Accounting Education: Assessing the Potential for and the Barriers to Deploying Virtual Worlds in Learning and Teaching of Accounting

Abstract

Information and Communication Technology (ICT), with a specific attention on virtual learning, has emerged as a transformative approach to teaching and learning in higher education. This approach is significantly influencing the educational practices across disciplines, including accounting, a profession essential for training of accountants with necessary skills and competencies to ensure sustainable economic growth. Despite the increasing prominence of virtual accounting education, a significant gap remains in the academic literature on the factors influencing the effective adoption of innovations within higher educational institutions in developing economies. This study aimed at providing a comprehensive understanding of virtual accounting education, by exploring the potential benefits and challenges associated with its implementation in Ghanaian universities. Additionally, the study examined the main factors influencing the adoption of virtual accounting education to develop an advanced framework for innovation adoption among accounting students and lecturers. The study was grounded in an integrated theoretical framework that synthesizes the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), the Diffusion of Innovations Theory (DOI), and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). A cross-sectional and sequential explanatory mixed-methods design, which combined surveys of accounting students and lecturers with interviews of academic administrators were employed in the collection of the primary data from the four public universities. The quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics and structural equation modeling, while the qualitative data from the interviews were analysed using the thematic analysis. The findings revealed a generally positive attitude among accounting students and lecturers on the adoption of virtual accounting education, in spite of significant