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An Investigation of Differences in Values: Accounting Majors Vs. Nonaccounting Majors.

C. Richard Baker

Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Business, Columbia University. 1

The Accounting Review 1976

The article focuses on the differences in value systems between university students in the United States. These are university students who are interested in pursuing accounting as a career choice and those students who are not interested in such a career choice. Differences in value systems are tested using the Rokeach Survey of Values. Significant differences are found on these eight variables: a comfortable life; a world of beauty (negative); wisdom (negative); ambitious; clean; imaginative (negative); family security; and responsible. The eight differences have construct validity based upon prior research in this area. However, results are inconclusive as to whether accounting majors in fact, do, have different value systems from other university students. Anthropologists have found that even the most primitive cultures have elaborate ethical systems which delineate proper and improver behavior. Throughout most of history the study of values was dominated by the religious leaders of a culture.

DOI
10.2308/tar-4510254
Volume
51 (4)
Pages
886-893
Language
en
Export
BibTeX
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