Factors affect the major decision of accounting and non accounting learners in the digital era

In this direction, prominent with the qualitative research of Dang Thu Ha and Dang Thao Hien 2019 and the quantitative research of Nguyen Thi Bich Van et al 2017 that were based on the c

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC KINH TẾ TP HÒ CHÍ MINH

BÁO CÁO TỐNG KẾT

THƯỞNG “ NHÀ NGHIÊN cứu TRẺ UEH ” NĂM 2024

FACTORS AFFECT THE MAJOR DECISION OF

ACCOUNTING AND NON-ACCOUNTING LEARNERS

IN THE DIGITAL ERA

Thuộc nhóm chuyên ngành: Kê toán doanh nghiệp

TP Hồ Chí Minh, tháng 2 - 2024

Accounting is one of the key jobs in the management apparatus that businesses are

seeking as a result of the growing number of established businesses (Nguyen Van Bao, 2020) Prior to the need for human resources in accounting and the standards for

accounting quality, the majority of colleges offered specialized accounting education

to address those needs Therefore, in order to have a proper strategy for enrolment,

universities need to understand the elements influencing the decision to pick

accounting majors in order to entice students to choose accounting majors In order to propose policy implications for training institutions, the research's goal is to identify and assess the influence of the factors influencing students' decisions to major in

accounting The aim of the study is to identify and assess the influence of the factors influencing students' decision to major in accounting As a result, policy

recommendations are made for educational institutions to encourage students to pick accounting as their major The author of the thesis use quantitative research techniques supported by IBM SPSS 27 statistical software to assess the variables influencing

students' decisions to major in accounting Analysis of data from 400 students reveals that there are six factors, including intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, influence from third parties, feeling of benefit-cost ratio, digital age, and Cognitive of major

program, that influence students' decisions to choose their major at universities in Ho Chi Manis City The author suggests a number of solution implications based on the analysis's findings in order to improve the capabilities of accounting programs in Ho Chi Minh City in particular and Vietnam in general to draw in more students

2.2.1 Theory of Reasoned Action - TRA 23

2.3.1 Ahmed and partnership ’s research model (1997)28

2.4Research hypothesis and research model 30

2.4.1 Intrinsic motivation 30 2.4.2 Extrinsic motivation 31 2.4.3 Effect of the third-party 32 2.4.4 Feeling of Benefit - cost ratio 32

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 33

3.1.1 Quantitative research methods 34

3.2.1 The decision of choosing accounting 38

3.2.4 Effect of the third-party 39

4.2 Evaluate the reliability of the scale using Cronbach's Alpha coefficient 45

4.4Independent variable correlation analysis 54

4.5 Binary Logistics regression analysis 57

4.5.1 Assessing Model Fit.57 4.5.2 Evaluating the explanatory power of the model 58 4.5.3 Evaluation of Predictive Accuracy of model 58 4.5.4 Regression results 59 4.5.5 Evaluating factors 61

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLE

Figure 1: Theory of Reasoned Action - TRA (Fishbein &Ajzen, 1975)24

Figure 2: Theory of Planned Behaviour - TPB (Ajzen, 1991)25

independent variable 49

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

SCCT Social Cognitive Career Theory

1 Reasons for selecting topics

Today, the economic situation is developing, more and more businesses are established and following a series of recruitment needs, accounting is one of the positions that must be filled in order to form an administrative apparatus for business operations (THS Tran Ngoc Thuy, 2017) Therefore, almost all universities and colleges with economic training or even without specialized training in economics still have accounting majors As of October 2016, according to statistics of the Ministry ofEducation and Training, our country has about 553 training institutions, including 203 universities and institutes, 208 colleges and 142 high schools, professional But, according to the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, such as the Pedagogy industry, the Accounting industry is in crisis because of oversupply of human resources Accounting - Auditing industry despite high supply, the unemployment rate is high but the demand for recruitment is also high, the question is why there is such a paradox Explaining the phenomenon of unemployment, excess quantity but lack of quality, according to feedback from recruitment businesses for the accounting department, up to 80% - 90% of the recruited students do not have the ability to do instant access to real accounting work Despite knowing that, there are still a lot of students studying accounting in Vietnam Therefore, to explain why accounting students still account for

a larger number of students than non-accounting majors, it is necessary to identify the factors that determine the choice of major of accounting students and students who are not majoring in accounting

The number of studies on the determinants of accounting students' choice of majors and non-accounting majors is increasing and is being earned out a lot in the world such as Canada (Felton et al., 1994), United States (Ahmadhi et al., 1995), New Zealand (Ahmed el al., 1997), Malaysia (Ida Haryani, 2021), Previous studies were mostly based on well-known theories such as rationality theory Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), Theory of Planned Behavior (Theory of Planned Behavior) and Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) to explore the factors affecting job performance, choice of majors by accounting students and non-accounting students (Adams et al.,

1994; Stice et al., 1997; Saemann and Crooker, 1999; Mauldin et al., 2000; Marriot and Marriot, 2003; Byrne et al Willis 2005; Sugahara et al., 2006, )

Meanwhile in Vietnam, according to this research topic, previous studies mainly revolved around issues such as: Job orientation of students after graduation (Tran ThiThu Hien, 2009; Nguyen Thi Minh Phuong ,2011; Vo Tan Dat, 2012); Factors affecting the choice of major of high school students (Truong Thi Hoa, 2011), factors affecting students' career choice (Nguyen Thi Lan Huong, 2012; Bui Thi Kim Hoang, 2013; Le

Thi Thanh Kieu, 2015; Nguyen Thi Bich Van et al., 2017) based on the determinants of students' choice of accounting major (Nguyen Huynh Nhu, 2021) Until now, in Vietnam, researchers have not paid much attention to the factors that determine the choice of majors of accounting students and the factors that determine the choice of

majors of students of other majors In this direction, prominent with the qualitative research of Dang Thu Ha and Dang Thao Hien (2019) and the quantitative research of Nguyen Thi Bich Van et al (2017) that were based on the consumer behavior model (Philip Kotler, 2011) to determine the factors affecting students when deciding to choose accounting majors However, there have been a little studies using the combination of

