Explaining the first-year academic performance of commerce academic development students: A statistical analysis

Abstract

Academic development students’ academic performance in the first-year accounting degree is influenced by a range of personal and contextual variables. The objective of this paper is to conduct an exploratory investigation of a selection of these variables in order to determine why some students perform better than others. A multiple regression analysis model is used to identify statistically significant relationships between students’ academic performance and demographic, academic, home, school and environmental factors. The results suggest that students’ academic performance in their first year is positively influenced by their performance in the school-leaving examination, motivation, and being a member of the Thuthuka programme. Conversely, students’ academic performance is negatively influenced for male students, and by HIV/Aids and parental discipline.

Key Words:

• Academic development
• academic performance
• accounting
• educational interventions
• multivariate analysis