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This article describes an eMentor program used as a co-curricular professional development activity for accounting majors at a university that is located in a relatively small city that is geographically distant from the primary location of its major recruiters. The key element of the program is the use of e-mail as a communication channel to link accounting and business professionals with students in our accounting program. We provide information regarding our program’s mission and objectives, recruiting professionals and students to participate, and an analysis of data collected to evaluate the program. In addition, we identify the topics discussed during the interactions between professional mentors and students.

Results of the data analysis indicate that the program is an overall success. Most student-mentor pairs have had several e-mail contacts and at least one phone contact, with a majority of students initiating some contact. The topics discussed most frequently centered on college curriculum choices and professional career path options, including the benefits of internships and externships. A high proportion of students and professionals agree/strongly agree that the program’s mission and objectives are met, and virtually all of the professionals agree/strongly agree that the program is a worthwhile use of their time.

07-04 June 2007

This study describes the multifaceted components of an assessment process. The paper explains a novel approach in which accounting advisory council members actively participated in a “fun,” hands-on activity to rank-order learning outcomes. Understanding internal controls was the top ranked learning competency identified by the advisory council. With this competency identified, the advisory council exercise was then followed-up by a course modification in the auditing course. An empirical study, consisting of a control group and a treatment group, was then conducted to assess whether students’ performance on an internal control essay question now met or exceeded established expectations. Collecting data without acting upon it is a waste of resources. This study shows how important it is to close the loop in identifying improvement opportunities.

Keywords: Assessment, Learning Outcomes, Internal Controls

07-03 February 2007

Using data from the seven most recent US presidential elections, two related analyses are conducted. The first presents an analysis of variance comparing Democratic and Republican Party candidates who were successful in securing votes to those who were unsuccessful in securing votes, using follower perceptions of candidate intelligence, candidate’s degree of charisma, and follower feelings of positive and negative affect toward these candidates as the units for analysis. Here, perceived intelligence, feelings of pride and hope, as well as feelings of fear and anger, were found to be statistically different between the two groups. Specifically, candidates perceived to be higher in intelligence, who generated stronger feelings of pride and hope, and weaker feelings of fear and anger were more likely to receive voting support from their followers. The second analysis presents a regression model using follower assessments of candidates’ leadership quality as dependent upon certain leader perceptual traits, including follower assessments of candidate intelligence and inspirational qualities, as well as follower affective responses (in terms of feelings of pride, hope, fear and anger) toward all candidates. Here, candidates perceived to be higher in intelligence, perceived to possess stronger degrees of inspirational quality, and who were judged more “likeable” in terms of generating stronger degrees of positive follower affect and lower degrees of negative follower affect are considered better quality leaders.

07-02 February 2007

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This article presents the results of research examining the composition and internal dynamics of organizational competencies held by four major technology corporations. The research used content analysis of corporate documents and in-depth interviews with corporate professionals to reveal that these competencies draw upon corporate understanding of phenomena related to communication networks, documents, and integrated circuits. The competencies identified contain seven component categories. Five involve understandings of core phenomena, intellectual disciplines, various technologies, and classes of products and services. Two involve functional, technological, and integrated skills. Importantly, during use the understandings and skills within competencies dynamically interact with one another, powerfully supporting corporate competitiveness. Interview results reveal organizational competencies to be intermediate knowledge. They are developed by applying more enduring corporate capabilities, such as strategic vision, and they enable the creation of more transient knowledge, such as familiarity with specific customers.

Keywords: Core competencies; distinctive competencies; dynamic capabilities; organizational capabilities; organizational competencies; organizational competitiveness; skills

07-01 January 2007