TR A, TPB and SCCT for research Meanwhile, these theories have been widely applied

by researchers around the world to identify many factors affecting the decision to choose

a major of accounting students and non-accounting students From the above reasons,

we have chosen the research topic "FACTORS AFFECT THE MAJOR DECISION OF ACCOUNTING AND NON-ACCOUNTING LEARNERS IN THE DIGITAL ERA" This study will combine with the theories of TRA, TPB, SCCT to discover the factors affecting the decision to choose a major of accounting students and non-accounting students Based on the research results, we will suggest possible solutions for universities to contribute to reducing the number of low-quality accounting students while balancing the ratio of students across disciplines

2 Research objectives

2.1 Overall objective

- Research factors affect the major decision of accounting and non-accounting learners

in the digital era

4 Research object and investigation object

-Research object: factors affecting the decision to choose a major of accounting students

and non-accounting students

- Investigation object: all students studying at universities in Ho Chi Minh City and former alumni students

5 Research method

The thesis uses quantitative research methods, through survey questionnaires to collect data and uses IBM SPSS 20 statistical software to evaluate the reliability of the scale, exploratory factors analysis (EFA), independent variable correlation analysis to assess the relationship between factors, Binary Logistics regression analysis to test model hypothesis and assess the impact of each factor for the dependent variable

educational institutions on the factors that determine the choice of major of accounting students and non-accounting students in the digital-digital age.

- In terms of practice: This study helps universities have a better overview of the current accounting industry, and at the same time offers strategies to improve the quality of accounting students coming out of college, review the ratio of inputs between industries

to be reasonable with industry 4.00

7 Thesis structure

- In addition to the introduction, the thesis structure consists of 5 chapters:

Chapter 1: Literature Review

Chapter 2: Theoretical Basic

Chapter 3: Research Methodology

Chapter 4:Research Analysis and Results

Chapter 5: Conclusion and Recommendation

CHAPTER 1: LECTURER REVIEW

Theses, dissertations and foreign articles published in prestigious journals are researched and selected by the authors through search engines such as Google Scholar, Proquest Data, Science Direct, Using search keywords: Major choice, Choice of an accounting major, Decision to choose accounting major, Career path, Factors affecting non-accounting and accounting students, Factors affecting the study of accounting , Accounting Students, Non- Accounting Students, Career choice, The topic of factors affecting Accounting students and non-accounting students to decide on majors has been

mentioned quite a lot in the journals of accounting education and accounting majors, prestigious accounting as well as other industry journals such as IT, HR, in the world, such as Accounting Education, Journal of Accounting Education, Asian Review of Accounting, Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies, International Journal of Accounting, Accounting and Finance, For domestic research, the authors searched for keywords such as choosing an accounting major, factors affecting the choice, majoring

in accounting, deciding to choose accounting majors, deciding to choose major majors, etc Through search sources, which are electronic libraries of universities, and regular magazines in Vietnam such as Industry and Trade magazine , Economic Development Journal, Financial Journal, National Conference on Accounting-Audit Research and Training Decide to choose key majors, etc Through search sources, which are the electronic libraries of universities and official journals in Vietnam such as Industry and Trade Magazine, Economic Development Review, and Finance Magazine National conference on accounting-audit research and training decides to choose key majors, etc Through search sources, which are the electronic libraries of universities and official journals in Vietnam such as Industry and Trade Magazine, Economic Development Review, and Finance Magazine., National conference on accounting-audit research and training

1.1 Research around the world

When studying the factors affecting students on deciding to choose accounting majors, these studies are usually based on TRA, TPB, SCCT and inherit from the research results of previous studies

The TRA assumes that a person's behavior is influenced by attitudes and social norms Attitude is expressed through the belief that a behavior leads to certain results and social norms that indicate that the individuals or groups involved may or may not approve of the behavior Felton et al (1994) based on TRA surveyed 897 students at Canadian universities to consider their decision to pursue a career in accounting In this study, they only tested "attitude" and did not test the "social norm" variable (they argued that this variable did not contribute significantly in previous studies) As a result, there are differences between students who choose to pursue a career in accounting andstudents who do not choose to pursue a career in accounting Students pursuing a career

in accounting pay less attention on intrinsic factors and initial income; they are more concerned with long-term earnings and both short-term (e.g., ready to work immediately) and long-term (e.g., job security, career flexibility job market conditions ); had more exposure to accounting in high school; and feel a higher benefit-cost ratio when becoming an accountant A recent study by Awadallah and Elgharbawy (2020) uses mixed PPNC to identify the factors that influence the decision of accounting students to choose a major in a developing country - Qatar The factors affecting the decision to choose accounting majors for accounting students are personal preferences; awareness of accounting education including the first accounting course and awareness

of industry employment prospects; family; friends and instructors At the same time, the study also notes that the influence of media and mass media such as social networks is less emphasized in a conservative society like Qatar Despite the increasing use of technology and smartphones in Qatar, a large segment of users, especially women, have privacy concerns and perceive that social media is helping to spread the word like rumors and misinformation

The research based on TRA development is far less than the research based on TRA variants- TPB, because the biggest limitation of TRA is the behavior of individuals under the control of intention In other words, TRA only applies to individuals who areconscious before the behavior occurs Therefore, this theory cannot be explained in the case of irrational behavior, which is considered as unconscious behavior or habitual behavior The most typical research based on TPB is that of Cohen and Hanno (1993)

In this research model, factors such as result trust, social norms and behavior control are considered, and it is concluded that these three factors will affect the choice of

accounting major In addition, the study also shows that students who do not choose an accounting major think that accounting figures are too high and accounting is a boring major In addition, the success of accounting courses and mathematical skills determined

by students is a behavioral control index that hinders or promotes the choice of accounting majors Porter and Woolley (2014) also used TPB to study the impact of

accounting students' internal attitudes, external attitudes, social norms, and behavioral controls on accounting professional decision-making The study concludes that internal attitudes, behavioral control, and social norms can affect students' decision to choose a

major, but external attitudes do not significantly affect students’ decision to choose a major; This is inconsistent with the research results of Cohen and Hanno (1993) This study (Tang and Seng, 2016) is based on the results of these two studies and uses TPB

to identify factors that affect students' choice of accounting major Empirical research results from four Cambodian universities have identified teacher factors, personal characteristics, and career expectations that have a significant impact on students' decisions to choose accounting majors In contrast, external factors have no significant impact (similar to the study by Porter and Woolley (2014)) The study also concluded that there are differences between universities in statistical significance and factors that affect students' choice of majors

