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Gender and motives for accountancy

Yasuo Nishiyama (School of Business, Woodbury University, Burbank, California, USA)
Angelo A. Camillo (School of Business, Woodbury University, Burbank, California, USA)
Robert C. Jinkens (School of Business, Woodbury University, Burbank, California, USA)

Journal of Applied Accounting Research

ISSN: 0967-5426

Article publication date: 2 September 2014

675

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether some motives for the choice of an accounting career, disproportionately stronger among women than among men, explain disproportionately more women (60 percent) than men (40 percent) in the accounting profession.

Design/methodology/approach

The ordered probit model is used to analyze online survey data of approximately 580 responses collected from members of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Findings

This study finds three reasons why more women (than men) enter the accounting profession: locational freedom, social status, and income stability. Women who choose accounting as a career value these three offered by accounting more than do men who choose accounting as a career. These findings represent mainly those of older CPAs (who are older than 50). The finding related to social status is reversed in the case of younger CPAs.

Research limitations/implications

The paper's findings may be limited to some extent because the authors investigate only three motives for the choice of an accounting career. Also, the online survey data may not be generalized to the entire CPA population.

Originality/value

The hypothesis that relates motives for the choice of an accounting career to more women in the accounting profession is carefully derived using Bayes’ theorem. This hypothesis is tested by the ordered probit method.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Loredana Di Pietro for preparing the data set used in this study. Also, the authors thank two anonymous reviewers and the editor (Julia Mundy) for their useful comments and suggestions.

Citation

Nishiyama, Y., A. Camillo, A. and C. Jinkens, R. (2014), "Gender and motives for accountancy", Journal of Applied Accounting Research, Vol. 15 No. 2, pp. 175-196. https://doi.org/10.1108/JAAR-02-2013-0013

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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