Chapter 6: Quantitative Analysis
6.2 Demographics and background analysis
Table 6.1 provides summary frequency statistics regarding the respondents’ demographics and background information in Panels A, B and C. These frequency statistics aid in assessing the strengths and weaknesses of academic institutions and academic staff with respect to the ‘profile of implementation’ construct. The total number of respondents varies for items due to the variation in response rates for each question. Panel A presents the individual characteristics of respondents in gender, nationality and language ability. As discussed in Chapter 2, the most recent MOE statistics indicate that in all higher education institutions, including all colleges and all academic majors the gender percentage of academics in Saudi Arabia is 61 per cent male and 39 per cent female (MOE 2013). However, the results in Panel A indicate 81.8 per cent of accounting academic respondents are male and 18.2 per cent are female. This disparity can be attributed to the social structure and education system of Saudi Arabia in which there are separate male and female campuses. The separation of male and female campuses has limited access to female accounting academics due to religious reasons, with the majority of responses received from females via the online questionnaire.
Panel A also demonstrates that 48.6 per cent of the responding accounting academics are Saudi nationals and 51.4 per cent are non-Saudi. The results of this study demonstrate a relatively even distribution of Saudi and non-Saudi academics in this sample. As discussed in Chapter 2, the latest MOE statistics (MOE 2013) demonstrate that the percentage of academics in all higher education institutions (including all colleges and all majors) that are Saudi nationals is approximately 58 per cent, with non- Saudi academics at 42 per cent. The difference in the percentage of Saudi versus non- Saudi academics in the present study compared to the MOE figures could be attributed to the fact that the national figures are comprised of all academics in Saudi Arabia regardless of their colleges or academic majors. The language diversity of respondents demonstrated that 72.3 per cent are multilingual and the remaining of 27.7 per cent are monolingual (Arabic).
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Panel B presents participants’ academic profile and IFRS experience, for example, academic position, years of experience in teaching in higher education, degree of knowledge of IFRS and practical experience of IFRS. With respect to the academic position of respondents, the majority were lecturers (36.5 per cent) and assistant professors (32.3 per cent). According to the MOE (2013), lecturers and assistant professors in Saudi Arabia account for 22 per cent and 27 per cent respectively of the total academics in Saudi Arabia according to the academic rank. This indicates that this sample has a greater proportion of lecturers and assistant professors than the national figures. This difference could be attributed to the fact that this sample only comprises academics from the accounting discipline, while the national figures represent academics from all disciplines. In addition, only 4.8 per cent of respondents had no knowledge of IFRS. The responses of the 4.8 per cent (nine academics) were excluded when analysing questions that require IFRS knowledge.
Panel C presents information on the profiles of higher education institutions (i.e., type of academic institution and language of instruction used in teaching the accounting curriculum). The sample demonstrates that the majority of respondents work at public universities (68.5 per cent). This result is attributed to the fact that the number of public universities has increased dramatically since 1998 due to government support for the higher education system resulting in the creation of a number of public universities. Currently, there are 25 public universities and nine private universities in Saudi Arabia (MOE 2013, 2014). There are also two public institutions: the IPA and the TVTC. Both of these institutions have branches and campuses across Saudi Arabia. However, only universities and institutions with business colleges that provide accounting programmes have been included in the study. This resulted in the inclusion of 22 public universities, six private universities and two other academic institutions. Sixty-one per cent of respondents use Arabic for teaching instruction. This would seem to have clear implications on the need to have teaching resources and materials available in Arabic.
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Table 6.1: Demographics and background of respondents
Item Frequency Percentage
Panel A: Participant demographics
Gender Male 153 81.8 Female 34 18.2 Total 187 100 Nationality Saudi 90 48.6 Non-Saudi 95 51.4 Total 185 100 Language diversity Monolingual 51 27.7 Multilingual 133 72.3 Total 184 100
Panel B: Participant academic profile and IFRS experience
Academic position Professor 13 7.0 Associate Professor 25 13.5 Assistant Professor 60 32.3 Lecturer 68 36.5 Other 20 10.7 Total 186 100
Years of experience teaching in higher education
More than 20 years 49 26.3
16–20 years 21 11.3
11–15 years 24 12.9
6–10 years 42 22.6
Fewer than 5 years 50 26.9
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Degree of knowledge of IFRS
No knowledge at all 9 4.8 Some knowledge 90 48.1 Proficient 59 31.6 Very knowledgeable 27 14.4 Expert 2 1.1 Total 187 100
Practical experience of IFRS
Yes 40 22.5
No 138 77.5
Total 178 100
Panel C: Higher education institution profiles
Type of higher education institution
Public university 128 68.5
Private university 15 8.0
Other academic institutions 44 23.5
Total 187 100 Language of instruction Arabic 114 61.0 English 58 31.0 Both 15 8.0 Total 187 100
Note: The total number of respondents for panels A and B vary for items due to the variation in response
rates for each question.
The following sections address research questions connected to the CIF constructs and sub-constructs. The following section examines the IFRS accounting education in academic institutions in Saudi Arabia in relation to the profile of implementation construct of the CIF. This is partly addressed through the RQ1:
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RQ1: How does the educational profile of the learning environment in Saudi Arabia affect the preparation for the teaching of IFRS?