Title: Communication apprehension among Chinese accounting and business students: a demographic exploration

Authors: Alex Tun-Lee Foo; Paul Gnanaselvam; Chzia-Poaw Sim

Addresses: Department of Commerce and Accountancy, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), Jalan Universiti, Bandar Barat, 31900 Kampar, Perak, Malaysia ' Department of Public Relation, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), Jalan Universiti, Bandar Barat, 31900 Kampar, Perak, Malaysia ' Department of Psychology and Counselling, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), Jalan Universiti, Bandar Barat, 31900 Kampar, Perak, Malaysia

Abstract: Past literature has consistently highlighted the problem of oral communication apprehension (CA) among accounting majors. However, these results are mostly applicable to developed countries. As such, this study gathers questionnaire data consisting of 1090 students of one large Chinese-dominated private university in Malaysia. Data analysis reveals that accounting students, surprisingly, do not differ significantly in terms of levels of CA compared to that of business students. Also, CA does not differ across student's age and year of study. Results were discussed in light of how personal variables support the extent of future accountants as communicators.

Keywords: communication competence; anxiety; avoidance; accounting education; oral communication apprehension; Chinese students; business education; demographics; Malaysia.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMIE.2015.068760

International Journal of Management in Education, 2015 Vol.9 No.2, pp.161 - 179

Published online: 12 Apr 2015 *

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