Accounting Education: an international journal

Vol. 14, No. 1, 75 –93, March 2005

Job Offers of Multi-national Accounting

Firms: The Effects of Emotional
Intelligence, Extra-curricular Activities,
and Academic Performance

YEW MING CHIA

The Management School, University of Edinburgh, UK
(Received: April 2003; revised: October 2003; February 2004; accepted: March 2004)

ABSTRACT This study investigates the effects of academic performance, extracurricular activities
(ECA) and emotional intelligence (EI) of potential accounting-major graduates on the outcomes of
their respective interviewing activities and the number of final job offers given by the multinational
Big 5 public accounting firms. The following outcomes are identified: (a) the number of initial job
interviews is affected by both a graduate’s academic performance and level of participation in
ECA; (b) the number of subsequent job interviews is affected by both the number of initial job
interviews as well as the level of a graduate’s EI; (c) the number of final job offers is affected by
the graduate’s level of EI and both the number of initial and subsequent job interviews. The
results indicate the relevance of EI in the job search process and will also be useful for
accounting educators to plan their curricula more effectively to enhance the job placement of
their graduates with the Big 5 firms.

KEY WORDS : Emotional intelligence, soft-skill competencies, interviews, job offers

Introduction
Research relating to studies in job search can be divided into two strands (Brasher and
Chen, 1999). The first strand examines how the recruitment activities of organizations
affect the job search decisions and performance of the job seekers (e.g., Breaugh, 1981;
Rynes and Miller, 1983). The second strand of research focuses on explaining and predict-
ing an individual’s success in job search. Research under the second strand generally
covers three topics, namely: sources of search information; search activities; and individ-
ual characteristics (e.g., Allen and Keaveny, 1980; Steffy et al., 1989). This study follows
the second strand of research and attempts to address the effects of objective qualifications
and the role of emotional intelligence (EI) on the success of job search by potential
accounting-major graduates.

Correspondence Address: Dr Yew Ming Chia, The Management School, University of Edinburgh, Edin-
burgh EH8 9JY, UK. Email: y.m.chia@ed.ac.uk

0963-9284 Print/1468-4489 Online/05/010075–19 # 2005 Taylor & Francis Group Ltd

DOI: 10.1080/0693928042000229707
76 Y. M. Chia

The first motivation for this study relates to the limitation of how ‘employers seem(ed)
to hire accountants based primarily on grade point average, an IQ-related measure, and
relatively short interview’ in the past (Kirch et al., 2001, p. 60). There is a lack of explicit
consideration on the soft-skills of candidates. The reason could be indirectly provided by
Caudron (1999) who reports that, in the past, there has been an absence of evidence to
support the relevance of soft-skills in enhancing the success of business executives.
This is in spite of existing literature suggesting that graduates’ future job opportunities
are directly influenced by various aspects of their stays at the university, including their
academic performance levels, participation in extracurricular activities (non-academic
endeavours), and overall development as individuals.
Similarly, when the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) calls
for an expanded education for accounting students, it identifies the need for professionals
to be ‘technically competent and who possess the analytical abilities, communication and
interpersonal skills [emphasis added], and cultural awareness that will enable them to
serve the public in a complex and changing environment’ (AICPA, 1992, p. 2). Research
has also identified the need for the public ‘. . . accounting organizations (to be) more
responsive to human needs . . . (Maupin and Lehman, 1994, p. 436)’. It would appear
then, that public accounting firms would be eager to hire entry-level accountants who pos-
sessed the non-technical soft skills and intellectual knowledge that the profession has
emphasized that it needs. The soft-skills form the emotional competencies that are
linked to EI.
The original definition of EI is provided by Salovey and Mayer (1989/1990, p. 189)
when they describe a person’s EI as ‘the ability to monitor one’s own and other’s
feeling and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide
one’s thinking and actions’. This definition, which encompasses intrapersonal intelligence
and interpersonal intelligence, is broadened by Bar-On (1997) to include adaptive
capacities and abilities to control impulse and cope with stress. This concept of EI is popu-
larized by Goleman (1995, 1998), who also argues that it has the potential to better predict
performance outcome. For example, EI has been suggested as competencies that may
enable individuals to use emotions advantageously to achieve desired outcomes such as
being related to a major facet of work success and job interview performance (Fox and
Spector, 2000).
Thus, the relevance of EI to the proposed research model lies in the recognition that
individuals can connect their emotions to solve problems and manage stressful tasks
during interviews. Marsella (1994) suggests that stress involves an emotional reaction,
especially a reaction involving the negative emotional states. Therefore, this discussion
provides the avenue for relating the EI variable to interview-related stress.
While few research studies in organizations have identified EI as a growth area of inter-
est, Dulewicz and Higgs (2000b, p. 346) identify that ‘. . . the research which underpins
this (EI variable) is extremely limited, with most of the claims being based on anecdotal
case histories, derivative models and, in most cases, pure rhetoric’. This EI variable has
not been discussed in the accounting discipline and has not been demonstrated empirically
to affect the outcome of the job-search process in the specific context accounting of or in
general. Specifically, there is no study that utilizes EI as a variable to investigate its effect
on the successful outcomes of the job-search processes of accounting-major graduates.
Given its enormous popularity (Ciarrochi et al., 2000), the EI variable may be of potential
relevance in future research on an auditor’s performance and is included in the current
study as an exploratory variable.1
The importance of understanding the determinants of a successful job search outcome
has been accorded greater impetus given the current global downturn in many economies
 Job Offers of Multi-national Accounting Firms 77

where there are increasingly high unemployment rates. The situation is more acute in Asia
where new graduates have to compete hard for job placements. As such, knowledge of the
factors influencing the job-search process will be relevant to the individual in being pre-
pared to enhance successful outcomes. This provides the second motivation for the study.
Therefore, this study is conducted to determine how the objective variables of academic
performance and level of participation in extracurricular activities (ECA), and the subjec-
tive variable of EI influence the successful outcomes at different stages of the recruitment
process that is undertaken involving accounting-major graduates with the multinational
Big 5 public accounting firms.

