Gender‐related differences in the occupational aspirations and career‐style preferences of accounting students

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine whether gendered differences in occupational aspirations still appear when considering students with similar abilities who study competitively in the same achievement‐oriented educational setting.Design/methodology/approachThe hypotheses stipulated an interaction between gender and year of study on students' career aspirations and on career‐style preferences. An interactive expression was constructed, multiplying gender by year of study (i.e. a female student in her freshman year, a female student in her senior year, and so on). A sequence of logistic regressions was used to test the hypotheses. The hypotheses were tested by cross‐sectional analysis of the data, using 802 valid questionnaires collected from a sample of 1,000 Israeli accounting students from the accounting programs at three institutions of higher learning.FindingsIt was hypothesized that differences between the sexes in occupational aspirations and career style preferences would evolve and increase with years of study and especially as students approached the end of the academic track. In other words, it was expected that an interaction between gender and year of study would affect students' occupational aspirations and career‐style preferences. The findings supported the hypothesis. In their freshmen year, the sexes shared a similar pattern of aspirations and goals. However, during their later academic years, females reduced their occupational aspirations and revealed a stronger preference for a convenient balance between work and other facets of life. Logistic regressions demonstrated the statistically significant effect of the interaction between gender and academic year on student occupational aspirations and career‐style preferences.Originality/valueThe study demonstrates the decrease in female students’ occupational aspirations during the educational period, and that encouraging young women to obtain male‐type professional education might be insufficient in order to eliminate inequality between the sexes.