Understanding accounting students' intentions to use digital badges to showcase employability skills

Type of content
Journal Article
Thesis discipline
Degree name
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Language
en
Date
2023
Authors
Steenkamp, Natasja
Fisher, Richard
Nesbit, Trevor
Abstract

By incorporating employability skills within the accounting curriculum, universities face the issue of how best to recognise students’ achievements. Digital badges are emerging as a potential means to recognise such achievements. Being shareable on social media sites, such as LinkedIn, and on other platforms, badges allow students to showcase their attainment of employability skills to potential employers. As student acceptance is a prerequisite to the success of this technology, this exploratory study examines accounting students’ perceptions of badge usefulness and ease of use, and whether these influence their intentions to use them for job applications. We also examine factors that contribute to these perceptions. A survey is undertaken of accounting students within a single university. Results suggest that both subjective norm and perceived usefulness directly influence intentions, while job application relevance and perceptions of external control have important indirect effects. Implications for universities are discussed and future research opportunities identified.

Description
Citation
Steenkamp N, Fisher R, Nesbit T (2023). Understanding accounting students' intentions to use digital badges to showcase employability skills. Accounting Education. 1-29.
Keywords
Ngā upoko tukutuku/Māori subject headings
ANZSRC fields of research
39 - Education::3999 - Other Education::399999 - Other education not elsewhere classified
35 - Commerce, management, tourism and services::3501 - Accounting, auditing and accountability::350199 - Accounting, auditing and accountability not elsewhere classified
Rights
All rights reserved unless otherwise stated