Model Development and Hypothesis Formulation

The research model for this study, as shown in Figure 1, consists of three stages of the
recruitment process/job search that is undertaken by an accounting-major graduate. The
outcome for each stage is as follows: the number of initial job interviews in the first
stage, the number of subsequent job interviews in the second stage and the number of
final job offers for the third stage. Discussion in this section assumes that the potential
graduates, as candidates for job positions, are aware of the source of information relating
to job vacancies arising from the annual on-campus recruitment talks by the Big 5 public
accounting firms which are the biggest employers of entry-level accounting-major gradu-
ates in Hong Kong.
The three stages in Figure 1 are developed based upon the typical recruitment process
that the recruiting Big 5 firms apply in identifying candidates to fill vacancies in their
respective firms. As reported in the Hong Kong Society of Accountants professional
journal (Chapel, 2001), the Big 5 firms have similar patterns in the recruitment process.
For example, Ernst and Young selects applicants based on their academic results, appli-
cation letter and the content of their resumes. The human resources manager mentions,
‘We look at exam(ination) results, . . . and also their involvement in extra-curricular

Figure 1. The research model. ECA ¼ Extra-Curricular Activities; EI ¼ Emotional Intelligence

78 Y. M. Chia

activities. It’s a plus if they have been involved in many social activities, or have shown
leadership potential by becoming the leader of a club or organization’ (Chapel, 2001,
p. 32). During the initial interview, the recruiting firm is interested in the interviewees’
communication and presentation skills, intellectual competence, attitude, initiative, and
responses to questions. The firm seeks the same types of skill and aptitude in the
second interview. ‘We are more interested in the soft skills, because by that time we
know about their intellectual ability . . . We look at how they communicate and deal
with people. We watch to see how they handle themselves while being interviewed by
one of our partners (Chapel, 2001, p. 33).’
In Hong Kong, the on-campus recruitment of accounting-major graduating students by
Big 5 firms will commence during the first couple of weeks of the new academic semester
in the month of September. Generally, these firms will conduct and complete all initial job
interviews at about the same time, normally within a month of each other. The firms will
hold their subsequent job interviews about a month after their respective initial job inter-
view sessions. Announcement of final job offers will normally be made at either the end of
December of the same recruitment year or the beginning of January in the subsequent year.
Most graduating students who have applied to join the Big 5 firms will await the outcomes
prior to searching for positions with the small and medium CPA firms. It is this unique
setting for the recruitment process of Big 5 firms that enables the design of the research
model for this study.
The first stage in Figure 1 relates to the generation of the number of initial job inter-
views. Initial screening of a potential candidate begins with the submission of relevant
information to the recruiting firm. The information is provided either in the form of a
letter plus resumé or a duly-completed application form. Given the limits placed upon
the number of pages in the letter and resumé by the recruiting firms, most of the application
letters are similar in structure.
Screening and selection of the candidates for the initial job interviews are usually
derived from objectively assessed information or ‘paper credentials’ (Macan and
Dipboye, 1990) such as the level of academic performance and the level of participation
in extracurricular activities. It is assumed at this stage of the recruitment process that the
recruiters do not know and have not seen the candidates. This will also imply that the EI
level of the candidates is not considered by the recruiters at this stage as well.
Support for the adoption of academic performance as a selection criterion is found in
Lewis et al.’s (1983) study which concludes that the candidates’ grade point average is
one of the two most important recruiting aspects, the other being the recruit’s performance
in the job interview. A candidate with better academic performance will tend to generate
more initial job interviews than another candidate who does not perform as well
academically.
While prior research suggests that work experience does not appear to play an important
role in the recruiting decisions made by accounting firms (Pasewark et al., 1988), research
by Lewis et al. (1983) indicates the level of participation in ECA to be important to CPA
firms. Level of participation in ECA denotes potential soft-skill competencies including
leadership skills, organizing skills, interpersonal skills and teamwork. Therefore, the dis-
cussion on this first stage of the recruitment process provides the first hypothesis. To facili-
tate either support or rejection from the results, the main hypothesis is broken down into
three sub-hypotheses as shown below:

Hypothesis 1:
The number of initial job interviews is positively affected by the level of extra-curri-
cular activities and the level of academic performance.
 Job Offers of Multi-national Accounting Firms 79

Hypothesis 1(a):
The number of initial job interviews is positively affected by the level of academic
performance.

Hypothesis 1(b):
The number of initial job interviews is positively affected by the level of participation
in extra-curricular activities.

Hypothesis 1(c):
The number of initial job interviews level is not positively affected by the level of
emotional intelligence.

