Jeffrey D. Young

Canadian accountants: examining workplace learning

Purpose – This paper seeks to examine workplace learning strategies, learning facilitators and learning barriers of public accountants in Canada across three professional levels – trainees, managers, and partners.Design/methodology/approach – Volunteer participants from public accounting firms in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick completed a demographic survey, a learning activities survey, a learning barriers survey, and a learning facilitators survey. Quantitative analysis provided total scores for key variables and compared these across the three levels.Findings – The paper finds that accountants across different levels use a variety of formal and informal learning strategies, although informal strategies predominate. Accountants encounter numerous facilitators and barriers. There are variations in strategies, barriers and facilitators based on professional level; for example, trainees make more use of e‐learning than do either managers or partners.Research limitations/implications – Future research could ...

Workplace learning strategies, barriers, facilitators and outcomes: a qualitative study among human resource management practitioners

Recently the role of human resource management (HRM) practitioners has become more professionalized and more strategic. Consequently, HRM practitioners have had to develop new competencies in areas such as change management, influence and technology. Workplace learning, which is important for professional development, is examined for 13 HRM practitioners in government, healthcare, post-secondary education and business organizations in the Halifax Regional Municipality area. Of particular interest were learning strategies, barriers to and facilitators of learning and outcomes of learning. To obtain rich data, practitioners were interviewed face to face using an interview guide. Results indicated that these practitioners are mostly similar to other professional groups in terms of workplace learning, with a few key differences. The similarities and differences are presented, and implications of these findings for HRM practitioners and future directions for research are discussed.

TEST-RETEST RELIABILITY AND CONSTRUCT VALIDITY OF THE COGNITIVE STYLE INDEX FOR BUSINESS UNDERGRADUATES

The Cognitive Style Index was administered to 89 business undergraduates. Cronbach alpha and test-retest indicate reliabilities of scores for this group. The significant difference between mens and womens scores supports the construct validity of the Cognitive Style Index. Hypotheses regarding differences in scores across seniority in the business program and across areas of study were not supported.

Management Self-Development and Small Business Exploring Emergent Issues

Based on in-depth interviews with eight owners/managers, this paper examines the nature of management self-development in the small business sector. In comparison to management self-development in medium and large businesses, management self-development in small business tends to be accidental, highly interpersonal, and informal. Purveyors of management education and training should understand the nature of learning in small business. They should also consider helping small business owners/managers create, maintain and develop their own personal and professional networks.

SCORES ON THE GROUP EMBEDDED FIGURES TEST BY UNDERGRADUATES IN INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

The Group Embedded Figures Test was administered to 63 undergraduates in a program for a Bachelor of Applied Arts in Information Management. Distribution characteristics, sex differences, reliability, and internal consistency measures for this sample were compared with those for Witkins original sample. In addition, item difficulty and discrimination coefficients are provided. Scores for this group show desirable measurement characteristics.

GROUP EMBEDDED FIGURES TEST: PSYCHOMETRIC DATA FOR A SAMPLE OF CANADIAN UNDERGRADUATE BUSINESS STUDENTS

The Group Embedded Figures Test was administered to a group of 150 Canadian senior undergraduates in business administration. Distribution characteristics, sex differences, reliability, and internal consistency measures for this group were compared to previously published norms for samples of USA students.

Workplace learning issues of hotel employees: examining differences across management status and gender.

The purpose of the authors in this study is to examine workplace learning in hotels. Specifically, they compare differences in learning strategies, outcomes, facilitators, and barriers between men and women, and managers and non-managers. Participants—151 employees of eight hotels in the Halifax Regional Municipality—completed four learning-oriented surveys and one demographic survey. Results indicated significant differences across genders for various strategies for, outcomes of, facilitators of, and barriers to workplace learning. There were no significant differences between managers and non-managers nor were there any significant interactions between gender and managerial status. Implications for managing human resources in the hotel industry are discussed.

Entrepreneurial Networks in the Micro-Business Sector: Examining Differences Across Gender and Business Stage

Abstract In-depth interviews were conducted with 31 entrepreneurs from a variety of micro businesses in Nova Scotia to explore entrepreneurial networks. Results indicate womens networks are no more formal than mens, however, informal network members such as family and friends and those in other businesses were more frequently cited by women than by men. Both those in the startup and ongoing stages rely more on informal than formal networks. Participants tended not to belong to formal networking organizations. Overwhelmingly, participants viewed their networks as successful with benefits seen largely in terms of advice and sales. Micro entrepreneurs tend not to have a clear view of their networks which are small and not particularly diverse. Implications are discussed.

Public accountants' field dependence: Canadian evidence.

The cognitive styles of 113 practicing, professional accountants from Nova Scotia, Canada were examined using the Group Embedded Figures Test. They completed a demographic survey for descriptive information as well as their rank in the firm and preferred area of professional practice. Analysis suggested professional accountants tend to be more analytical than intuitive in cognitive style and, consistent with recent findings in other fields, men and women in accounting do not appear to be different in cognitive style. No statistically significant differences were found on the embedded figures scores across ranks of trainee, manager, and partner or across select, preferred areas of professional practice.

Entrepreneurs: Relationships Between Cognitive Style and Entrepreneurial Drive

Abstract The research described below investigates the relationship between cognitive style and entrepreneurial drive and the effect of gender, ownership type, and performance factors. The Cognitive Style Index and the Carland Entrepreneurship Index were administered to 117 entrepreneurs in the manufacturing sector in Nova Scotia. Results indicated that those who are higher in entrepreneurial drive tend to be more intuitive than analytical in cognitive style. Men and women entrepreneurs did not differ in terms of their cognitive styles or in terms of their entrepreneurial drive. Novice, serial, and portfolio entrepreneurs did not differ in terms of cognitive styles, but did differ in terms of entrepreneurial drive. Relationships between cognitive style and entrepreneurial drive and numbers of employees in the firm were found. Implications of these results are discussed.