Influência de Fatores Contingenciais no Desempenho Acadêmico de Discentes do Curso de Ciências Contábeis

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to verify the influence of contingency factors on the academic performance of Accountancy students at a Federal Higher Education Institution (FHEI). Method: This descriptive research with a quantitative approach of the problem was developed through a survey among the students from an FHEI in the South of Brazil, using a sample of 295 respondents. Results: The results of the Kruskal-Wallis test appoint that, among the investigated external contingency factors, the father’s instruction level, weekly hours of extraclass study and professional experience influenced the academic performance. As regards the institutional environment at the investigated FHEI, the latent variables internal environmental, technical system and strategy of the course’s pedagogical project positively influenced the academic performance. The latent variables teaching staff structure and strategy did not show a statistically significant relation. These results provoked concerns and encourage construct validity tests in other institutional environments. Conclusions: Among the external factors, the variables father’s instruction level, weekly hours of extraclass study and professional experience influenced the academic performance. In the institutional environment, the constructs internal environment, technical system and strategy of the course’s pedagogical project demonstrated influence on the students’ academic performance at the investigated FHEI.