For the recruiting CPA firm, the initial job interview stage forms an important part of the
recruitment process. During an initial job interview session, it is the interpersonal activity
between the interviewer(s) and interviewee that influences whether or not the interviewee
is selected for a subsequent job interview. The interviewer will be intently screening the
candidates’ responses to their questions, inferring what is really meant, and observing their
reactions. The relatively short interview time of less than an hour increases the urgency of
gathering critical information on the candidates’ past performance, achievements, edu-
cation, strengths, weakness, level of motivation, likes and dislikes.
The academic performance variable will not be important at this stage as the interviewer
is aware of each interviewee’s intellectual ability from the results of initial screening of the
job application form and/or application letter. Similarly, the participation in ECA will not
be important in this stage.
Given the shift in emphasis in this second stage of the recruitment process, it is not the
participation in ECA per se but the experience gained and soft-skills developed that will
be helpful to the candidate in portraying the desirable traits and competencies required by
the recruiting firm. For example, a candidate with a high level of participation in ECA, as
reflected by the level of appointment held in student societies and university organizations,
will have the experience and the ability to better discuss and handle situations that require
the appropriate and desired soft-skill competencies during the initial job interview ses-
sions. As such, the EI variable is assumed to proxy the benefits of participating in ECA
by the candidates in this stage.
The interviewer will utilize a greater portion of the limited interviewing time to gather
exploratory details relating to the non-academic characteristics of the interviewee, includ-
ing the leadership potential as required by the CPA firm (Chapel, 2001). Suggestions by
Goleman (1988) Cooper and Sawaf (1997), and Salovey and Shiyter (1997) also indicate
that EI is essential for effective leadership. Goleman (1988, p. 108) comments that
‘without it (EI), a person can have the best training in the world, an incisive, analytical
mind, and an endless supply of smart ideas, but he still won’t make a great leader.’
This suggestion gives rise to the notion that a person’s level of EI may contribute to the
outcome of the initial job interview.
For the job candidates, they will be doing their best to project the most favourable
impressions while keeping negative information about themselves to a minimum. This
can be stressful for most candidates. In addition, the candidates are likely to find the inter-
views stressful because of concerns relating to the importance of securing final job offers,
financial pressures and rejections (Caplan et al., 1989; Barber et al., 1994).
Interview-related stress causes feelings of uncertainty because of role ambiguity and/or
loss of control. As a result, there will be a decline and diffusion of effort and, hence, a low-
ering of performance outcome (e.g., Beehr, 1985; Van Harrison, 1985; Motowidlo et al.,
80 Y. M. Chia

1986). Furthermore, the amount of interview-related stress that is perceived by candidates

depends upon, among other things, their respective levels of EI. Quy (1999, p. 325)
suggests that ‘emotional intelligence facilitates individual adaptation and change’.
Researchers such as Kavanagh and Bower (1985) and Bandura (1986) find that individuals
with high EI are better at handling problems. As such, in a similar job-interview environ-
ment, a candidate with a high level of EI is likely to perform better at interviews when
compared with another candidate possessing a low level of EI. As observed by
Newsome et al. (2000), individuals with low levels of EI have a tendency to be highly
anxious and neurotic. It is likely that such character traits will aggravate the perception
of interview-related stress level by candidates with low levels of EI.
In this second stage of the recruitment process, the candidate who has secured and
attended more initial job interviews will gain more experience compared with another can-
didate with a lower number of initial job interviews. Experience from more initial job
interviews helps to reduce the level of stress and will likely result in better performance.
In turn, this will translate into more subsequent job interviews. Thus, the discussion leads
to Hypothesis 2, which is broken down into sub-hypotheses as shown for testing:

Hypothesis 2:
The number of subsequent job interviews is positively affected by the number of
initial interviews and the level of emotional intelligence.

Hypothesis 2(a):
The number of subsequent job interviews is positively affected by the level of
emotional intelligence.

Hypothesis 2(b):
The number of subsequent job interviews is positively affected by the number of
initial job interviews.

Hypothesis 2(c):
The number of subsequent job interviews is not positively affected by the level of aca-
demic performance.

Hypothesis 2(d):
The number of subsequent job interviews is not positively affected by the level of
participation in extra-curricular activities.

For the third stage of the recruitment process, the recruiting firms will have different
groups of interviewers to conduct the subsequent job interviews. This approach is intended
to maximize objectivity and fairness in their recruitment process. Again, neither of the
level of academic performance nor ECA participation level of a candidate will be a
consideration.
The interviewers for the subsequent job interviews will be placing much greater atten-
tion on further identifying and evaluating a candidate’s soft-skill competencies as these
factors will affect the suitability of the candidate to perform on the job as well as to
work with potential colleagues. This important role is normally tasked upon the senior
managers or the partners of the CPA firm. Such considerations and arrangement constitute
a major shift from the aim of the initial job interview sessions where the interviewers, who
are normally junior- to middle-level managers, perform only preliminary assessments of
 Job Offers of Multi-national Accounting Firms 81

the candidates’ soft-skill competencies and reflect the information in the interview per-
formance reports of candidates.
The interviewers for the subsequent job interview sessions will also rely and expand on
the information contained in the performance reports written by the interviewers of the
initial job interviews. These performance reports will normally contain initial assessments
of candidates’ personality traits and soft-skill competencies such as those relating to the EI
variable, including interpersonal skills, intrapersonal skills, stress management and think-
ing skills, communication skills; factors that provide indications of the potential suitability
of candidates to work in the firms. This arrangement suggests that the EI level of a candi-
date, as portrayed during the different interviewing stages of the recruitment process, will
influence the decision of the recruiting firm to make the final job offer.
Similarly, candidates who have less experience from participating in a smaller number
of related initial and subsequent job interviews are more likely to view the subsequent job
interviews as more stressful when compared with candidates who have more experience
with a greater number of initial and subsequent job interviews. As commented by
Brasher and Chen (1999, p. 59), ‘. . . presumably, successful job seekers are better able
to cope with the strains associated with search than those who are less successful’.
Again, it can be argued that candidates who experience less stress are likely to perform
better at subsequent job interviews and this will translate into more final job offers.
The above discussion suggests that the success in the generation of the number of final
job offers would be positively affected by the outcomes in both of the initial job interviews
and subsequent job interviews, and the level of EI but not the participation level in ECA
and the academic performance of the candidates.

Hypothesis 3:
The number of final job offers is positively affected by the level of emotional intelli-
gence, the number of initial job interviews and the number of subsequent job
interviews.

Hypothesis 3(a):
The number of final job offers is positively affected by the level of emotional
intelligence.

Hypothesis 3(b):
The number of final job offers is positively affected by the number of initial job
interviews.

Hypothesis 3(c):
The number of final job offers is positively affected by the number of subsequent job
interviews.

Hypothesis 3(d):
The number of final job offers is not positively affected by the level of academic
performance.

Hypothesis 3(e):
The number of final job offers is not positively affected by the level of participation in
extra-curricular activities.
82 Y. M. Chia

Research Design
The study sample consists of 91 Accounting-major graduates of a university. Eighty-three
usable responses are available for analysing resulting in a response rate of 91.21%. The
remaining eight graduates have not signed the release forms, hence their respective infor-
mation is not included in the final analysis. The participants for this study have similar
backgrounds that include at least 12 years of formal education at school, age 21– 22
years upon graduation, meeting the strict university minimum admission requirement
and all being ethnic Chinese. All participants have intended to enter public accounting
upon graduation.
The Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i) instrument was administered by a qualified
clinical psychologist in accordance to the standard instructions and computer-scored by
the test publisher, Multi-Health Systems, Inc. The respondents were all volunteers and
the only incentive for them to participate in this study was the subsidy for the cost of
administration relating to the EQ-i instrument. They had to write their names on the instru-
ment so that they could receive their respective EI reports. Two information sessions were
subsequently conducted to brief them on the interpretation of the scores in their individual
EI reports.
The instrument for measuring emotional intelligence (EI) is the 133-item self-reported
inventory, Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i) developed by Bar-On (1997). The items
are summated to provide an EI Total score. The EI Total score draws upon a broad spec-
trum of EI which covers scores for five composite dimensions of Intrapersonal intelli-
gence, Interpersonal intelligence, Adaptability, Stress management, and General mood.
There are 15 lower-order component scales in these five composite dimensions as reflected
in Appendix 1. The reliability and validity of this EQ-i inventory have been supported in a
study by Dawda and Hart (2000, p.810) who also suggest that ‘ . . . the EQ (EI) Total score
may be a good overall index of emotional intelligence’. The respondents are requested to
specify the degree to which the statement for each item accurately describes them on a 5-
point scale ranging between 1 for ‘very seldom or not true of me’ to 5 for ‘very often true of
me or true of me’.
The scoring for the EQ-i inventory is discussed by Bar-On (1997, p. 39): ‘In order to
facilitate comparison among the respondent’s scores on various scales and comparison
among these scores and the scores of other respondents from the same population, raw
scores are converted to standard scores. EQ-i standard scores are calculated from raw
scores such that each scale and subscale has the same mean (or average) score (100)
and standard deviation (15).’ The individual summary report for each respondent provides
a standard reported score, and about 99% of respondents will be within the range of 55 –
145 of the standardized mean score of 100 (Bar-On, 1997). In the summary report for a
respondent, each reported score for the various items in the EQ-i inventory will be
reflected within a range 50– 150. While a standard score of 100 represents an average
level of emotional functioning, scores of above or below 100 represent above-average
or below-average levels of emotional functioning respectively.
Success in job search includes the simple idea of who has found a job, finding a job
within a set time period (Rosenfeld, 1975), how long it takes to find a job (Dyer, 1973),
proportion level of interviewing success (Pasewark et al., 1988) and job quality based
upon measures such as salary, perceived matching of academic background and current
job (Allen and Keaveny, 1980). The present study adopts the number of final job offers
in Big 5 CPA firms to represent job search success since the respondents do not differen-
tiate among the Big 5 CPA firms. This criterion is based on the assumption that all the
 Job Offers of Multi-national Accounting Firms 83

