Wie stellen sich Auszubildende und Studierende Wissen und Wissenserwerb im Rechnungswesen vor?

Abstract

This paper describes the development and validation of the Instrument for Measuring Epistemic Beliefs in Accounting (IMEB-A). The IMEB-A is a standardized questionnaire with 34 items assessing individual beliefs about the source, certainty, applicability, justification, and structure of knowledge in accounting. For the development and validation three studies were conducted. In study I 242 business administration students, in study II 531 retailers and wholesalers, and in Study III 179 bank business managements assistants participated. All three studies confirm the measurement model of the IMEB-A, and report high values for the internal consistency (source α = .821, structure α = .790, applicability α = .820, certainty α = .872, justification α = .887). Relationships between structure and certainty of knowledge in accounting on the one hand and learning success in accounting on the other hand could be verified (criterion validity). In comparison to general epistemic beliefs data indicate the superiority of topic-specific beliefs for predicting learning achievement (incremental validity). Based on these results the paper argues that topic-specific epistemic beliefs contribute more strongly to an understanding of learning phenomena than general and domain-specific beliefs about knowledge and knowing.