Expectation-performance Gap: Employers

(i) Results from the Questionnaire

To examine whether there is a significant difference between the employers’ views of the level of competence graduates should acquire at university and the level of competence possessed by the graduates they have hired, paired sample t-tests were carried out. Table 8.2 shows the

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results. All the five generic skill categories showed significant differences indicating that employers perceived expectation-performance gap in all generic skill categories.

Table 8.2: Paired sample t- tests for should acquire and expect to acquire for employers Should

acquire

Possess Difference between

Generic skills M M Difference P-value

Intellectual _{3.631 2.661 0.970 0.000***} Personal _{3.531 2.660 0.871 0.001***} Interpersonal/communication _{3.568 2.766 0.802 0.001***} OBM _{3.575 2.858 0.717 0.008**} Ethics 3.886 3.284 0.602 0.024* *p < 0.05 **p<0.01 ***p<0.001

As shown in Table 8.2, the widest expectation-performance gap was found in intellectual skills (difference = 0.970), followed by personal skills (difference = 0.871), interpersonal and communication skills (difference = 0.802), OBM skills (difference = 0.717) and ethics skills (difference = 0.602).13

(ii) Interviews

The interviews held with five employers provided further insights into the expectation- performance gap. The generic skills mentioned by the employers as being important for graduates who want to succeed in the workplace included OBM skills (specifically computing skills) and interpersonal and communication skills (specifically the ability to work in teams). The need for good teamwork skills was stressed by one employer, who explained that in the workplace, accounting work is usually carried out by a team rather than by an individual working alone.

“Yes, computing skills and able to work in teams are the best skills, as biggest companies have to have a team in accounting.” (E3)

Some employers also expressed some concerns over the gap in intellectual skills as they felt that intellectual skills were not being developed adequately as part of the accounting degree program. The employers further indicated that they expected accounting students should have the “ability to solve problems” (E5) and be competent in “extracting information” (E5). One employer indicated:

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“Recent accounting graduates don’t have skills such as English language skills, communication skills and extracting information because it is not in education so no one takes care of it.” (E5)

Some employers shed some light on the personal skills gap. Employers expected students to have a reasonable level of personal skills, such as “negotiation skills” (E1), being “able to choose best time to provide problems and exchange ideas with other workers” (E3) and “responsibility” (E1).

The area that was most frequently commented on related to interpersonal and communication skills and their expectations that accounting students should graduate with a good level of a range of these skills, especially English language skills:

“Presentation skills, able to prepare reports, teamwork skills” (E1) “English Language skills” (E2)

“Be familiar with it, Teamwork skills” (E3)

“English language skills, communication skills and teamwork skills.” Yes, there is a weakness in areas such as English language skills. The main problems that most companies have faced are weak communication and most education is taught in the Arabic language.” (E4)

“English language skills, delivering information, able to discuss and teamwork skills.” (E5)

Employers often spoke of the lack of English language skills and teamwork skills as being one of the most prominent deficiencies in accounting students entering the workforce. They tended to indicate that the universities were not providing adequate training in these areas, although one employer believed that the reason for students having deficient interpersonal and communication skills was due to under development of these skills and rated the development was “30% from education 30% from environment 40% from the person” (E1). One particular factor that employers mentioned as being a reason why students were not developing an adequate level of generic skills during their accounting degree program was the tendency for the course content to focus on the theoretical side of accounting knowledge but little emphasis was given on how to apply this knowledge in practice.

“…there was more focus on knowledge rather than practical and providing skills. The practical is weak and shows a gap in education. Moreover, students have not got practice working in a team or discussing to solve problems. Education doesn't develop skills in the student and give more awareness of skills.” (E3)

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Nevertheless, some employers viewed that accounting students managed to acquire a reasonable level of competence in some interpersonal and communication skills because the university had provided training in this area.