respondents aim to maximize their job offers ultimately. The study by Steffy et al. (1989)
adopts this criterion as well.
An assumption underlying the adoption of the level of ECA participation in this study is
that a candidate at a higher appointment level is considered to be more involved in orga-
nizing and participating in the activities when compared with another candidate holding a
lower level of appointment. In addition, it is reasonable to argue that the Big 5 CPA firms
generally place considerable weight on leadership activities. At the higher level of
appointment, the candidate will have more opportunities and experiences to develop
and enhance social and inter-personal skills as well as other soft-skill competencies.
Generally most respondents will participate in activities provided under the auspices of
the university. In this way, they can request the ECA testimonials/reports from the Student
Affairs Office to help them in their job search upon graduation. However, it is also recog-
nized that some candidates may partake in external activities which are not coordinated by
the university. As such, respondents in this study are also requested to include partici-
pation level in societies/social clubs that are organized outside of the university’s
support in a questionnaire. Besides containing a one-item question to measure the respon-
dent’s level of participation in ECA, other requested information are personal name,
gender, job interest and the name of society or club where the highest level of appointment
is associated.
The one-item question relating to ECA is an eight-point Likert scale measure of the par-
ticipation level. The Likert-scale ranges from 7 (leadership appointments such as Chair-
person of students’ society or association) to 0 (no participation at all). The breakdown
of points between these two extremes are as follows: 6 – Vice-Chairperson, 5 – Execu-
tive-Committee members, 4 – Organizing Sub-committee Chairperson, 3 – Organizing
Sub-Committee Vice-Chairperson, 2 – Organizing Sub-Committee members, 1 – Partici-
pating members.
Information relating to a respondent’s level of participation in extracurricular activities
has been corroborated with the appropriate agencies and societies inside and outside of the
university. Information on the number of initial- and subsequent job interviews and final
job offers are gathered from the feedbacks provided by the recruiting firms to the Student
Affairs Office.
There are eleven possible grades for academic performance, namely, Aþ, A, A2, Bþ,
B, B2, Cþ, C, C2, D and F. These grades are coded on a scale ranging from 11 (Out-
standing performance) to 1 (Grade F). There is no respondent with a grading below the
‘B2 ’ grade. The confidential information relating to academic performance of the
respondents were requested from the Department providing the programme.

Results and Implications

The five composite dimensions of the EI construct were subjected to factor analysis to
confirm the theoretical grouping (construct validity) for an overall EI measure (Kerlinger,
1964). Consistent with the suggestion of Walsh (1989), a factor loading greater than or
equal to 0.40 is adopted as the cut-off point for assigning the items to the factor in this
study. Other suggestions for possible values of the cut-off point range from 0.30 to 0.50
(Child, 1970; Nunnally, 1978; Norusis, 1988). An eigenvalue of 1.00 or more is the
criterion for the retention of the factor in the factor analysis.
In this study, there is one factor that meets these criteria with each of the five composite
dimensions for the EI construct having an individual factor loading of greater than 0.40.
These five dimensions are loaded into a single factor grouping with an eigenvalue of
2.4952 and accounts for 98.90% of the variance. The Kaiser– Meyer–Olkin measure of
84 Y. M. Chia

sampling adequacy (MSA) (Kaiser and Rice, 1974) for the EI construct is 0.75. This value
is above the acceptable MSA level of 0.50 (Kaiser and Rice, 1974) as required for the test
of appropriateness of the data set for factor analysis and therefore indicating the construct
validity of the EI variable in this study. The internal reliability of the EI variable has a
Cronbach alpha coefficient of 0.81, which is above the acceptable level of 0.60 (Nunnally,
1978). In view of the presence of acceptability of its construct validity and internal
reliability, the overall total score of the EI variable is used for the final regression analyses.
A t-test is performed to test for gender differences on the overall EI measure. There is no
statistically significant difference (t-value ¼ 20.61 at p . 0.5410) between male gradu-
ates and female graduates on this overall EI measure. This outcome is consistent with
the reported results in the study of Bar-On et al. (2000). The descriptive statistics relating
to the variables (unstandardized values) are presented in Tables 1 and 2.
The independent variables in the regression models have been evaluated for multicolli-
nearity by the computation of variance inflation factors. As shown in Tables 3, 4 and 5, the
variance inflation factors of the independent variables in each model are found to be less
than 10, thereby indicating that multicollinearity is not a problem (Neter et al., 1985).
With the exception of the standardized overall EI score, which has been computer-
scored by the test publisher, the raw scores of the other variables in the research model
are standardized to facilitate comparison of their respective predictive powers. The unstan-

Table 1. Descriptive statistics (unstandardized
)

Variables Mean Standard deviation Range

Level of emotional 93.38 8.40 74.00–110.40

intelligence
Academic performance 8.31 1.18 6.00 –11.00
Extra-curricular activities 3.02 2.07 0.00 –7.00
Number of initial job 2.90 1.17 1.00 –5.00
interviews
Number of subsequent 2.39 1.29 0.00 –5.00
job interviews
Number of final job offers 1.30 0.98 0.00 –5.00
Note:
Emotional intelligence score is the standardized score.

Table 2. Correlation analysis of the variables

Variables 1 2 3 4 5 6

1. Emotional 1.0000 0.0258 0.4203
20.0366 0.2768
0.5679

intelligence
2. Academic 1.0000 20.0532 0.6265
0.4826
0.3172

performance
3. Extra-curricular 1.0000 0.2088 0.3866
0.4341

activities
4. Initial job 1.0000 0.7985
0.5894

interviews
5. Subsequent job 1.0000 0.7836

interviews
6. Final job offers 1.0000
Note:
p , 0.0100.
 Job Offers of Multi-national Accounting Firms 85

Table 3. Multiple regression analysis results for initial job interviews

Variance
Standard inflation
Variables Coefficient
error t-value Pr . jTj factor

Intercept 20.5273 1.2666 20.42 0.6783 0.0000

(2.0937)
Academic 0.6411 0.0804 7.98 ,0.0001 1.0057
performance (0.6466)
ECA 0.1820 0.0505 3.60 0.0005 1.2207
(0.3220)
EI 20.0262 0.0124 22.11 0.0378 1.2180
(20.0224)
R 2 ¼ 48.07% F value ¼ 24.37 at p , 0.0001
Note: ECA ¼ Extracurricular activities; EI ¼ Emotional intelligence.


