| The increased demand for and access to online learning is evident when examining the escalating number of online courses now available. Institutions offering online degrees claim their programs are viable routes to employment, career advancement, pay increases, and other job-related rewards. Current research shows that employers at the pinnacle of the accounting profession, certified public firms, show a disinclination to hire graduates of online programs, even when they possess the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) credential. However, employment at CPA firms is but one option for accounting graduates. Employers at CPA firms may have a reluctance to hire graduates of online programs, but existing research is limited given it has not addressed the full range of employment settings. The purpose of this quantitative descriptive and comparative research study was to investigate CPAs' reported likelihood of recruiting an accounting student for entry-level employment and whether this likelihood differs when based on education mode (i.e., online or traditional) or employment setting (i.e., public or private) and if any interaction exists between these two variables. The sample was drawn from licensed CPAs working in public or private practice in Kansas who are involved in the hiring process at their company. Results for the two-way independent factorial ANOVA indicated a significant main effect for education mode, F(1, 204) = 83.90, p < .001, partial eta 2 = .29, a significant main effect for employment setting, F(1, 204) = 5.76, p = .017, partial eta 2 = .03, and a non-significant interaction effect among education mode and employment setting, F(1, 204) = 2.36, p = .126, partial eta2 = .01. This study extended institutional theory by adding consideration of hiring decisions in the accounting profession as an element of public and private sectors and confirmed previous findings that online degrees are less acceptable than traditional degrees for obtaining entry-level employment in the accounting profession. Additionally, this study indicated that differentiation exists in the accounting profession in Kansas when considering only employment setting and provided support for the system theory of professions. Future research is warranted to investigate if differences exist in other jurisdictions, employment settings, or education modes. |
