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.

Keywords

• Teamwork skills
• Communication skills
• Self-efficacy
• Communication apprehension