Academy of Educational Leadership Journal Volume 22, Issue 1, 2018

A GAP ANALYSIS
st OF BUSINESS STUDENTS’ SKILLS
IN THE 21 CENTURY: A CASE STUDY OF QATAR

Khaled Alshare, Qatar University

Maysoon F Sewailem, Qatar University
st

ABSTRACT

The main purpose of this study is to explore any existing gap between business students’
skills/competences provided by college of businesses and the needs of the current job market.
The study examines twenty important employability skills needed for the 21 century workforce
and global economy from the perspective of both employers and business educators. The
participants responded
st
to a survey that dealt with twenty important skills identified by experts
and drawn from the literature. The results indicated that a gap does exist between business
students’ skills/competences and the needed skills/competences in the job market. Moreover,
employers and business educators differ on the relative importance of these skills. While
employers emphasize the importance of the soft skills, business educators emphasize the
importance of the hard skills. The results of this study are important for both business educators
and employers in bridging the skills gap.

Keywords: 21 Century Skills, Business Educators, Employers, Skills Gap, Qatar.

st

INTRODUCTION

Today’s global economy demands highly educated citizens who possess many necessary skills such as
critical thinking, adaptability andst communication (Velez, 2012). This demand is affected by several
trends and challenges, such as the development of information and communication
technologies (ICT), automation, globalization changes, workplace change and the increased expectations
of employers. In other words, employees capable of expert thinking and advanced communication
skills are in great demand (Jerald, 2009). ICT and innovation continue to develop as time passes, making
st
the workplace more complex and challenging. Therefore, it is increasingly critical for students to learn
these 21 century skills so that they can quickly adapt to the new business environment and ensure
success in the current highly competitive workplace. Twenty-first century skills include knowledge,
skills, work habits and character traits that are critically important to success in today’s world.
Stakeholders such as educators, college professors and employers believe that these skills are
essential and will be applicable throughout student's life, whether in an educational, career or civic
setting (The Glossary of Education Reform, 2016). Embedding 21 century skills into educational
systems becomes necessary, to update the education system and to increase students’ critical
thinking skills, foster their creative drive, stimulate innovative thinking and generate new
implementable ideas that are vital if a nation is to succeed in the long-run (Ruppert, 2010).
Therefore, the priority now is to equip and prepare students for the challenging workplace.
Businesses graduates who have an edge in 21 century skills and competencies will alone be
successful in today’s competitive world. Cleary, Flynn & Thomasson (2006) define employability
skills generally as follows: Basic/fundamental skills (technical and knowledge of the task);
Conceptual/thinking skills (planning, collecting and

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organizing information, problem-solving); Business skills (innovation and enterprise);

community skills (civic and citizenship knowledge); People-related skills (interpersonal qualities
such as communication and team work); Personal skills (attributes such as being responsible,
resourceful and self-confident). In the workplace, soft skills, such as people-related skills and
personal skills are considered to complement hard skills, which refer to technical knowledge and
occupational skills. While soft skills, such as etiquette, getting along with others, listening and
engaging in small talk are intangible and hard to quantify. Hard skills are teachable abilities that
can be defined and measured, for example, typing, writing, reading and the ability to use
software programs. Accounting and financial modelling are the most common hard skills in the
business field (Investopedia, 2017).
The main distinction between hard skills and soft skills is that hard skills are context
specific, while soft skills, in general, are transferable across job types and employment levels and
they are not job-specific. Another difference between the two set of skills is that hard skills, in
general, are easy to learn through training and education, whereas the soft skills are harder to be
taught and thus, they mainly grow through experience in a collaborative business environment.
Additionally, graduates with well-developed soft skills will find better opportunities in the
workplaces (Wikle & Fagin, 2014; Tsitskaria et al., 2016). As reported by Rao (2014) “people
rise in organizations because of hard skills and fall due to dearth of soft skills.” The hard skills
are the core skills, domain skills and technical skills, while the soft skills, which complement the
hard skills, are people skills, life skills and interpersonal skills. Moreover, while hard skills
account for about 15 percent of the reason an individual gets a job, keeps the job and advances in
that job, the soft skills account for the remaining 85 percent of job success (Rao, 2014).
Skill gaps are defined as insufficient or not adequate skill levels among workers to meet
the requirements of their current job (McGuinness & Ortiz, 2016). The American Society for
Training and Development (ASTD) defines a skills gap as a significant gap between an
organization’s current capabilities and the skills it needs to achieve its goals (Singh & Sharma,
2014). Skills gaps have the potential to harm a firm’s productivity level, inflate average labour
costs, given that organizations require more workers per unit of output and thus consequently to
adversely impact a firm’s profitability level (McGuinness & Ortiz, 2016). The literature on the
skills gap tends to identify three broad reasons for its occurrence globally: 1). Shortcomings in
the academic system that fails to train new graduates with basic interpersonal and ICT skills that
prepare them to quickly adapt to a work environment (Wilkerson, 2012; Rosenberg, Heimler &
Morote, 2012; Rosenberg, Heimler & Morote, 2012; Hobson et al., 2014; Bedwell, Salas &
Eduardo, 2014); 2). Rapid and constant technological change (Oslon, 2015); and 3). Dwindling
apprenticeship or training opportunities in industries that would have enabled new and existing
employees to expand and absorb industry-specific skills (Oslon, 2015; Berchem, 2015). In their
study, Wikle & Faginthe (2014) found that employers and educators differed in rating of the
importance of some of the skills needed by graduates such as data capture skills, project
management and written/verbal skills. Malik & Venkatraman, (2017) reported that employers
who visit universities for recruitments indicated that students do not have the essential skills
needed for the job market. Moreover, prior studies, for example, Strebler (1997) reported that
educators perceive soft skills as being less important, compared to hard skills, in finding a job. On
the other hand, Crebert et al., (2004) found that employers put more value on the soft skills such
as teamwork. In another study conducted by Patacsil & Tablatin (2017) reported that there was
no significant difference in the perception of employers and students in terms of the importance
of the soft skills. However, the two groups significantly differ on the importance of the hard
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skills. While students perceived hard skills as very important, employers perceived them as

