Undergraduate accounting students’ instructional preferences in Australia and Zimbabwe: A comparative study

This study examines the instructional preferences exhibited by students in an Australian andZimbabwean setting, and how cultural conditioning can reflect in the instructional designchoice. Using graphical and textual presentations, an experiment with three instructionaldesigns and 217 undergraduate students, this study empirically examines studentunderstanding of financial accounting in the two countries. Student’s performance scores andreported mental effort ratings were used to determine the instructional preference. Thefindings of this comparative study show that Australian accounting students prefer graph andtext designs aligned with a low power distance while Zimbabwean students prefer graphicaland textual designs associated with a high power distance. The results suggest that differentpeople see the world in different ways and demands educators to deliver culturally sensitiveand culturally adaptive accounting instructional material