Besides TRA and TPB, SCTT is also widely used to explain the factors affecting individual career choice SCCT has often been used to describe an individual's career choice and career development process Il was proposed by Lent et al (1994), SCCT is

an extension of the social cognitive theory developed by Bandura (1986), essentially aimed at understanding career interests, career choices, and progression towards career goals This theory focuses on individual cognitive, self-regulatory, and motivational processes and their influence on career choices (Pajares, 2006) Within the framework

of the SCCT, students' academic interests are measured when they are confident in their ability to perform in the field (self-efficacy) and when they expect positive results for engaging in those tasks It is considered developed when (expectation of outcome) The SCCT believes that three key factors underpin an individual's decision-making: self­efficacy, outcome expectations, and personal goals Thus, people develop goals to pursue academic and career choices that are aligned with their interests, self-efficacy, and outcome expectations.The individual's decision to pursue that course of study The following sections describe his three broad concepts of SCCT and their relevance to key student decisions

Self-efficacy and course major decisions of students

Self-efficacy is “belief in one's capability to organize and execute courses of action required to achieve a given objective" (Bandura, 1986) It is a measure of an individual's belief in their ability to control their activities According to Ng et al (2017),

people with high self-efficacy tend to put in a lot of effort to accomplish tasks, even in the face of obstacles Self-efficacy is considered to be an important determinant of career choice A common view in deciding on an academic field is that a student’s confidence

in his or her abilities is related to the choice of an academic field According to Pajares (2006), undergraduates are more likely to choose majors and careers in fields in which they are confident of their competitiveness and excellence In addition, Gushue et al

(2006) found that making confident career decisions helps students better understand their own abilities and is more likely to confidently undertake and participate in career- related activities found to be influential Shay et al (2007) suggest that students who are confident in their abilities are generally more persevering in the face of adversity and that this influences their choice of tasks As Chemers et al (2001) suggest that people who are confident in their own abilities are resilient, willing to make additional efforts, and able to cope with the challenges associated with their chosen course of action Therefore, a student's grades are very important when choosing a major with cognitive references such as mathematics, accounting and engineering Bong (2001) hypothesizes that students who are confident in their abilities are more persistent and willing to lake

on challenging tasks, and as a result, demonstrate superior academic performance Uya

et al (2011) therefore conclude that students who lack confidence in their numeracy skills are less likely to pursue careers in fields such as accounting

Personal goals and course major decision of students

Personal goals refer to “the determination to engage in a particular activity or to effect a particular future outcome”(Lent et al., 1994) An individual's goals are thought

to play an important role in shaping and directing behavior (Lent Ct al., 2003)

According to Hernandez et al (2012), goals provide clear direction and shape one's

academic behavior because they shape one's own motivation As a result, it has been argued that human action choices depend on individual goals (Lee et al., 2015)

Personal interests and motivations are believed to be important factors in goals

Motivation can be either intrinsic, in which students are primarily motivated by

personal gratification and interest, or extrinsic, in which students are motivated only

by external factors such as reward, compulsion, or pressure (Arquero et al Byrne and Flood, 2005; Liu, 2010; Samsuddin Ct al., 2015; Teixeira Ct al., 2015; Chen, 2014)

Takao et al (2016) found that student motivation is related to the decision to pursue an accounting degree Archero et al (2009) also document that both intrinsic and

extrinsic factors are important factors when students choose an accounting major

However, other studies (Porter and Woolley, 2014; Uyar, Gúngõrmũs and Kuzey,

2011) show that external factors do not influence a student's decision to major in

accounting Thus, although there seems to be a general consensus about the influence

of endogenous factors on accounting students' decision-making about their majors, the role of extrinsic factors does not appear to be decisive

Outcome expectation and course major decision of students

Outcome expectation is defined as ‘‘personal beliefs about the consequences or outcomes of performing a particular behavior’(Lent et al., 1994) Lent et at argue that

outcome expectations are beliefs about the consequences of one's actions Outcome

expectations involve the imaginary consequences of particular courses of action andare generally thought to play an important role in directing individual behavior (Lent, 2005; Bandura, 1986) According to Bartol and Srivastava (2002), expectations of

positive outcomes lead to more positive attitudes and influence individuals' decisions

to engage in activities Individuals are therefore more likely to engage in behaviors

with highly valuable consequences and avoid behaviors that lead to harmful

consequences It is shown that the path has important implications According to

Byrne et al (2012), for example, a student's expectations of a degree's outcome

influence their decision to enroll in that degree As their research shows, students

typically expect intellectual, personal, and social development This is the satisfaction you get from pursuing a particular course Therefore, students who feel that attending

a course may not meet their expectations are more likely to avoid majoring in that

course Therefore, if students perceive positive results regarding their expectations of a particular major, they have greater motivation to pursue that major

In short, the research direction on factors affecting students when deciding to

choose accounting majors or similar research are quite common in the world Foreign

research has used many basic theories in establishing research models, such as TRA, TPB, and SCCT These studies have revealed some important factors that affect the

choice of accounting majors, such as internal motivation, external motivation,

third-party influence, occupational exposure, productivity of introductory' accounting

courses, cost effectiveness ratio, and awareness of accounting education However,

each study conducted in different contexts and countries has produced different

results, and the factors that affect accounting decisions have not been fully explored,

as basic theories such as TPB, TRA, and SCCT are being studied discreetly More

research is needed to study this issue.

