Feasibility of using student subjects in accounting experiments: a review

Purpose – The unavailability of practitioners is one of the disturbing realities that often prevent the use of experimental methods in accounting research. The availability of pragmatic alternatives to accounting practitioners demands that researchers explore such alternatives fully before conducting expensive experiments with practitioners. However, the use of students as surrogates for non‐students has been a controversial issue and this has led to an under‐utilization of the experimental method in management accounting research. Recent research has warned that relying solely on practitioners as subjects in experimental methods may result in “negative externalities”. The purpose of this paper is to inquire in to the feasibility of using student subjects in behavioral accounting research so that better judgments can be made about the benefits and dangers of using students in experiments. Design/methodology/approach – The paper relies on a review and synthesis of the literature on the student surrogate debate. Findings – The paper shows that accounting students may be adequate surrogates for practitioners in many decision‐making experiments. Research limitations/implications – The paper demonstrates that maintaining the experimental realism of a study and replications are more important than the type of subject when generalizing results. Originality/value – The paper provides an analysis and synthesis of literature that will enable researchers to make sound judgments about the selection of subjects for experiments.