“[Students are] able to prepare reports because they have some courses related to technical writing course in University education.” (E1)

Regarding OBM skills, the employers viewed that accounting students were graduating with a moderate level of OBM skills, particularly “computing skills especially package Microsoft Office and Internet” (E4). The ability to use Microsoft Office software was also mentioned as a skill that employers expected. Some employers blamed the university accounting programs for not providing adequate training in OBM skills.

“There are some graduates joined courses to acquire skills using their own money, specially computing skills, but not through university education.” (E5)

In comparison to other skills, employers spoke very little about ethical skills, beyond mentioning the need for accounting students to acquire ethical skills for success in the workplace.

In discussing generic skills in general, the employers often mentioned how accounting students tended to be lacking in many generic skills and that the employers were not completely satisfied with the competence of accounting students when they graduate. In fact, all the employers interviewed agreed that there was a deficiency in the level of overall generic skill acquired in the undergraduate accounting degree. In particular, several commented on how accounting graduates often had good grades but still lacked competence in generic skills in general:

“Some graduates have high qualifications but don't have enough skills.” (E2) “The recent graduates who have a good GPA are only a little familiar with accounting work.” (E3)

“They acquire [our expectations] somewhat. We are satisfied with new graduates but still need more improvement in generic skills. (E2)

“No, there is a gap. We are not satisfied with recent accounting graduates as they are weak in important skills.” (E3)

“No, they haven't met our expectations but there are some private college that really care about providing skills to their students. We are fully satisfied with their qualifications but not with achieving skills, as I think that generic skills can be more important than some qualification.” (E5)

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(iii) Discussion

This study found a statistically significant gap between the levels of skill that employers felt graduates should acquire at university compared to the level acquired by the graduates they have hired for all generic skill categories. This expectation performance gap is consistent with the majority of prior studies (Abayadeera & Watty, 2014; Bridgstock, 2009; Bui & Porter, 2010; Howcroft, 2017; Jackling & de Lange, 2009; Kavanagh & Drennan, 2008; and others) including studies carried out in Saudi Arabia by Yavas (1997) and Egypt (Anis, 2017).

When the generic skills were analysed under different categories, the findings were generally consistent with other studies. In particular, many other studies in both western and non-western nations (e.g., Abayadeera & Watty, 2014; Albrecht & Sack, 2000; Altrawneh, 2015; Birrell, 2006; Hakim & Bizri, 2015; Hakim, 2016) have also commented on the expectation- performance gap perceived by employers in the area of interpersonal and communication skills although some studies (e.g., Sithole, 2015) indicated that the gap in this skill is narrowing. The earlier study by Yavas (1997) on employers in Saudi Arabia found gaps for personal skills, interpersonal and communication skills.

An expectation-performance gap in the area of intellectual skills was also found by Abayadeera and Watty (2014) and Theuri and Gunn (1998). The expectation-performance gap found in OBM skills is consistent with numerous prior studies (e.g., Abayadeera & Watty, 2014). The gap in this skill is not the biggest in some studies as employers believed that some universities are helping students to develop OBM skills and that such skills can also be acquired outside the university or on the job (Jackling & de Lange, 2009; Sithole, 2015). The findings of the gap in personal skills is consistent with the study carried out by Parvaiz (2014) and the Saudi study by Zureigat (2015) but inconsistent with the findings of Abayadeera and Watty (2014). Very few prior studies have focused on ethical skills. The findings of gap in ethical skills are consistent with the study by Abayadeera and Watty (2014). The area of ethical skills is of particular concern to employers in Saudi Arabia as ethical accounting practices are important in the Islamic financial market in Saudi Arabia (AAOIFI, 1999; Bhuian, Alhassan, & Kim, 2002; Saleem, 1993).

The findings that employers in Saudi Arabia believed that accounting graduates do not have the desired level of competence in all the five generic skills categories is of concern as they might continue to have a preference to hire foreign graduates rather than local Saudi graduates

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for positions as accountants. Employers’ dissatisfaction with local graduates’ skills would hinder the process of “Saudisation”, slows economic diversification and affects the human capital of Saudi Arabia (Ghaban et al., 2002).