1.2 Domestic research

In Vietnam, the issue of job orientation after graduation is interested and mainly studied (Tran Thi Thu Hien, 2009; Nguyen Thi Minh Phuong, 2011; Vo Tan Dat, 2012), the factors affecting Majority choice of high school students (Truong Thi Hoa, 2011; Le Thi Thuy Van and Cao Hao Thi, 2012) and factors affecting students' career choice (Nguyen Thi Lan Huong, 2012; Bui Thi Kim Hoang, 2013, Le Thi Thanh Kieu, 2015, Nguyen Thi Bich Van et al., 2017)

Job orientation after graduation is mainly studied about the work area, workplace and career after graduation (Tran Thi Thu Hien, 2009; Nguyen Thi Minh Phuong, 2011) Besides, it also concluded that there are 7 factors affecting the job orientation of students, which are self-efficacy, working environment, labor market, local attractiveness, company characteristics, etc family conditions and preferential policies

In particular, the factor of self-efficacy plays an important role for students in the career decision-making process (Vo Tan Dat, 2012) In the study on the factors affecting the choice of majors of high school students in Hoa Binh province by Truong Thi Hoa(2011) also confirmed that this factor has the highest influence among the factors including: individual, the orientation of the teacher’s family, propaganda of the mass media, the opinion of friends and the popularity of the training school Thereby, it can

be affirmed that students know based on their own ability to choose a career, the popularity of the training school and the influence of friends are insignificant compared

to the choice, of individual students Another study by Le Thi Thuy Van and Cao Hao

Thi (2012) when considering the factors affecting the decision to choose a major of high school students in Binh Thuan province also identified 6 main factors which are: personal characteristics, career prospects, learning opportunities, social credentials, non-

family audiences, and occupational inheritance In which, the individual characteristics factor with semi-observations: aptitude, learning ability, and interests have the highest influence The impact of career inheritance factors is small, indicating that current family work has a small impact on students' choice of major.

Other studies have also in-depth identified factors that affect students' career choices, studying four disciplines: business management at the Da Nang School of Economic Planning, Nguyen Thi Lan Huong (2012) identified three highly important influencing factors: career opportunities, communication and training opportunities, and the impact

of reference objects There arc some problems with this study, such as the author not raising research questions, and some content only lists the concepts of different authors

in its reasoning section, but does not provide in-depth analysis to make predictions from the regression equations in the study In a study by Bui Thi Kim Hoang (2013) of Ton

Duc Thang University, factors were identified

When deciding to choose a major in finance and banking, the factors that have a significant impact on students are interesting information and career opportunities The study also concluded that students majoring in finance and banking have a higher "sense

of interest" and "career opportunities" than students majoring in other majors Students majoring in finance and banking have a higher "sense of interest" and "career opportunities" than students majoring in other majors However, there is no difference

in the personality of this student Factors that affect students at TP University When Ho Chi Minh City decided to major in business administration in a study by Le Thi Thanh Kieu (2015), it identified six factors in descending order, namely, personal characteristics, reference objects, employment opportunities, and school brand image, Teacher Competency and Tuition Policy

For accounting majors, there are few research directions for Vietnamese accounting students to choose accounting majors The case study was Nguyen Thi Bich Van (2016) Based on previous research, the relevance of factors was selected and analyzed to construct a new scale for application in Vietnam Then, Nguyen Thi Bich Van and colleagues (2017) identified and measured the factors that affect the choice of accounting majors through a quantitative research method that collected 580

observations from students and alumni from four universities Based on the theory of

"consumer behavior model", the study discovered the factors that affect subject selection: school characteristics; Characteristics of learners; Occupational and social characteristics In addition, the study provides advice to universities to focus on training activities, promote enrollment, provide career advice to learners, and provide information to learners before choosing a field of study In addition, the research by Dang Thu Ha and Dang Thao Hien (2019) explored the factors that affect the choice of accounting majors by freshmen from Hanoi and Vietnam Polytechnic Universities The method used is a qualitative study conducted through a sample interview with 51 first year accounting students Based on the collected data, the research results identified three factors that affect accounting freshmen’s choice of school: ability, interest, and passion; Family guidance and guidance; teacher; Future career opportunities

In summary, the research direction on factors affecting accounting students and non­accounting students when deciding to choose accounting majors is not popular in Vietnam In Vietnam, it is mainly studied in general about the trend of choosing a career

of students, orientation of choosing a career after graduation of students For the accounting industry, only the study by Nguyen Thi Bich Van et al (2017) uses quantitative PPNC and is based on consumer behavior models (Phillip Kotler, 2011) to identify influencing factors, to the student’s decision to choose accounting major, but the subjects only focused on 4 universities (Vang Lang University, Binh Duong University of Economics and Technology, University of Food Industry and University

of Science and Technology) Ho Chi Minh City Open University); Research by Dang Thu Ha and Dang Thao Hien (2019), only conducted qualitative research with survey subjects at 2 universities Thereby, it shows that until now, there has been no research

in Vietnam using a combination of TRA, TPB, SCCT to identify other influencing factors affecting the decision to choose a major of accounting students and students, did not study accounting and surveying at many different universities

1.3 Defects in the study

In general, there are many studies in the world related to the factors affecting the choice

of major ofaccounting students and solutions to attract potential students But at present,

in the world, there has not been any specific research on the factors affecting the choice

of majors of accounting students and non-accounting students Typically, the studies of Linden (1987), Horowitz and Riley (1990) and Felton et al (1994) have found out the intrinsic factors that are very important in students' decisions to choose accounting majors In contrast, Paolillo and Estes (1982), Haswell and Holmes arrive at the student's choice decision The researchers also compared the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, Most studies show that the results of Accounting students are more affected

by extrinsic motivation factors than intrinsic motivation (Cohen and Hanno, 1993; Felton et al., 1994; Ahmed el al events, 1997; Jackling and Keneley, 2009) Besides, the study of Porter and Wolly (2014) based on TPB and the study of Ng et al (2017) based on SCCT showed that extrinsic motivation does not affect the decision to choose accounting majors and Student accounting career path Previous studies have found that the influence of third parties including family members, friends, career teachers and career counselors is one of the important factors influencing student success, employees when deciding to choose a career path in accounting (Ng et al., 2017; Mauldin et al., 2000; Tan and Laswad, 2006) Meanwhile , Other studies have shown contradictory results, such as Paolillo and Estes (1982) who have shown that the influence of parents and friends is less significant Friends do not affect the choice of major according to the study of Condie and Luthy (1985) In addition to the above comments Gul et al (1989), Hermanson (1995), Malgwi et al (2005) also concluded that friends, parents, instructors and secondary school teachers have some degree of lower influence on student choice