somewhat important. The literature may differ on whether it is the industry or the academia or a
lack of collaboration between them that causes the skills gap (e.g. perception differences). To
narrow the skills, gap the literature also recommends a morest teamwork oriented active learning
environment as well as integrating education with work experience/apprenticeship programs
(Martz, Hughes & Braun 2017).

Twenty dimensions of employability skills for the 21 century workplace were identified
from extensive research and the opinions of several stakeholders. These skills are critical
thinking/problem solving, creativity/innovation, collaboration/teamwork, communications (oral
& written), professionalism, leadership, information technology, interpersonal skills, technical
skills, flexibility/adaptability, multicultural awareness, work ethic, planning and organizing,
voluntarism, analytic thinking, social responsibility, dealing with real world problems,
knowledge, creativity/innovation, global business and decision making. Educational institutions
teach students by providing them with curriculum-related theoretical and content knowledge.
However, the Ernst & Young Report 2015 found that three-quarters of employers in the Gulf
st
Cooperation Council (GCC), including Qatar, feel that the education system does not equip
st
students with the necessary skills to succeed. In addition, the Arab News report (2013) under the
headline "Saudi Kingdom, UAE and Qatar face skills gap warning” stated that, although Qatar is
st
recognized as one of the most competitive economies in the Arab World, it is still faced with a
severe skills gap that hinders its economic development. More specifically, the report notes that
graduates leave universities short of the skills that employers are seeking, such as critical thinking
as well as written and oral communication. It is believed that this skills gap will continue while
the education systems and the needs of 21 century employers remain disconnected. Therefore, it
is imperative for business
st
colleges to show leadership in enhancing the positive relationship
between the skills learned by their students and the requirements of stthe 21 century workforce.
This study is intended to help administrators and business educators to improve their best
practices for integrating career preparation and requirements into the curriculum of business
programs. The main purpose of this study is to explore and determine to what extent 21 century
skills are being incorporated into the learning process and practices of the colleges of business.
In other words, how far do its curricula incorporate the requirements of employers? This can help
to determine if there is a skills gap and if so how well the curricula of the colleges of business is
aligned with the needs of employers. To this end, the study was directed by the following
research questions:
 1 . What are the most important skills from the employers and business educators’ perspectives that students
need to tackle the 21 century global economy?

2 . Is there a gap between the skills learned in the college of business and the skills required by employers?

3 . Do business educators and employers agree on the skills required in the 21 century?

4 . Are business educators satisfied with the skills taught in their curriculum?

5 . Are employers satisfied with the performance of business graduates?

6 . Do demographic variables (gender, academic rank) influence business educators’ responses?

7 . Do demographic variables (gender and the company’s sector) influence employers’ responses?

The rest of the study is organized as follows: Section one provides an overview of the
literature related to this study. Section two presents the conceptual framework and hypotheses.
Section three describes the methodology, which includes sampling, the research design,
subjects, survey instruments and methods of data collection and analysis. Section four presents
the data analysis. Section five presents the findings and results. Section six reports the

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conclusion drawn from the findings and offers some recommendations. Finally, section seven

highlights some limitations of the study and suggestions directions for further research.

