures
of these key constructs to enhance overall validity. The study participants were from
one university; therefore, data may not generalize to other regions. While there is no
reason to believe that the students in this study are not similar to those students in intro-
ductory accounting courses at other accredited business school programs, future research
should expand the scope of the study to include students from other universities. By doing
so, the results could more readily be generalized to the broader population. The gathering
of qualitative information through focus groups or interviews, in addition to the use of
surveys, could provide greater insight into the reasoning behind respondent choices and
would provide greater explanatory power of the responses. The use of a longitudinal
design in future research studies could provide greater causal evidence.
Despite these limitations, cross-sectional designs are a common method for explor-
ing career intentions (Ajzen, 1987) and the students sampled are those actually faced
with making a career choice. Furthermore, the present study is unique in its application
of SCCT (Lent et al., 2008; Zidic & Saks, 2009) to the goal of becoming a CPA.
Although other research studies have examined factors that may play a role in the
career choice of becoming an accountant, these studies have often not been grounded
in an established theoretical framework. The findings of this study indicate that a stu-
dent’s self-efficacy toward becoming a CPA and the perceived outcome expectations of
being a CPA are significant factors in the decision to establish a goal to become a CPA.
For accounting educators, the present study’s application of the SCCT model to the
career intentions to become a CPA can have practical implications in the design and
delivery of accounting curriculum and can help to facilitate attracting students to the
major and profession.

Notes
1. As an example, if a respondent who ranked the importance of income as a 4 (important) and
thought the probability of becoming a CPA was a 4 (between 61% and 80%) would have a 16
as the value for the ‘higher income outcome’ component of the Outcomes Expectations
Index.
2. The outcomes expectations index was factor analyzed using principal component analysis
with Varimax (orthogonal) rotation. The analysis yielded two factors explaining a total of
63.4% of the variance for the entire set of variables. Factor 1 was labeled extrinsic rewards,
for example, job security (R 2 = 38.3%). The second factor derived was labeled intrinsic
rewards, for example, status and prestige (R 2 = 25.1%).
124 J. SCHOENFELD ET AL.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

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