Does Lecture Attendance Influence Accounting Students' Performance in Cost Accounting?

Khalid A. Alanzi

The purpose of this study was to expose and assess the influence of lecture attendance (absenteeism) on the academic performance of accounting students studying Cost Accounting. Due to the deficiency and the inconclusive findings of prior studies, this study contributed remarkably to the existing body of research. Correlation and linear regression (OLS) analyses using a sample of 232 students from the College of Business Studies, one of the tributaries of accounting education in Kuwait, during 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 academic years were used to test the study's hypotheses. The results indicated that there was a statistically significant and negative relationship between absenteeism and students' performance, which explained the influence of absenteeism on accounting students' performance, with and without controls for other factors. The study concludes by considering the implications of these findings on the administration of the College of Business Studies and similar educational institutions as well as accounting instructors, and suggests avenues for future research by expanding absenteeism research in other accounting subjects and in different educational environments.

DOI : https://doi.org/10.21102/graf.2016.09.72.03