Developing teamwork skills in accounting students: is communication apprehension a potential barrier?

Abstract

Although research and pronouncements have identified the increased relevance of ‘soft’ skills for future professionals in accounting, graduates continue to exhibit deficiencies in those skills. Employers and practitioners emphasize that the dynamic business environment requires more than just technical knowledge; excellent teamwork, communication and analytical skills are also of paramount importance. Despite numerous attempts to improve teamwork skills there is evidence that the responses to the acknowledged deficiencies have not been successful and there is a lack of understanding about the constraints that could hinder the skills development. Some results point to anxiety towards communication as a reason for the unwillingness to interact in group situations and therefore as a constraint for skills development, although the connection between communication apprehension and development of teamwork skills has not been investigated. Therefore, the present study examines the relationships between communication apprehension and communication self-efficacy and teamwork skills self-efficacy, in order to understand to what extent communication apprehension influences self-efficacy beliefs and forms a potential barrier. Our results indicate a negative influence of communication apprehension on teamwork self-efficacy, both direct and mediated by communication self-efficacy; whereas there is a relevant positive association between self-efficacy beliefs. This pattern of relationships provides relevant insights about how the constraints could be alleviated, which that are discussed in the paper. Tanto los posicionamientos de instituciones contables relevantes como los resultados de la investigación coinciden en destacar la importancia creciente de las capacidades transversales (soft skills) para los futuros profesionales en contabilidad y finanzas. Empleadores y profesionales resaltan que para desenvolverse en el dinámico mundo empresarial se requiere de algo más que conocimientos técnicos; así, las capacidades analíticas, de comunicación y trabajo en grupo son de la máxima relevancia. Sin embargo, pese a los intentos para desarrollar estas capacidades en la formación superior, siguen existiendo evidencias de que esas intervenciones no tienen el éxito esperado y parece haber una falta de conocimiento sobre las limitaciones que pueden estar dificultando el desarrollo de las mismas. Este estudio se centra en las capacidades de trabajo en grupo. Algunos indicios apuntan a la aprensión comunicativa (AC) como una posible causa de falta de interacción grupal, y por tanto como una posible barrera, aunque esta conexión no ha sido estudiada. En esta línea, el objetivo de este trabajo es examinar la relación entre la AC autoeficacia comunicativa y de trabajo en grupo, comprobando hasta qué punto puede constituir una limitación al desarrollo de capacidades. Los resultados indican que la AC tiene una relación negativa con la autoeficacia de trabajo en grupo, tanto directa como mediada por la autoeficacia comunicativa, mientras que las percepciones de autoeficacia están positivamente relacionadas entre sí. Este patrón de relaciones proporciona pistas, que se discuten en el trabajo, sobre cómo sería posible aliviar esta barrera.

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The importance of soft skills in accounting: student´s and employer´s expectations

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