The leadership behaviour of the accounting students: A dilemma for higher education

Abstract

The place and the importance of the accountant in the organisation is not related to a decision-making position and for this reason the accounting students do not identify themselves as leaders in their future career. Motivated by this assumption, the current study aimed to investigate the relationship between faculty curriculum and accounting students career choice and to find out that it is whether a faculty curriculum influence the leadership behaviour of the accounting students. We applied the leadership theory to the accounting students and expected that the faculty curriculum-leadership behaviour of the accounting students' linkage might differ due to the labour market development and business environment. Our systematic approach conducted to a concept map of the factors which influence the accounting students' leadership behaviour. This map gives us a general view of the principal factors which can contribute to the improvement of the leadership behaviour of the undergraduate accounting students. The results extend the leadership theory argument that the leadership behaviour resulting from the interaction between the accounting students and the professors affect the accounting students' career choice. Given the support for our hypotheses, we suggest that the development of the faculty curriculum with disciplines which develop the leadership behaviour of the accounting students are needed to understand and improve the leadership implications of the accounting students' behaviour. Our findings offer a new approach for the undergraduate accounting students, because they have the possibility to discover and develop their leadership competences in a strong relationship with increasing their professional quality when they asses the path of their career.