Using Expectancy Theory to Assess Gender Differences in Russian Accounting Student Motivation (2003)

INTRODUCTION Recent empirical evidence suggests accounting students from different nations have different motivations and weight differently the expectancy of success when deciding to exert academic effort (e.g. Geiger & Cooper, 1996; Geiger et al., 1998). These studies employ Vroom's (1964) expectancy theory and the within-persons decision modeling approach developed by Stahl and Harrell (1981; 1983) to examine individual student motivation. The countries examined to date represent a variety of cultures including Western, Chinese, Hindu, and Moslem. However, no previous accounting education study has employed expectancy theory to examine student motivation in Russian Orthodox culture. This paper presents the results of an empirical study investigating expectancy theory's ability to predict a Russian accounting student's perception of the attractiveness of academic success. Specifically, the valence model of expectancy theory is used to examine the effect of the following three potential motivating influences: an improved overall grade-point average (GPA), a strong feeling of personal satisfaction, and increased esteem in the eyes of classmates. Also examined in this study is expectancy theory's ability to predict a Russian accounting student's motivation to strive for academic success. The force model of expectancy theory implies the motivational force to achieve academic success is explained by the attractiveness (valence) of academic success and the expectancy that a particular level of effort will result in academic success. The problem of motivating students to put forth their best effort is a universal problem spanning all cultures and all academic disciplines. However, since the participants in this study were accounting students from the Russian Federation, the research findings should be of particular interest to accounting educators and Russian academics. Two features of accounting education in Russia are distinctive. First, for many years the Russian accountant's primary responsibility was to generate financial information for control purposes but not for decision making purposes. Consequently, the prestige of an accounting career was extremely low. At the end of the Soviet Union era, secondary school graduates rated accounting as 91st of 92 professions available to them (Enthoven, 1999). This has changed over the last decade. The accountant's role has expanded into decision making and accounting is now considered a more prestigious occupation. Second, in the Soviet era accounting was perceived as a woman's occupation because of its clerical aspects. While the status and roles of women have changed in Western societies over the past decades, the same social elevation has not occurred in Russia (Sherry & Vinning, 1995). Consequently, accounting is still perceived as a female occupation in Russia and this perception is an impediment to getting males to enroll in university accounting programs. This paper presents evidence of gender similarities and differences in student motivation and academic effort level decisions. The results indicate improving overall GPA is the dominant motivating influence among both male and female Russian accounting students and no evidence is found of gender differences in motivator preferences. However, contrary to the results of previous studies involving accounting students in other cultures, the evidence indicates Russian accounting students, and particularly female Russian accounting students, focus on the expectancy of academic success in making their effort level decisions. The next section of the paper provides a summary of accounting practice and accounting education in Russia. This is followed by sections covering Vroom's expectancy theory, the research hypotheses, and the within-persons decision modeling method. The results are presented next, followed by some concluding remarks. ACCOUNTING PRACTICE AND ACCOUNTING EDUCATION IN RUSSIA In the Soviet Union, accounting was used as a tool to safeguard state property and fulfill the state's central plans. …