Exploring career aspirations and development barriers of university accounting students: the explanatory sequential mixed methods perspectives

Career aspirations and career development are major concerns in national building. This study explored the career aspirations of final year B.Ed. Accounting students in a Ghanaian university and the barriers that prevented them from achieving their aspirations. The census technique was used to capture all final-year university students pursuing a B.Ed. Accounting. Data collection was done with an adopted Occupational Inventory Profile. The explanatory sequential mixed methods design was adopted for the study. The quantitative data were analysed using means and standard deviations under the descriptive analysis and two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and students t-test under the inferential analysis, while an open and axial coding system was used to analyse the qualitative data. The findings of the study indicate that more students (67.75%) had preferences for Managerial-Clerical and Welfare Service activities, occupation-related activities (69%), as compared to the expected mathematical computation-related activities (56.25%). Factors responsible for the incongruity were identified as school classification with associated prestige, the influence of parents and family members, poor academic grades, and lack of guidance services at basic schools. It is recommended that the government of Ghana allows students to offer a general programme in the first year of secondary education before opting for special programmes in the subsequent years.