Enrolment motivation of accounting doctoral students:: professionally qualified and non-professionally qualified accountants

Ann-Marie Ward; Niamh Brennan; Judith Wylie

doi:10.1080/01559982.2021.2001127

Enrolment motivation of accounting doctoral students: professionally qualified and non-professionally qualified accountants

Ann-Marie Ward
, Niamh Brennan
, Judith Wylie

University College Dublin

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

272 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The gap between accounting research and practice can be bridged by academic faculty who are professionally qualified and research trained. However, accounting suffers an acute shortage of accounting doctoral graduates, especially those with a professional accounting qualification, due to a lack of enrolments. This study examines the motivation of 36 accounting doctoral students, including 13 professionally qualified and 23 non-professionally qualified, to provide insights on what makes accounting doctoral education attractive to potential doctoral applicants. Their motivation is analysed using self-determination theory (SDT), which predicts that enrolment to doctoral education is more likely with self-motivated or self-determined individuals. Motivations for enrolling for doctoral education include expectations of a career in academia, enjoyment of research or interest in the topic, status of the PhD qualification and work-life balance. Professionally qualified doctoral students were motivated to enrol because of dissatisfaction with their professional career and lack of autonomy. The paper identifies five motivations for enrolling for doctoral education not reported in the prior literature.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1-24
Number of pages	24
Journal	Accounting Forum
Early online date	1 Dec 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/01559982.2021.2001127
Publication status	Published online - 1 Dec 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We echo calls in prior studies for closer engagement between academics and practitioners (Beattie & Smith, ). Our study found that the main motivation for most accounting doctoral enrolees, whether professionally qualified or non-professionally qualified, is seeking a career in academia, as they want to teach. Consistent with this, Plumlee and Reckers () report a potential link between prior teaching experience and accounting doctoral enrolment. Our study also found that previous research experience motivates doctoral enrolment. Therefore, we urge universities and professional bodies to co-operate to create and fund initiatives that enable potential applicants to experience both. One suggestion is to provide one-year master’s posts that enable students to experience light teaching duties, such as tutorials, and support them to undertake preliminary research on a research topic, to masters level, of interest to the student and the profession. Such an initiative is most likely to be successful if the year is treated as a secondment from the professional firm but is partially funded by the university and the professional body. Universities and the profession should co-operate to identify research projects suitable for doctoral education. Finally, professional accounting bodies should promote an academic career as part of their professional development/career planning. Acknowledgements

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Funding

Funding Information: We echo calls in prior studies for closer engagement between academics and practitioners (Beattie & Smith, ). Our study found that the main motivation for most accounting doctoral enrolees, whether professionally qualified or non-professionally qualified, is seeking a career in academia, as they want to teach. Consistent with this, Plumlee and Reckers () report a potential link between prior teaching experience and accounting doctoral enrolment. Our study also found that previous research experience motivates doctoral enrolment. Therefore, we urge universities and professional bodies to co-operate to create and fund initiatives that enable potential applicants to experience both. One suggestion is to provide one-year master’s posts that enable students to experience light teaching duties, such as tutorials, and support them to undertake preliminary research on a research topic, to masters level, of interest to the student and the profession. Such an initiative is most likely to be successful if the year is treated as a secondment from the professional firm but is partially funded by the university and the professional body. Universities and the profession should co-operate to identify research projects suitable for doctoral education. Finally, professional accounting bodies should promote an academic career as part of their professional development/career planning. Acknowledgements Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 4 Quality Education

Keywords

Doctoral education
doctoral enrolment;
extrinsic motivation
intrinsic motivation
self-determination theory
Accounting
Finance
enrolment
Accounting doctoral education
interview methodology

Access to Document

10.1080/01559982.2021.2001127

Final published versionFinal published version, 2.62 MBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

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abstract = "The gap between accounting research and practice can be bridged by academic faculty who are professionally qualified and research trained. However, accounting suffers an acute shortage of accounting doctoral graduates, especially those with a professional accounting qualification, due to a lack of enrolments. This study examines the motivation of 36 accounting doctoral students, including 13 professionally qualified and 23 non-professionally qualified, to provide insights on what makes accounting doctoral education attractive to potential doctoral applicants. Their motivation is analysed using self-determination theory (SDT), which predicts that enrolment to doctoral education is more likely with self-motivated or self-determined individuals. Motivations for enrolling for doctoral education include expectations of a career in academia, enjoyment of research or interest in the topic, status of the PhD qualification and work-life balance. Professionally qualified doctoral students were motivated to enrol because of dissatisfaction with their professional career and lack of autonomy. The paper identifies five motivations for enrolling for doctoral education not reported in the prior literature.",

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