The main purpose of this
correlational study was to determine if there was any relationship between
undergraduate students’ attitudes to and academic performance in an accounting
course. The study was also aimed at determining the factors that impacted
students’ attitudes. The study participants were undergraduate students who registered for
the Introduction to Accounting course at the University of Technology, Jamaica.
Data were collected via e-questionnaire and the students’ academic scores. No sampling was done as all questionnaire link was sent
to all 319 students who did the course. Two hundred students completed the
e-questionnaire, resulting in a response rate of 62.7%. The results showed that overall, the students’ performance was
fairly good. The results also revealed significant positive relationships
between assessments the formative and summative assessments. However, there was
a low negative relationship (r = -.173) between the
respondents’ attitudes and performance in assessment two only. The factors that
influenced students’ attitudes toward the accounting course were attitudes,
regret, and third-party influences. Based on
the results, recommendations were made to improve students’ attitudes to
and academic performance in the course.
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