Standardized coefficients are in parentheses.

dardized results of the test of hypotheses are presented in Tables 3, 4 and 5. The standar-
dized coefficients are also reported in the respective tables.
Support for Hypothesis 1 can be seen from the results in Table 3 (R 2 ¼ 48.07%, F
value ¼ 24.37 at p , 0.0001). Similarly, sub-hypotheses 1(a) and 1(b) are supported by
the statistically significant results (at p , 0.0001 and p , 0.0005 respectively) for the
respective academic performance and ECA variables. The results of the tests for sub-
hypotheses 1(a) and 1(b) are not surprising considering the importance placed by the
CPA firms on the graduates’ academic performance and participation level in ECA
when screening these graduates for the initial job interviews. These results are consistent
with the findings of Lewis et al. (1983). The EI variable has a negative coefficient and
hence does not affect initial job interview in any positive way. Thus, the results also
support sub-hypothesis 1(c).2
Support for Hypothesis 2 is shown in the results in Table 4 (R 2 ¼ 74.17%, F
value ¼ 55.98 at p , 0.0001). The statistically significant results for the variables of EI
(t-value ¼ 3.98 and p ¼ 0.0002) and initial job interviews (t-value ¼ 9.96 and
p , 0.0001) provide support for sub-hypotheses 2(a) and 2(b) respectively. Sub-hypoth-
eses 2 (c) and 2(d) are also supported in the light of the insignificant results for the respect-
ive academic performance variable (t-value ¼ 20.21 and p ¼ 0.8316) and the ECA
variable (t-value ¼ 1.61 and p ¼ 0.1117).
Table 5 provides the regression results affecting Hypothesis 3 and its sub-hypotheses.
The significant results support the acceptance of the main Hypothesis 3 (R 2 ¼ 76.76%,
F value ¼ 50.86 at p , 0.0001). Specific support for accepting sub-hypotheses 3(a),
3(b) and 3(c) are also present in the results. The arguments that the academic performance
variable (t-value ¼ 21.50 and p ¼ 0.1389) and the ECA variable (t-value ¼ 20.14 and
p ¼ 0.8917) are not relevant during the third stage of the recruitment process are indicated
by the statistically insignificant results in Table 5, thereby supporting sub-hypotheses 3(d)
and 3(e) respectively.
Overall, the results in this study reinforce the view of Harvey et al. (1997, p. 63) when
they comment: ‘A degree might be necessary or desirable but employers are looking for a
range of other attributes when employing and retaining graduates.’ In addition, the results
add support to the study by Moncada and Sanders (1999) which addresses the perceptions
of those soft-skills that are considered as most important by recruiters in the first- and
second-job interviews for new recruits.
86 Y. M. Chia

Table 4. Multiple regression analysis results for subsequent job interviews

Variance
Standard inflation
Variables Coefficient
error t-value Pr . jTj factor

Intercept 23.9405 0.9940 23.96 0.0002 0.0000

(22.8882)
Academic 20.0181 0.0847 20.21 0.8316 1.8158
performance (20.0165)
ECA 0.0687 0.0427 1.61 0.1117 1.4213
(0.1103)
EI 0.0398 0.0100 3.98 0.0002 1.2869
(0.0309)
Initial job 0.8783 0.0882 9.96 ,0.0001 1.9256
interview (0.7966)
R 2 ¼ 74.17% F value ¼ 55.98 at p , 0.0001
Note: ECA ¼ Extracurricular activities; EI ¼ Emotional intelligence.


Standardized coefficients are in parentheses.

A further analysis of the results in Tables 3, 4 and 5 yields an increasing trend in the
coefficient value for the EI variable at an increasingly statistically significance level. An
implication arising from the results is that recruiters place great emphasis on soft skills
and competencies during the recruitment process. In this aspect, it will be useful for poten-
tial candidates to possess high levels of EI so as to increase their chances of success at
interviews. Enhancement of EI level can be attained through participation in EI-related
training and development courses.

Table 5. Multiple regression analysis results for final job offers

Variance
Standard inflation
Variables Coefficient
error t-value Pr . jTj factor

Intercept 24.4609 0.7961 25.60 ,0.0001 0.0000

(25.0456)
Academic 20.0925 0.0619 21.50 0.1389 1.8168
performance (20.1114)
ECA 20.0043 0.0317 20.14 0.8917 1.4685
(20.0092)
EI 0.0530 0.0080 6.61 ,0.0001 1.5484
(0.0541)
Initial job 0.2469 0.0971 2.54 0.0130 4.3740
interview (0.2948)
Subsequent job 0.3691 0.0827 4.46 ,0.0001 3.8708
interview (0.4858)
R 2 ¼ 76.76% F value ¼ 50.86 at p , 0.0001
Note: ECA ¼ Extrcurricular activities; EI ¼ Emotional intelligence.