In addition, the development of each country is different, so it is difficult to fully apply the factors discovered in different countries (Tang and Seng, 2016) In Vietnam, the researchers mainly study the general trend of choosing a career for students, the orientation of choosing a career after graduation Therefore, previous studies have not highlighted the specific factors affecting the career choice of each different profession Each profession has its own characteristics, so general studies on choosing a career in Vietnam can hardly be generalized for a particular profession In particular, theaccounting profession is currently undergoing a drastic change due to the impact of the development of the industrial revolution 4.0 For accounting, Only the study of Nguyen

Thi Bich Van et al (2017) used quantitative PPNC and based on consumer behavior model (Philip Kotler, 2011) to identify the factors affecting the decision to choose an

accounting profession, students, but the survey respondents only focused on 4 universities (Van Lang University, Binh Duong University of Economics and Technology, University of Food Industry and Ho Chi Minh City Open University) ; Research by Dang Thu Ha and Dang Thao Hien (2019), only conducted qualitative research on survey subjects at 2 universities Thereby, it shows that up to now, there have been no studies in Vietnam using TRA, TPB, SCCT to identify influencing factors and surveys in many universities in Ho Chi Minh City HCM Besides, researchers around the world also only use these theories individually in their research Therefore, the factors identified that affect the choice of majors of accounting students and non­accounting students are discrete.

From these gaps, the authors chose the research direction on ’’Factors affecting the major decision of accounting students and non-accounting students" This study is based

on the combination of all three theories TRA, TPB, SCCT to comprehensively explore the factors The results of this study contribute to narrowing the gap in research on factors affecting accounting students and non-accounting students when deciding tochoose a major as well as contributing to improving the quality of students, members of each industry, helping to reduce the student unemployment rate

CONCLUSION OF CHAPTER 1

Chapter 1 presented an overview of the research situation in the world and in Vietnam related to the factors affecting the decision to choose a major of accounting students and non-accounting students These studies show that the problem of studying the factors affecting the decision to choose a major of accounting and non-accounting students is of interest, the ultimate aim of these studies is to find a solution and methods

to attract students to choose accounting majors The results of these studies are also the basis for the thesis to inherit and apply to build a research model of the factors affecting the students' decision to choose accounting majors al universities in Ho Chi Minh City

CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BASIS

With greater economic development resulting in the changing role of

accounting, its scope became broader In 1966, the American Accounting Association (AAA) defined accounting as ‘the process of identifying, measuring and

communicating economic information to permit informed judgments and decisions by users of information*

The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) also defines: “Accounting

is the art of recording, classifying and summarizing according to its own method of

economic and financial activities, thereby presenting an overview of the situation and results, economic performance”

According to the Law on Accounting 2015 in Vietnam: “Accounting means

collection, processing, inspecting, analysis, and provision of economic, financial

information in the form of value, objects, and working hours.”

As my group's research environment is in Vietnam, accounting in the context of this research is understood according to the definition of the Vietnam Accounting Law 2015: “Accounting means collection, processing, inspecting, analysis, and provision of economic, financial information in the form of value, objects, and working hours.”

Accounting can be divided into two types:

+ Public accounting: Accounting is carried out in units that do not operate

in a business nature, do not take profits for the purpose of operation, such as social organizations, state organizations, etc

+ Corporate accounting: A type of accounting in businesses, operating with the main goal of making a profit.

Within the scope of this research paper, my group will investigate and analyze the

major decisions of both types of accounting above

2.1.2 The major decision

Decision is the process of making choices by identifying a decision, gathering information, and assessing alternative resolutions

Major decision is a process that learners have to consider and calculate to make

an optimal decision, in accordance with personal characteristics or ability to achieve future career goals This decision will affect them for the rest of their lives (Borchert, 2002)

The decision to study accounting in this study is understood as the student’s

decision to study accounting in the training program, including the decision to study accounting under the formal system, part-time system, distance training, double

major,

2.1.3 What is the digital era?

There is a broad spectrum in the digital age We have probably heard

buzzwords like "Artificial Intelligence" (AI), "Automation", "Big Data", "InsureTech",

"Internet of Things" (loT) and "Cloud" These are just some of the streams that fall

under the umbrella of the 'digital age'

COLLINS DICTIONARY simply defines The digital age’ (or information age)

as “a time when large amounts of information are widely available to many people,

largely through computer technology”

One definition that we believe captures the broad essence of the digital age that works for risk managers is from TECHOPEDIA, which defines ‘The Digital

Revolution’ as “the advancement of technology from analog electronic and mechanical devices to the digital technology available today The era started during the 1980s and

is ongoing The Digital Revolution also marks the beginning of the Information Era”

Within the scope of this research, my team will also study the impacts of the digital era on the decision to choose a major of accounting and non-accounting

students

2.2 Theoretical background

Theoretical backgrounds play a significant role in determining factors and

building model research Through a research overall, our group found that the theories

of TRA, TPB, and SCCT have been widely applied in previous research to determine the factors that influence accounting students' decisions to choose an accounting major (Ahmed and partnership's research model, 1997; Anis and Hanafi's research model ,2015; Tang and Seng's research model, 2016; Ng and partnership’s research model ,2017)

2.2.1 Theory of Reasoned Action - TRA

Theory of Reasoned Action (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1975) is a breakthrough

theory in the field of social psychology research (Sheppard, Hartwick and Warshaw, 1988; Eagly and Chaiken, 1993; Olson and Zanna, 1993) TRA is used to predict

behavior based on behavior intention (BI), which is the degree of effort that people

expend to perform the behavior and is influenced by two factors, the attitude towards behavior and the subjective norm (Ajzen, 1985) Attitude towards Behavior (AB)

reflects the degree to which a person has a positive or negative perception of the

behavior Subjective norm (SN) is the influence of other people or society on the

performance of an individual’s behavior The limitation of TRA is that it only applies

to cases where individuals are conscious before performing the act, so it does not

explain the cases: unreasonable behavior, habitual action, or considered behavior

which is unconscious (Ajzen, 1985) TRA is generalized through the model:

Figure I: Theory of Reasoned Action - TRA (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975)

The above theory helps to identify the factors that affect university students'

decision to choose a major, which are subjective norms and attitude towards behavior factors Subjective norms are reflected in the student's decision to choose a career, and students are influenced by their parents, relatives, friends (Gul and partnerships, 1989; Mauldin and partnerships, 2000; Tan and Laswad, 2006) and experts (teachers,

advisers) (Albrecht and Sack, 2000) Regarding the attitude towards behavior, TRA defines attitude as the interaction between the importance of behavioral beliefs and the ability to perceive behavioral outcomes Attitude factors are considered into two

groups as internal attitudes: intrinsic reward of a job refers to achieving satisfaction when performing job functions expressed through factors such as challenge cognitive, enjoyable, encouraging creativity and allowing autonomy (Dimnik and Felton 2006; Hopper and partners, 2009; Azevedo and Sugahara, 2012) and external attitudes:

external rewards are not received directly through work activities, but are received as a result of perform the job process, reflected in the potential factors of high income, job opportunities, high basic salary, job security, opportunities for promotion and

flexibility in career choices (Inman and partnerships, 1989; Felton and partnerships, 1994; Adams and partnerships, 1994; Lowe and Simons, 1997; Ahamed and

partnerships, 1997)

2.2.2 Theory of Planned Behaviour - TPB

TPB is extended from TRA According to Ajzen, the introduction of TPB

overcomes a flawed limitation of TRA that humans have little control Therefore, a

third factor was added to TRA is Perceived Behavior Control Perceived behavior

control reflects the perceived ease or difficulty of performing a behavior, and it is

thought to relied past experience and anticipation of obstacles (Ajzen, 1991)

According to TPB, behavioral intention is not only affected by attitude and subjective norms like TRA, but also affected by Perceived behavior control TPB is generalized through the presented model:

Copyright © 2019 leek Ajzen

Control beliefs

Intention

Perceived behavioral control

Subjective norm

'I

Behavior

Actual behavioral

control

Figure 2: Theory of Planned Behaviour - TPB (Ajzen, 1991)

According to general rule, the more favorable the attitude and subjective norm

to the behavior and the greater the perceived ability to control the behavior, the

stronger an individual's intention to perform the behavior in question TPB has

provided a useful and validated framework for understanding how attitudes, subjective norms, and behavioral controls are combined to influence both planned and actual

behavior TPB has been confirmed in a wide range of topics from travel (Hsu, 2013) to eating habits (Blanchard and partnerships, 2009)

TPB has been applied in many studies and has found that attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavior control are the factors that influence students' decisions

to choose their major Attitude as the interaction between the importance of behavioral beliefs and the ability to perceive behavioral outcomes Attitude factors are considered into two groups as internal attitudes: intrinsic reward of a job refers to achieving

satisfaction when performing job functions expressed through factors such as

challenge cognitive, enjoyable, encouraging creativity and allowing autonomy

(Dimnik and Felton, 2006; Hopper and partners, 2009; Azevedo and Sugahara, 2012) and external attitudes: external rewards are not received directly through work

activities, but are received as a result of perform the job process, reflected in the

potential factors of high income job opportunities, high basic salary job security,

opportunities for promotion and flexibility in career choices (Inman and partnerships, 1989; Felton and partnerships, 1994; Adams and partnerships, 1994; Lowe and

Simons, 1997; Ahamed and partnerships, 1997) Subjective norms are reflected in the student's decision to choose a career, and students are influenced by their parents,

relatives, friends (Gul and partnerships, 1989; Mauldin and partnerships, 2000; Tan and Laswad, 2006) and experts (teachers, advisers) (Albrecht and Sack, 2000)

Perceived behavior control has been identified as a factor that reflects the ease or

difficulty of decision making when choosing an accounting profession The studies of

Cohen and Hanno (1993), Felton and partnerships (1994), Ahmed and partnerships

(1997) showed that behavioral control factors represented by adaptability job

completion, career opportunities, workload, and adequate study of accounting

principles influence students' decisions to choose accounting majors

2.2.3 Social Cognitive Career Theory - SCCT

Social Cognitive Career Theory developed by Lent and partnerships (1994) is used to describe the factors that influence an individual's career choice SCCT theory refers to the process by which individuals develop career choices, interests, and

persistence (Lent et al., 1994) SCCT theory has been used extensively in previous

literature to study career choice and career development decisions SCCT includes

three elements: Self-efficacy, expectations of results, goals Self-efficacy refers to an individual's belief in their ability to accomplish a set of behaviors related to

professional success People with high self-efficacy often work hard to get their work done, even in the face of obstacles Outcome expectations, on the other hand, refer to

beliefs about future outcomes after performing a particular action Finally, goals are ultimately defined as an individual's determination to commit to a particular learning

or performance outcome

Wang and partnerships (2007) researched on building a process of looking for a job based on learning self-regulation strategies and SCCT, suggesting that an

individual's career goals are influenced by beliefs about one's own ability and

professional expectations of the person Research by James and Hill (2009) used SCT

to examine differences between African-American and white students in factors that might lead to an interest in accounting careers The two main factors drawn from

SCCT are self-efficacy and outcome expectations The results show that African-

American students value the factor of outcome expectations and they are not confident that they will be successful in pursuing a career in accounting Research by Ng and

partnerships (2017) also relies on SCCT to study the intrinsic motivation, extrinsic

motivation, the effect of third-party, and occupational exposure affecting the

accounting career path The outcome of intrinsic motivators is an important factor

influencing career paths (Ryan and Deci, 2000; Jackling and Keneley, 2009; Adeleke and partnerships, 2013; Odia and Ogiedu, 2013; Mbawuni and Nimako, 2015), most respondents choose the accounting career path because they like math and are

interested in accounting They choose the accounting career path because they have complete career-related information when they have professional contacts with

professional organizations (Sugahara and Boland, 2006; Ghani and partnerships, 2008; Hutaibat, 2012) Extrinsic motivators have been identified in many studies as factors influencing career choices (Paolillo and Estes, 1982; Cangelosi and partnership, 1985, Kochanek and Norgard, 1985; Reha and Lu, 1985; Gul and partnerships, 1989; Felton and partnerships, 1994)

