Political Skill of Accounting Students

Abstract

The study of political skill is recent and still incipient in Brazil, even though it is an important skill for career development and professional performance. Thus, this research analyze the political skill level of Accounting students. Thus, a quantitative study was carried out through a survey of two higher education institutions in the southern region of Brazil, reaching 133 valid participations. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the multivariate test for differences between groups. In addition, the results generally showed a medium level of political ability among students, in addition to presenting in the four dimensions a high perception of apparent sincerity, average in interpersonal influence and social astuteness, and low in networking capacity. Equally important, the statistical tests did not indicate a significant difference between the groups of respondents and political ability. The study contributes to identifying the perceived level of political ability of students and seeks to encourage educational institutions to develop educational practices that encourage the expansion of their students’ political ability, which will consequently impact their professional career.