Standardized coefficients are in parentheses.
 Job Offers of Multi-national Accounting Firms 87

Discussion and Conclusions

On the whole, the research model is supported. It fits the data and succinctly describes the
relationships among the variables. More importantly, this study identifies the relevance of
EI competencies in enhancing a graduate’s performance at job interviews; competencies
that are seldom emphasized in formal accounting education programme. This study
suggests that EI is associated with positive interview outcomes for individuals. It will
be advantageous for the entry-level graduates to be aware of what recruiters from Big 5
firms are looking for when selecting candidates for subsequent job interviews as well as
providing the final job offers.
Indirectly, the results will be useful for educators to reinforce their awareness of what
the business community deems to be necessary and important credentials for the potential
employees. Technical academic skills become less effective due to the speed of changes in
the global business environment. Universities should be producing graduates with the right
mix of soft-skill competencies and knowledge needed to perform well in the changing
economy. For example, this approach is also needed in Hong Kong as a part of the univer-
sities’ overall response to employers who have reportedly been unimpressed with the
young job seekers because of the latter’s poor people skills and lack of tenacity when
with difficulties (Chow, 2002).
Given the keen competition and high cost of attracting and training junior auditors (Dole
and Schroeder, 2001), human resource managers of the Big 5 firms can also benefit from
the results of this study. They can utilize the EI measure as a pre-screening tool to identify
potential candidates for interviews. This will contribute towards lowering the cost of
recruitment.
This study provides support for the article by Arvey et al. (1998) who advocate the use
of emotions to predict behaviour (e.g., job performance) in the workplace because
emotions and moods may better predict specific behaviour in the short-term. Unlike
other personality traits, emotions require instant attention. As such, they strongly
support the application of measures of emotionality in the prediction of job performance.
Another contribution relates to the possible adoption of Bar-On’s EQ-i instrument for
measuring the EI construct in future research model on desired outcomes. Given the
novelty of variable, the findings in this study may represent an important preliminary
step in discussion and application of the concept of EI in organizational and accounting
research. The results of subsequent studies should provide further validation of the
measuring instrument, which at this juncture has not been empirically applied in account-
ing education research.
In interpreting the findings of this study, certain limitations should be noted. First, the
instrument on EI has not been extensively used in empirical research in the accounting dis-
cipline. This paper provides the empirical evidence to support the potential adoption of the
EI instrument in an Asia-Pacific setting. Additional applications of the instrument in
research of a similar nature will enhance its relevance in culturally different environments.
Furthermore, since the conduct of the study in the year 1999, there has been a proliferation
of other EI inventories, including Dulewicz and Higgs’ EIQ instrument (Dulewicz and
Higgs, 2000a), Mayer et al.’s (1999) Multifactor Emotional Intelligence Scale (MEIS)
and Tapia’s Emotional Intelligence Inventory (Tapia, 2001). A comparative analysis of
the different inventories may extend understanding of their complementary characteristics
for relevant applications in different contexts.
Secondly, the approach as used in this study to gather respondents is not random, hence
the results may not be generalizable to other settings. Similarly, the results of this study
reflect the interviewing activities of only Big 5 firms in a unique recruitment situation
88 Y. M. Chia

in Hong Kong and may not be generalizable to the interviewing activities of other public
accounting firms. Thirdly, since the ECA variable in this study measures mainly leader-
ship potential of the candidates, future research may explore the effects of other aspects
of the variable on recruitment by these Big 5 firms. Finally, future research may benefit
from relating this variable to other personality variables such as locus of control and tol-
erance for ambiguity; variables that have been more thoroughly investigated in the
accounting literature.
In conclusion, this study is unique in that it provides the first empirical evidence of the
association between emotional intelligence and performance at job interviews in account-
ing education in the Asia-Pacific region. The insights from this study contribute to the
understanding of the recruiting process in the Big 5 firms for accounting graduates. The
results of this study may be useful for accounting educators in planning their curricula
more effectively to provide appropriately trained graduates for the accounting profession.
The human resources managers of the Big 5 firms may adopt the EI instrument as a part of
the overall recruitment package to identify such staff more efficiently. The professional
accountancy body can also utilize the information to identify courses to promote the rel-
evance of soft skills for potential accounting professionals.

Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge the kind encouragement of the Editor, the valuable and
helpful suggestions of the anonymous Associate Editor and the constructive comments
of the two anonymous reviewers. I would also like to thank the views provided by
Hing-Wah Lee and Antonio C.P. Wong as well as participants of the Accounting Edu-
cation Group Symposium of the AFAANZ 2003 Conference, Brisbane, Australia.

Notes
1
Despite its popularity, the EI concept is not without criticisms. The more common criticisms include: (a) EI
is a ‘marketing term’ that is not possible to measure (Steiner, 1997); (b) EI is simply a new term for a set of
established competencies (Woodruffe, 2001); and (c) there is no criterion-related validity for EI in the scien-
tific literature (Robertson and Smith, 2001). The issues relating to conceptualization and measurement pro-
blems are further emphasized by Becker (2003). However, Luthans (2002) suggests that the relatively weak
theory development and measures of EI do not preclude its potential applications in areas such as enhancing
personnel performance and for leadership development. Matthews et al. (2003, p. 110) contend that, despite
the absence of a general factor of emotional intelligence, ‘ . . . it may still be useful as a broad umbrella term
for the field of inquiry.’ Their view is supported by Jordan et al. (2003) who argue for the adoption of
emotional intelligence as a variable in organizational research.
2
Besides regression analysis being done using the overall EI variable, further analyses have been performed
by having the respective dependent variables of initial job interviews, subsequent job interviews and final
job-offers, being separately regressed against the five individual composite dimensions of the EI variable.
The multiple regression results for the individual dimensions are as shown in Tables A–C in the Appendix.
Generally, the coefficient results are not statistically significant (at p , 0.0100) for the respective individual
dimensions. These examples show that extended exploratory analyses may be interesting in enabling which
dimensions may have identification of greater predictive powers than other dimensions on the different
stages of the recruitment process in Big 5 firms.

