Success factors for postgraduate accountancy and related business students in higher education: a systematic review

What is it about?

success factors for postgraduate accountancy and business-related students in higher education. The purpose of this article is to provide a platform for future research. Search terms were identified in 340 papers. After applying specific selection criteria, such as English, peer-reviewed articles, published between 2015 and 2021, which focus on success factors inherent to students in accounting and business-related higher education, 35 papers were selected for this review. The results highlighted gaps in the literature that warrants further focused consideration. A notable gap is the impact of social and demographic factors on the postgraduate level, particularly in developing economies. Furthermore, the impact of psychological factors such as motivation, learning styles and self-efficacy has been researched inconsistently, focusing primarily on the undergraduate level. These identified gaps necessitate further research that could inform targeted interventions to improve postgraduate success in accountancy and related fields.

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Photo by Benjamin Davies on Unsplash

Photo by Benjamin Davies on Unsplash

Why is it important?

A better understanding of academic success factors, beyond that of prior academic performance, could enable faculty to increase student motivation and offer interventions to monitor, support and enhance the capabilities of students lacking such factors, potentially increasing not only the CTA pass rate but also the quality of graduates delivered to the struggling developing economy of South Africa.