Learning styles of practicing accountants in Mainland China, Hong Kong, and the United States: A cross cultural study

This study explored the linkage between learning styles, the cultural dimensions of individualism and collectivism, gender, and age among practicing accountants in Shanghai, China, Hong Kong, China and the United States. The participants were audit seniors in a Big 4 accounting firm attending firm training in these locations. Learning styles were measured using the Kolb Learning Style Inventory, and cultural dimensions were measured using the Triandis and Gelfand Vertical and Horizontal Individualism and Collectivism Index. A demographic questionnaire collected data on gender, age, and citizenship.; This study resulted in several significant findings regarding the influence of culture, gender, and age on the learning styles of practicing accountants in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and the United States. Chinese accountants were shown to be significantly higher in vertical collectivism and lower in horizontal individualism than those in the United States. Chinese accountants were also significantly higher than those in the U.S. in vertical individualism; contrary to the prevailing literature. This study showed that Shanghai accountants were higher in horizontal collectivism and vertical collectivism than Hong Kong accountants, but that no significant differences were found in the individualism dimensions.; In terms of learning styles, Chinese accountants were found to have significantly lower active-reflective learning style scores than the U.S., but no significant differences were found in the concrete-abstract dimension. Significant differences were found in the distribution of individual learning styles (assimilator, converger, accommodator, and diverger) between China and the United States. No significant learning style differences were found among accountants in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Looking at the correlation between cultural dimensions and learning styles this study found that three of the four cultural dimensions (horizontal individualism, horizontal collectivism, and vertical collectivism) correlated positively with the active-reflective learning style in Shanghai. In Hong Kong, horizontal individualism also correlated positively with the active-reflective learning style. The only correlation found in the U.S. was with regard to horizontal collectivism, which correlated positively concrete-abstract learning. No significant differences in learning styles were found between the genders in the populations studied, and the only significant age-learning style correlation was found in Shanghai, where age correlated positively with concrete/abstract learning.