Beliefs influencing students’ career choices in Sweden and reasons for not choosing the accounting profession

Abstract

This study, employing the simplified Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), investigates student beliefs that influence their attitudes and subjective norms, leading them to not choose the accounting profession in Sweden. Questionnaires were sent electronically to first-year and second-year university students, and, after applying the exclusion criteria, the sample size comprised 228 students. The results reaffirmed the simplified TRA model and revealed that both behavioral (no personal interest in accounting, a boring profession, and higher salaries in other occupations) and normative beliefs (the influence of teachers and peers), through personal attitudes and subjective norms, influenced students’ decision to avoid the accounting profession. The findings suggest that accounting departments and business school faculties should recruit professional accountants and invite Swedish professional accounting bodies to create supportive activities that will motivate and help students learn more about the profession. Furthermore, accounting teachers should be more practical and equipped with engaging pedagogical techniques, and mandatory internships and seminars should be included in the school curriculum. It is also suggested that these implications should be positively communicated through social media.