Abstract:

A crucial challenge for employers recruiting on university campuses is understanding graduating students' perceptions of them. Employers often compete to attract the best students with little empirical understanding of students' implicit criteria in choosing a preferred employer. The objective of this study was to investigate, without researcher bias, how students construe different potential employers recruiting on their campus. This was possible using the Repertory Grid Technique (RGT), an underutilised but powerful psychological data collection technique based on personal construct theory that eliminates researcher bias and specification error.

This study focussed on qualifying accounting students at the University of Cape Town, where nine employers recruit postgraduate accounting students for internship positions. Applying the RGT, individual participating students were systematically presented with the names of three of the nine employers and asked to state which two are most alike but different from the third. The student's reasons for each “sort” yielded bipolar constructs about the employers. The process was repeated for every possible triadic combination of the nine employer names to determine how each student categorised and differentiated between them. The elicited constructs were then inserted onto a grid, and each participant rated each of the nine employers on each of their elicited constructs. After completing the grid, each student was interviewed about their elicited constructs. Theoretical saturation was obtained after the twelfth interview (N = 12). Each of the twelve individual grids was then analysed using principal component analysis (PCA), and the transcripts of each interview were analysed using thematic content analysis (TCA). The PCA spatially clustered employers and criteria (constructs) to produce a component map for each participant, visually depicting how employers were categorised by each participant. Each component map was then analysed together with the student’s grid and interview data before comparing the component maps.

While participants generated distinctive patterns of personal constructs and ratings regarding employers, the most frequently elicited constructs related to perceived career opportunities, international exposure, ethical behaviour, and corporate reputation. The TCA yielded ten descriptive themes elaborating on the elicited constructs, further emphasising the importance of specific personal career advancement opportunities, lifestyle demands (e.g., flexibility) and social identity considerations (e.g., ethics and diversity) for the students.

The findings of this study provide specific insight to those recruiting or providing career guidance to accounting students. The RGT was also shown to be a valuable and insight-provoking structured technique that could be used across fields for modelling choice decisions and investigating perceptions without imposing researcher bias.

Keywords:

Employer choice, accounting internships, repertory grid.