2.3 Synthesis of research model

When accounting and non-accounting students decide to choose their major They are affected by numerous factors There are a huge number of researchers around the

world who have found factors that play an important role in deciding majors of

accounting and non-accounting learners Some outstanding models which related to our thesis

2.3.1 Ahmed and partnership's research model (1997)

Ahmed and partnership surveyed 295 senior students in a university in New Zealand, they have concluded that financial considerations and job market are 2 factors and the income-cost ratio are also 2 crucial factors which have effect on accounting and non­

accounting decisions Meanwhile, internal factors, other factors and exposure to

majors through participating in courses at high school do not affect major decisions of accounting and non-accounting students The research model of Ahmed and

partnership is shown in Figure

Financial considerations

Internal factors

Other factors I

Exposure to majors through

participating in courses at high

school

Income-cost ratio

Major decision of accounting and non-accounting learners

2.3.2 Anis and HanafFs research model (2015)

The model of Anis and Hanafi (2015) identifies factors that affect the choice of majors for accounting and non accounting majors in Egyptian schools, including:

understanding of accounting education, understanding of the accounting profession, and personal skills, Important participants In addition, the impressive factors of

admission courses and gender do not affect students' decisions The research model of Anis and Hanafi is shown in Figure

2.3.3 Tang and Seng’s research model (2016)

The experimental results Tang and Seng (2016) based on TPB surveyed students at 4 universities in Cambodia, identified the factors of instructors, personal characteristics, and career expectations that have an important influence on choosing majors of

accounting students and non-accounting students Besides, this study also concluded that there is a statistically significant difference between universities with factors

affecting the decision to choose a major The proposed research model of Tang and Seng is shown in Figure:

Major decision of accounting and non­

accounting learners

2.3.4 Ng and partnership's research model (2017)

Based on SCCT theory The study examines the factors of intrinsic motivation,

extrinsic motivation, effect of the third-party and professional exposure affecting the accounting career path through surveys of final year students at a popular private

university in Malaysia The findings of this study concluded that intrinsic motivation and career exposure have a positive relationship with career path However, extrinsic motivation and influences of the third-party did not have a significant relationship with career path Ng's research model and career path (2017) are shown in the Figure:

2.4 Research hypothesis and research model

2.4.1 Intrinsic motivation

Intrinsic motivation refers to something or an activity that gives personal

satisfaction (Ryan and Deci, 2000) In this study, intrinsic motivation is understood as the decision to choose a career is something that a person will be satisfied with doing

it Based on TPB theory, research by Tang and Seng (2016) concluded that intrinsic motivation is an important factor and has a positive impact on the decision to choose a major of accounting students and non-accounting students, maths Ng et al (2017)

based on SCCT and inherited from the research of (Odia and Ogiedu, 2013; Mbawuniand Nimako, 2015) also concluded that intrinsic motivation factor is a factor that

positively influences career path, students' careers The above studies all show that

intrinsic motivation is related to the decision to choose a major of accounting students

and non-accounting students Therefore, the author proposes the hypothesis of intrinsic motivation factors as follows:

Hl: Intrinsic motivation has a positive impact on the decision of choosing major

2.4.2 Extrinsic motivation

Many studies based on TPB and SCCT external motivation factors have been determined to have an impact on students' decision to choose accounting major

According to Ryan and Deci (2000), extrinsic motivation is different from intrinsic

motivation Extrinsic motivation refers to a person performing a behavior because of

the influence of external factors even though they do not like to do it In this study

extrinsic motivation included job opportunities, income, job guarantee, prestige and respect (Paolillo and Estes, 1982; Cangclosi Ct al., 1985; Kochanck and Norgard,

1985; Gul et al., 1989; Felton et al., 1994) Research by Lowe and Simons (1997) with

658 second-year students in economics (including 232 accounting students) shows that future income is the most influential factor on their choice of major Different from the research object of Lowe and Simons (1997), Auyeung and Sands (1997) focused on studying accounting students at four universities in Australia, Hong Kong and Taiwan and concluded that: Earning potential and job market opportunities are factors that

strongly influence students' choice of accounting major Ahmed and partners (1997) also selected the survey subjects as students majoring in accounting but focusing on final year students in New Zealand, because this group of students already have the

ability to start a business and focusing on a group of students will be easier to collect, the results show that final year accounting students in New Zealand value income and the job market when choosing an accounting major In the study of Paolillo and Estes

(1982) emphasized the most important factor when choosing major is the available job opportunity when choosing that major In addition to income and employment

opportunities, previous studies have shown that people aspire to choose careers that are generally valued and appreciated by society (Karakaya et al., 2011; Peltier et al., 2014) Some students consider accountants to be prestigious and respected due to the requirements of the profession (Gcrmanou Ct al., 2009; Góis and Brás, 2013) Besides, Azevedo and Sugahara (2012) found that students' choice of accounting major was

significantly associated with perception of reputation and uniqueness of the profession

The researchers also compared the impact results of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, most of the studies showed that accounting students are affected by extrinsic

motivation more than intrinsic motivation (Cohen and Hanno 1993; Felton et al.,

1994; Ahmed et al., 1997; Jackling and Keneley, 2009) Most studies show that

external motivation has a positive impact on students' decision to choose major

Therefore, the author develops the research hypothesis as follows:

H2: Extrinsic motivation has a positive impact on the decision of choosing major

2.4.3 Effect of the third-party

Both TRA and TPN theories assert that behavior is influenced by subjective

influence, namely the influence of others or society on an individual's performance of the behavior Based on TRA, TPB and SCCT many previous studies have found that the influence of third parties including parents, friends, career teachers, career

counselors, media and community is a factor, affects the decision of choosing a career path of accounting students and non-accounting students (Ng et al., 2017) Research

by Gul et al (1989) has confirmed that parents and friends strongly influence students’ decision to choose a major (Mauldin et al 2000; Tan and Laswad 2006) Besides,

