The effect of accounting education and work experience on emotional intelligence

Presented to receive a master's degree

in the field of accounting

Abstract:

Emotions play an important role in managing an organization, emotional intelligence is a skill that improves people's performance in the fields of leadership, teamwork, customer relations and decision making. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between the teaching of accounting courses in public and private universities, as well as work experience on the emotional intelligence of accounting students. This is a descriptive-cross-sectional correlational study. The sample size of the research included 476 students of accounting, literature, political science, English language and social sciences of Mashhad universities in undergraduate and master's degrees were selected by available sampling method. Bar-an emotional intelligence test and SCL 90 questionnaire were used to collect data. Pearson's correlation coefficient and analysis of variance and covariance as well as regression analysis were used to analyze the data. For this purpose, the variable of emotional intelligence was considered as the dependent variable of the research and the variables of academic year, field of study, type of university (government and non-government), work experience, gender, and level of education were considered as independent variables. Also, in this research, the variable of mental health (personality disorder) was considered as a control variable. The results of data analysis show that there is no significant relationship between emotional intelligence and academic years (first and fourth year). But there is a significant difference between the emotional intelligence of students who are working along with studying compared to those who are not working, which means that the emotional intelligence of students who have been working while studying has increased compared to students who have only been studying. Also, a significant difference was observed between emotional intelligence and gender.

Key words:

Emotional intelligence, accounting field, work experience, gender, educational level, mental health.

Introduction

Emotions play an important role in organization management. Emotional intelligence increases people's ability to identify, manage and use emotions (Mayer, Salovey and Caruso[1], 2001). Emotional intelligence is a skill that improves people's performance in the fields of leadership, teamwork, communication with customers and decision-making (Cook et al. [2], 2011) and Zeidner, Methodus and Robert [3] (2009), emotional intelligence is defined as the ability to direct behavior, thoughts, communicate effectively with colleagues, supervisors, customers and use time in how to do work to improve results. Research by psychologists, such as Salovey and Mayer [4] (1990), Gelman, Boyatzis and McKay [5] (2002), shows that emotional intelligence is effective in many areas. Among these fields are the fields of intrapersonal relationship (self-knowledge and self-actualization), interpersonal relationship (social relationship), counseling and guidance, work and employment, organizational and industrial management, economic progress, community leadership, and so on. pointed out (Bradbury and Graves[6], 2016). The necessity of using emotional intelligence is a response to the growing research that states that the work environment is not just a logical environment. Paying attention to emotions in the work environment improves performance and results (Zinder et al., 2009). It seems that this attention and interest shown to excitement is a reaction against the increase of rationalism in many areas of people's personal and public life. It should be noted that due to the commitment of accountants and specific work rules as well as commitment to these rules, there is a very limited field for emotions. In fact, the dominant view in the traditional literature is that the accounting profession is subject to rationality (Barbalt [7], 2001). The contradiction is that, although people face problems in making work decisions based on emotions, it is much more difficult to make decisions in areas such as accounting that follow rationalism and specific rules despite emotions. However, developments in organizational studies and decision-making theories challenge some of the main assumptions underlying the dominance of reason and emotion. These theories show that excitement in contemporary capitalist organizations does not create problems but serves them. Emotions and intellect are not opposites, but they are closely related (Ashkansi, Hartel and Das [8], 2002). Therefore, the view that the accounting profession is only subject to rationality has not been accepted and emotions should be considered as an effective factor in the accounting profession.

1-2- Description and expression of the issue

In new theories of decision-making, emotions are considered a factor for the efficiency of reason (Hanuch [9], 2002). Emotions help the mind in three ways. A) Excitement helps people in identifying problems and prioritizing in dealing with them. b) Excitement helps in identifying the elements needed to make a decision. c) At a deeper level, emotion comes to the aid of reason and provides the basis for creating more appropriate goals (MacPhail [10], 2004). Considering the mentioned features, without a doubt, accounting students and accountants like others continuously use emotions in their decisions. With this description, it is necessary to pay special attention to emotions in accounting education, as well as identifying and recognizing the social, economic and moral consequences of using emotions and their impact on decisions (MacPhail, 2004). The main goal of accounting education is to provide skilled accountants to enter the profession.  Efficient manpower in every country is considered as a competitive advantage and one of the factors of success in the economy of that country. Higher education as an investment in human resources in order to improve the knowledge and skills needed by society helps economic growth and development (Sataish and Mansouri, 2011). The quality of the workforce depends on the performance of educational institutions and university programs. Universities should include market expectations in their education courses and make sure that graduates acquire skills and knowledge required by the market and are ready to enter the profession (Penn and Hector [11], 2011). There are also many criticisms about accounting education being behind the progress and development in the business environment (Hancock et al. [12], 2009). Mohammad and Lashin [13] (2003), consider the gap created between existing skills and required skills in the accounting profession due to rapid changes in the labor market and slow changes in the curriculum. Hancock et al. (2009) show in their research that the needs of the labor market and academics are not aligned and that accounting graduates suffer from a lack of communication skills when starting their careers. Kawang and Drennan [14] (2008), compare the expectations of accounting students and employers in the field of professional skills and show that employers' expectations are much higher than the skills of accounting graduates.

Changes in the role and scope of work of professional accountants result from the changing global business environment (Hancock et al., 2009). Accounting efficiency in companies depends on the quality of its accountants, and this quality is directly affected by their levels of experience and knowledge. Today, professional accountants face many unexpected situations, as a result of changes in the importance and quality of accounting information, the need to change or revise accounting education is well felt (Mashaikhi and Shafipour, 2011). Educational intervention to increase emotional intelligence is not unusual, but it should be noted that this issue is mostly used in elementary and secondary schools. However, at the university level, the creation of teaching units and training exercises to increase the emotional intelligence of accounting students has been investigated (McPhail, 2004 and Morris, Urbanski and Fuller[15], 2005 and Mir and Tucker[16], 2005). According to the said material, the question arises whether the accounting courses that are currently taught at the university level increase the emotional intelligence level of students? Is the emotional intelligence of female accounting students and male accounting students the same?

1-3- Necessity of conducting research

One of the basic problems in accounting is the existence of a deep gap between education (theoretical discussions) and experimental work, as well as the application of emotional intelligence in accounting. Considering the economic developments at the global level, and considering that accountants work in a changeable environment, in order to cope and succeed in this environment, accountants need more complex skills (problem solving skills, working in groups, communication skills and leadership) to be able to think critically and make decisions (Martin and Steel[17], 2010). Therefore, it is better for accountants to have the following skills to succeed in their career:

mental skills (emotional intelligence and emotional intelligence) 2) technical and practical skills 3) personal skills (communication skills) 4) intrapersonal and interpersonal skills (recognition and application of emotions) 5) organizational management skills ([18]IAESB, 2011).