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 Job Offers of Multi-national Accounting Firms 91

Appendix. Emotional quotient inventory: composite scales and respective

lower-order component scales

Composite scales/subscales Description of subscale: ‘Able to . . .’

EQ-i total
Intrapersonal
Emotional self-awareness Know and understand one’s own feelings
Assertiveness Express feelings, thoughts and beliefs, and defend own rights in
a nondestructive manner
Self-regard Accept and respect oneself
Self-actualization Realize one’s potential
Independence Be self-reliant and independent in one’s thinking and actions
Interpersonal
Empathy Be conscious of and able to appreciate the feelings of others
Interpersonal relationship Establish and maintain mutually satisfying relationships
Social responsibility Cooperate, contribute, and be a constructive member of one’s
social group
Adaptation
Problem solving See and define problems as well as to create and implement
potentially effective solutions
Reality testing Assess the relationship between objective reality and subjective
feelings
Flexibility Adjust one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviour to changing
situations and conditions
Stress management
Stress tolerance Endure adverse events and stressful situations without ‘falling
apart’
Impulse control Resist or delay impulses and delay drives and temptations to act
General mood
Happiness Feel satisfied with one’s life, to enjoy the company of others,
and to derive pleasure from life
Optimism Look at the brighter side of life and to maintain a positive
attitude, even in the face of adversity


Description of lower-order component scales are extracted from Bar-On (1997, pp. 44 –47).
92 Y. M. Chia

Table A. Multiple regression analysis results for initial job interviews (with individual dimensions of
EI)

Variables Coefficient Standard error t-value Pr .jTj VIF

Intercept 0.2723 1.3467 0.20 0.8403 0.0000
Academic 0.6290 0.0860 7.31 ,0.0001 1.1631
performance
ECA 0.1734 0.0524 3.31 0.0014 1.3271
EI dimensions
Intrapersonal 0.0093 0.0136 0.68 0.4990 2.3033
intelligence
Interpersonal 20.0212 0.0126 21.67 0.0985 2.0212
intelligence
Stress 20.0085 0.0097 20.87 0.3846 1.6786
management
General mood 0.0109 0.0127 0.86 0.3941 2.6224
Adaptability 20.0238 0.0148 21.61 0.1117 2.2062
R 2 ¼ 51.15% F value ¼ 11.22 at p , 0.0001
VIF ¼ Variance inflation factor; ECA ¼ Extracurricular activities; EI ¼ Emotional intelligence.

Table B. Multiple regression analysis results for subsequent job interviews (with individual dimen-
sions of EI)

Variables Coefficient Standard error t-value Pr . jTj VIF

Intercept 23.6049 1.0177 23.54 0.0007 0.0000
Academic 0.0254 0.0851 0.30 0.7663 1.9920
performance
ECA 0.0543 0.0424 1.28 0.2043 1.5210
Initial job 0.8231 0.0872 9.43 ,0.0001 2.0473
interviews
EI dimensions
Intrapersonal 0.0278 0.0103 2.70 0.0087 2.3175
intelligence
Interpersonal 0.0019 0.0097 0.19 0.8500 2.0967
intelligence
Stress 20.0035 0.0074 20.47 0.6413 1.6957
management
General mood 0.0187 0.0097 1.93 0.0570 2.6481
Adaptability 20.0093 0.0114 20.82 0.4146 2.2824
R 2 ¼ 77.45% F value ¼ 31.76 at p , 0.0001
VIF ¼ Variance inflation factor; ECA ¼ Extracurricular activities; EI ¼ Emotional intelligence.
 Job Offers of Multi-national Accounting Firms 93

Table C. Multiple regression analysis results for final job offers (with Individual Dimensions of EI)

Variables Coefficient Standard error t-value Pr . jTj VIF

Intercept 24.4893 0.8543 25.25 ,0.0001 0.0000
Academic 20.0969 0.0661 21.47 0.1467 1.9944
performance
ECA 20.0027 0.0331 20.08 0.9353 1.5547
Initial job 0.2584 0.1005 2.57 0.0122 4.5100
interviews
Subsequent job 0.3465 0.0902 3.84 0.0003 4.4340
interviews
EI Dimensions
Intrapersonal 0.0184 0.0084 2.19 0.0319 2.5453
intelligence
Interpersonal 0.0737 0.0076 0.98 0.3324 2.0977
intelligence
Stress 0.0082 0.0057 1.44 0.1542 1.7008
management
General mood 0.0091 0.0077 1.18 0.2419 2.7820
Adaptability 0.0107 0.0089 1.21 0.2318 2.3032
R 2 ¼ 77.12% F value ¼ 27.34 at p , 0.0001
VIF ¼ Variance inflation factor; ECA ¼ Extracurricular activities; EI ¼ Emotional intelligence.