The Use and Measurement of Communication Self-efficacy Techniques in a UK Undergraduate Accounting Course

Abstract

This research contributes to helping educational establishments across the world develop self-efficacy techniques to improve communication skills within an accounting course design and other disciplines. This paper asks the research question: Does self-efficacy enhances accounting students' communication ability? Previous research has identified the business community requiring accountants to display high levels of communication ability. However, despite many deliberate pedagogical interventions over the years, communication skills are lacking in graduating accounting students. This paper describes a new approach of deliberate self-efficacy interventions in one UK university's undergraduate accounting curriculum to improve accounting students' communication ability. In addition, a self-efficacy framework of Stone and Bailey, (2007) is developed to model communication self-efficacy, outcome expectancy and behavioral intentions of the students. The data consists of the results of 131 first-year accounting students and this paper contributes by helping to pinpoint two self-efficacy techniques to improving students' communication skills: 'personal mastery’, and ‘mentor support’.