IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bcp/journl/v9y2025issue-5p2627-2643.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do University Rankings Influence Career Outcomes in the Accounting and Auditing Profession?

Author

Listed:
  • Jimu Tafadzwa

    (Department of Accounting and Finance.)

  • Nhorito Shadreck

    (Zimbabwe Ezekiel Guti University.)

Abstract

The study analysed the impact of university rankings on accounting and auditing graduates’ employability, salary prospects, and professional training prospects in Zimbabwe, focusing on public and private employers, drawing from Human Capital Theory and Signalling Theory. Qualitative methods such as interviews and document analysis were employed to investigate how institutional reputation shaped recruitment prejudices and outcomes. The study sought to enlighten accounting profession educational policy and Zimbabwean employment practice. Among 60 distributed questionnaires, 52 were completed, with a response rate of 86.7%. The results showed a positive significant correlation between graduation from a highly ranked university (e.g., UZ or NUST) and working for elite firms, as 86.2% of the graduates from these institutions found work at firms such as Deloitte and PWC, whereas 39.1% from less-ranked universities found similar employment. Salary data indicated that 72.4% of top-university graduates received between USD 400 and USD 700, and over 69% of lower-ranked university graduates received less than USD 400. Postgraduate training sponsorship too was skewed towards top-university graduates with 65.5% being given further training opportunities compared with 21.7% of their counterparts.The findings statistically validated the study hypotheses and supported Signalling and Human Capital for their theories. Pearson correlation coefficients between career achievement (employment, earnings, and patronage) and university ranking were r = 0.536 to r = 0.642 (p

Suggested Citation

  • Jimu Tafadzwa & Nhorito Shadreck, 2025. "Do University Rankings Influence Career Outcomes in the Accounting and Auditing Profession?," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 9(5), pages 2627-2643, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bcp:journl:v:9:y:2025:issue-5:p:2627-2643
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/Digital-Library/volume-9-issue-5/2627-2643.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/articles/do-university-rankings-influence-career-outcomes-in-the-accounting-and-auditing-profession/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gary S. Becker, 1964. "Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to Education, First Edition," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number beck-5, July.
    2. Michael Spence, 1973. "Job Market Signaling," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 87(3), pages 355-374.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Joaquin Turmo-Garuz & M.-Teresa Bartual-Figueras & Francisco-Javier Sierra-Martinez, 2019. "Factors Associated with Overeducation Among Recent Graduates During Labour Market Integration: The Case of Catalonia (Spain)," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 144(3), pages 1273-1301, August.
    2. Richard J. Murnane & John B. Willett & Kathryn Parker Boudett, 1999. "Do Male Dropouts Benefit from Obtaining a GED, Postsecondary Education, and Training?," Evaluation Review, , vol. 23(5), pages 475-503, October.
    3. Krukowski, Kipp A. & Pollack, Jeffrey M. & Rutherford, Matthew W., 2023. "Winning the opportunity to pitch: Piquing startup investors’ interest by sending the right signals in executive summaries," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 75-86.
    4. Xinxin Ma & Ichiro Iwasaki, 2021. "Return to schooling in China: a large meta-analysis," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(4), pages 379-410, July.
    5. Baert, By Stijn & Neyt, Brecht & Siedler, Thomas & Tobback, Ilse & Verhaest, Dieter, 2021. "Student internships and employment opportunities after graduation: A field experiment," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    6. Alexander Patzina & Hans Dietrich & Anton Barabasch, 2022. "Health, Personality Disorders, Work Commitment, and Training‐to‐Employment Transitions," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(2), pages 369-382.
    7. Alexander Patzina & Hans Dietrich & Anton Barabasch, 2022. "Health, Personality Disorders, Work Commitment, and Training‐to‐Employment Transitions," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(2), pages 369-382.
    8. Suresh, Vikram K. & Rawat, Saannidhya, 2025. "Diverging opinions on standardized testing: A survey-based approach," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 250(C).
    9. Amélie Barbier-Gauchard & Meixing Dai & Claire Mainguy & Jamel Saadaoui & Moïse Sidiropoulos & Isabelle Terraz & Jamel Trabelsi, 2021. "Towards a more resilient European Union after the COVID-19 crisis," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 11(2), pages 321-348, June.
    10. Thiel, Hendrik & Thomsen, Stephan L., 2013. "Noncognitive skills in economics: Models, measurement, and empirical evidence," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 189-214.
    11. Ralph Hippe & Roger Fouquet, 2024. "The Human Capital Transition and the Role of Policy," Springer Books, in: Claude Diebolt & Michael Haupert (ed.), Handbook of Cliometrics, edition 3, pages 411-457, Springer.
    12. Markus Gangl, 2000. "Education and Labour Market Entry across Europe : The Impact of Institutional Arrangements in Training Systems and Labour Markets," MZES Working Papers 25, MZES.
    13. Jacobo Muñoz-Comet & Stephanie Steinmetz, 2020. "Trapped in Precariousness? Risks and Opportunities of Female Immigrants and Natives Transitioning from Part-Time Jobs in Spain," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 34(5), pages 749-768, October.
    14. Haoyu Wang & Sen Li & Peifan Qin & Fei Xing, 2022. "The Employability of Graduates of National Characteristic Discipline Programs of Study in China: Evidence from Employers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-22, June.
    15. Georg Graetz, 2021. "On the interpretation of diploma wage effects estimated by regression discontinuity designs," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 54(1), pages 228-258, February.
    16. Mirjam van Praag & Arjen van Witteloostuijn & Justin van der Sluis, 2009. "Returns for Entrepreneurs versus Employees: The Effect of Education and Personal Control on the Relative Performance of Entrepreneurs vis-a-vis Wage Employees," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 09-111/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    17. Massimo G. Colombo & Benedetta Montanaro & Silvio Vismara, 2023. "What drives the valuation of entrepreneurial ventures? A map to navigate the literature and research directions," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 61(1), pages 59-84, June.
    18. Jacek Liwiński & Francesco Pastore, 2021. "Are School-Provided Skills Useful at Work? Results of the Wiles Test," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 62(1), pages 72-97, February.
    19. Giovanni Luca & Paolo Mazzocchi & Claudio Quintano & Antonella Rocca, 2020. "Going Behind the High Rates of NEETs in Italy and Spain: The Role of Early School Leavers," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 151(1), pages 345-363, August.
    20. Jean Luc De Meulemeester & Claude Diebolt, 2004. "The economies of education: unkept promises?," Brussels Economic Review, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles, vol. 47(3-4), pages 303-320.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bcp:journl:v:9:y:2025:issue-5:p:2627-2643. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Dr. Pawan Verma (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.