Moderating Effect of Career Guidance on the Relationship Between Introductory Accounting Course on Students’ Choice of Accounting as a Major in Kenyan Universities

Abstract

The objective of the study was to find out the moderating effect of Career guidance on the relationship between Introductory Accounting Course teaching methodology, course content, instructor’s influence and performance on students’ choice of Accounting as a major in Kenyan universities. Career guidance was hypothesized to have no moderating effect on the relationship between Introductory Accounting Course; teaching methodology, course content, instructor’s influence and performance on Students’ choice of Accounting as a major in Kenyan universities. The study adopted a positivistic philosophical approach. A Descriptive Ex-Post Facto Research design was employed. The study sampled 330 students undertaking Bachelor of Commerce degree in twelve selected Kenyan universities. The researchers applied for a research permit from National Commission for Science Technology and Innovation (NACOSTI) to facilitate data collection from the selected twelve Kenyan universities. The study adopted a mixture of purposive and stratified random sampling techniques to select the sample of students from the target population. A pilot study was conducted. The study adopted a logistic regression model. The null hypothesis that career guidance has no moderating effect on the relationship between Introductory Accounting Course teaching methodology, course content, instructor’s influence and performance on students’ choice of Accounting as a major in Kenyan universities was thus rejected. A conclusion was drawn that career guidance has a moderating effect on the relationship between Introductory Accounting Course; teaching methodology, course content, instructor’s influence and performance on students’ choice of Accounting as a major in Kenyan universities. The policy implication of the study is that those responsible for university education have to give due attention to career guidance to strengthen the opportunities for students to choose Accounting as a major, given the low uptake of the specialization. The study focused on the moderating effect of career guidance on the relationship between Introductory Accounting Course; teaching methodology, course content, instructor’s influence and performance on students’ choice of Accounting as a major in Kenyan universities as opposed to other studies that hitherto focused on aspects like earnings, job market conditions and career opportunities as influencers of career choice among students in universities.

Keywords: Teaching Methodology, Introductory Accounting Course, Career Guidance, Accounting Major.