Paolillo and Estes (1982), Mauldin et al (2000), Geiger and Ogilby (2000) assert that the instructor has a profound influence on the decision of majoring of accounting

students and non-accounting students From the above analysis, the hypothesis of third party influence on industry selection is built as follows:

H3: Effect of the third-party has a positive effect on the choice of major of accounting students and non-accounting students

2.4.4 Feeling of Benefit - cost ratio

Based on perceived costs and perceived benefits, it is important to consider the benefit cost ratio required to make industry decisions (Ekehammar, 1977; Wheeler, 1983; Felton et al., 1994) The study by Felton et al (1994) used a benefit cost ratio to model the relationship between altitudes and career choices of business school

students in Canadian universities This ratio represents an assessment of how students perceive the benefits and costs of a career path Students’ interest is reflected in their

belief that the career they choose will be difficult in the first few years At the same time, perceived costs include: there was no time to relax in the early years, it was

difficult to meet the conditions of the selected industry, and the income of the selected industry in the early years was relatively low According to this study, students choose careers that pursue a high income cost ratio This study suggests that the focus should

be on improving perceived benefits rather than reducing perceived costs (Felton et al., 1994) According to the study by Felton et al (1994), Ahmed et al (1997) reached a similar conclusion in their survey of senior students in New Zealand universities For accounting and non accounting students who choose their profession, their rate of

return and cost are higher than those who do not choose their profession because they believe it may be very low and have low salaries Based on these studies, the author proposes:

H4: Feeling of cost and benefit has a positive impact on the decision of choosing

major

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research process

The process of this research is presented as the followings:

Step 1: Overview of previous studies in the world and the reality of the researched

topics in Vietnam to determine the research gap

Step 2: Determine research problems from the detected gap

Step 3: Identify research targets and issues based on the gaps and problems above

Step 4: Based on documents of previous researches and background theories to codify

theoretical basis about factors affecting the major decision of accounting and non­

accounting learners

Step 5: Developing research models and hypotheses based on background theories and synthesizing previous research models

Step 6: Identify appropriate scales from research models for provided concepts, inherit

from researches which have been posted on reputable magazines and cited by various researchers

Step 7: Collect data from the survey, clarifying and analyzing data: Assess the

reliability of the scale Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFAf Analyzing Correlation

coefficient of Independent Variable, Binary Logistics Regression analysis by IBM

SPSS 27 software

Step 8: Analyze and discuss the result of the evaluating process

Step 9: Based on the studied result, suggest plenty of solutions to promote the major decision of Accounting learners

3.1.1 Quantitative research methods

3.1.1.1 The target

This study was carried out through the synthesis of previous studies and related background theories to determine the factors influencing the major choice of

accounting students Beside, the scale measuring all the concepts in this study is

inherited from prestigious researches in the world Therefore, the author uses a

quantitative method in this study

3.1.2.2 Collecting data method

The author uses the survey method to collect data because this is the current

popular method when secondary data is not available, and it is used to verify the causal relationship of research concepts, so the data collected at a time by survey method will

be suitable for testing the research hypothesis The questionnaire was sent to the

subjects through a designed question table link on Google Docs, and the author

published articles in student groups of universities in Ho Chi Minh City

3.1.2.3 Data collection tools

The data collection tool is a question table with detailed questions and 5 levels of

answers (completely disagree, disagree, neutral, agree, fully agree) The questionnaire consists of two parts:

+ Part A - Survey content: includes questions related to research factors

+ Part B - General information: includes questions about general information ofsurvey respondents such as: gender, current university, major, age,

The questionnaire was sent to students at universities with specialized training in

accounting in Ho Chi Minh City through a link on Google Form

3.1.2 Research sample

-Overall research: Starling from the research objectives, the overall research is determined as college students learning from Ho Chi Minh City

is not possible to determine the exact sampling frame (cannot accurately determine the list of students studying at universities in Ho Chi Minh City)

■ Survey subjects: Students who have already chosen their major at universities

in Ho Chi Minh City

times the total number of observed variables Besides, in the study using regression

model, according to the theory of regression analysis, it is best when the minimum

sample size is N> 8m+50 (where N is the sample size, m is the number of independent variables of the model) (Tabachnick and Fidell, 1996) For this study, the author uses

a sample size that satisfies both of the above sampling methods With the number of 7 independent variables, 40 observations of the independent variable, the sample size in the first method is N = 5*40 = 200, in the second method is N > 8*7+50= 106

Therefore, the author will collect at least 200 selected samples for this study

3.1.3 Data analysis techniques

After collecting data from raw data (Survey Questionnaire) data will be filtered and encrypted After that, the data will be processed using SPSS software version 20.0

- Testing the reliability of the scale:

Cronbach's Alpha reliability coefficient is used to test whether the reliability of the scale being used is good or not, whether the variables in the scale show a

correlation between content and meaning, and then help eliminate the variables and scales that are inappropriate with the model This Cronbach's Alpha reliability check should be performed before any further analysis has proceeded (Churchill, 1979) The Cronbach's Alpha of the variable must reach a value of 0.7 (Nunnally, 1967) Using Cronbach's Alpha reliability coefficient method before performing EFA to eliminate inappropriate variables because these superfluous variables can create false factors

when analyzing EFA (Nguyen Dinh Tho and Nguyen Thi Mai Trang, 2009)

In order to evaluate and use the Cronbach's Alpha test, we need to apply some

of the following criteria:

+ The level of the Cronbach’s alpha from 0.8 to 1 shows a very good scale;

Cronbach’ alpha between 0.7 and 0.8 indicates good use of the scale;

Cronbach's Alpha>0.6 can be considered acceptable, if the Alpha’s confidence level is greater than 0.6, it can be used as a criterion for selecting an appropriate scale

+ Discard if the variables have total correlation coefficient < 0.3

After evaluating the reliability of the scale, the project will be run through

Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) The EFA analysis method belongs to the group of interdependence techniques, that is, there are no dependent and independent variables but it relies on the correlations between variables (interrelationships) EFA is used to compact a set of observation variables k into a set F (F < k) which includes more

meaningful factors The basis of this shortening is based on the linear relationship of factors with original variables (observed variables)

In order to fully evaluate the results of EFA analysis, the author applies the

following criteria: