AAA Spark Meeting of the Regions

Integrating ESG into the Accounting Curriculum: Student Familiarity and Perceptions

• In Event: Updating the Accounting Curriculum

Abstract

The growing awareness of the importance of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) among the business community highlights the necessity of integrating ESG into the accounting curriculum. To properly integrate ESG into the accounting curriculum, this study examines the extant accounting students' familiarity with ESG, their perceived importance of ESG, and how their intrinsic personality characteristics play a role in determining the importance of ESG. Using a sample of 161 graduate and undergraduate accounting students, our results indicate that students who are familiar with ESG are more likely to perceive ESG as important, especially its impact on a company’s financial performance and long-term value creation. Among the Big Five personality characteristics, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness are highly correlated with students' perceived importance of ESG. Additionally, the study finds a significant interaction between Openness and Familiarity on students’ perceived importance of ESG, suggesting that student openness may play a role in whether increased familiarity with ESG affects its perceived importance. These results propose useful suggestions for accounting departments that attempt to integrate ESG into their curriculum.

Authors

• Mengjiao Nancy Du, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

• Magdy S. Farag, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

• Vic Lee, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona