| In the past, women students who attended higher education institutions affiliated with Pentecostal religious denominations selected major areas of study that were perceived as women oriented, such as preparation for careers in education, social sciences, practical ministry, and general business. Few women students focused on major subjects traditionally viewed as the domain of men students, such as accounting, engineering, and hard sciences. This tendency created a disparity in the number of women students who selected male-dominated areas of study, graduated with degrees in those areas, and moved into career positions in those lines of work. This mixed-methods study investigated how to recruit and retain women students in accounting at a denomination-affiliate's higher education institution. An eight person Delphi panel, consisting of deans, department chairpersons, and faculty from accounting departments at three denomination-affiliate's institutions located throughout the United States, answered a questionnaire along with two surveys to determine what attracted women students to select accounting as their major field of study, what predictors of success were evident for these women, and what major problems the women faced in completing accounting programs. The interpretations based on the panel responses indicated that successful completion of the first accounting course and a positive relationship with their accounting instructors were clear indicators of a woman's successful enrollment in and completion of the accounting program. Another interpretation from the panel responses presented a profile of a female accounting student as one who had a quantitative skillset, had confidence in her abilities, and had a competitive and assertive nature. The final interpretation based on the panel's responses spoke to the challenges women students have in accounting --- poor performance in Intermediate Accounting, an unwillingness to put forth the effort to be successful, and an aversion to the detail aspect of accounting. The information from this study will aid business college administrators and accounting faculty in their attempts to attract qualified women applicants to their accounting programs and will help department academic advisors in counseling potential female accounting majors. |