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LITERATURE REVIEW

Twenty-First Century Workforce Readiness Skills

The 21 century has experienced the highest level of globalization. The development and
growth of critical competitive competencies have contributed to elevated levels of competition,
especially among the workforce. Global organizations have also increased the levelst of their
scrutiny of the skills that they demand from employees. In addition to diverse technical skills and
substantial experience, employees are also required to have soft skills (Hurrell, 2016). In fact, on
top of being creative individuals, professionals in most fields are also expected to possess strong
interpersonal skills (Kleckner & Marshall, 2014). In addition to a good grasp and application of
technical skills, employees should be ready to work with colleagues from diverse backgrounds.
Based on an extensive review of the literature and the feedback from both employers and business
educators, a list of critical skills that business graduates need as members of the 21 century
workforce and global economy is identified. These skills are classified into two main groups:
Soft skills and hard skills. The soft skills include: 1). People-related skills, which include
interpersonal skills, communication and collaboration/teamwork; 2). personal skills, which
contain adaptability and flexibility, leadership, professionalism, work ethics, voluntarism and
social responsibility. The hard skills consists of three sub-groups: 1). Basic/fundamental skills,
which include technical skills and knowledge in specialized area; 2). conceptual/thinking skills,
which include critical thinking/problem solving, analytical thinking, planning and organizing,
decision making and IT related skills; 3). business skills which comprise dealing with dealing
with real world problems, creative thinking (innovation), global business and multicultural
awareness.

Soft Skills

People-Related Skills
An individual with effective people related skills such as interpersonal skills,
communication and collaboration/teamwork can add value to the organization (Wu, Turban &
Cheung, 2012).

Interpersonal Skills

Personal and professional interaction is an inexorable aspect of employment; hence the

need for employees to possess exceptional interpersonal skills. Interpersonal skills contribute to
the way that individuals interact with those around them. Good interpersonal skills contribute to
individuals being viewed in a positive light, due to their possession of qualities such as optimism,
charisma, willingness to help others and confidence (Ward, Bochner, & Furnham, 2005).
According to Robles (2012), interpersonal skills, also called 'people skills' are considered to be
the most important at all levels of the organization. These skills form the foundation for good
office interaction and communication, positive attitudes, leadership, teamwork and customer
service. Interpersonal skills are not only necessary within the organization but are also imperative
for promoting good relations with the organization’s stakeholders.

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Communications (Oral & Written)

Effective communication skills are imperative for ensuring that an individual can clearly
and accurately convey information and ideas to a range of audiences (Chan, 2011). Effective
communication also promotes working relationships and interaction. Further, communication
skills are useful in identifying the best modes of communication to use for varying scenarios and
varying audiences and the approach to take when passing various kinds of information. Oral
communication skills are considered imperative because they enhance interaction and
communication in the workplace and they are useful in dealing with customer queries and
complaints, making oral presentations, explaining and negotiating, persuading and discussing
important matters in the organization (Chan, 2011). Written communication skills ensure
efficiency in such forms of correspondence as emails, reports and letter writing, among others.
Therefore, most recruiters focus on communication skills when they are hiring employees
(Deepa & Seth, 2013). Business colleges recognized the importance of such skills and
incorporated them in their curricula as one of their learning outcomes.

Collaboration/Teamwork
st

The ability to work with others is a very valuable skill, given the increasing need for
collaboration in the modern workplace. According to Yang, Lee & Cheng (2016), teamwork and
collaboration are a pre- requisite for hiring new employees. For an organization to achieve its
objectives, employees must work together, with each contributing skills, expertise, ideas and
experiences in achieving mutual goals (Matthews & Mclees, 2015). Furthermore, 21 century
organizations rely more than before on teamwork, given its ability to promote communication,
collaboration, innovation and exceptional performance (Maruping & Magni, 2015). University
graduates should be given the opportunity to work in teams in order to prepare them for the work
environment.

Personal Skills

Personal skills describe the person traits such as the ability to adapt new work
environment, demonstrate leadership capability, show professionalism and work ethics,
voluntarism and social responsibility. These skills/competences are discussed in the following
paragraphs.

Adaptability/Flexibility

Organizations increasingly seek individuals who are flexible in terms of what they can
offer the organization and who can easily acclimatize to different situations. Flexibility as a
skill means that employees are not rigid in terms of the duties they can perform and that they
can perform exceptionally in any organizational setting (MacDuffie, 1995). According to
Bedwell, Salas & Eduardo (2014), employees should be flexible so that they can adapt to ever-
changing systems at the workplace. Adaptability is highly desirable because it ensures that the
business can easily transit through change phases.

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Leadership

Leadership skills are so highly regarded in modern organizations that employees at all
levels should be capable of undertaking leadership roles in all the aspects of the business they
encounter. This includes team leadership to ensure the mobilization of resources and the steering
of teams to achieve set objectives (Sohmen, 2013). Employers seek individuals who exude
exceptional leadership qualities, including intelligence, effective communication, integrity,
creativity, adaptability, confidence, collaboration, self- determinism, empowerment skills, team
building, proactiveness, negotiation, conflict resolution and resource management skills
(Sohmen, 2013; Kunnanatt, 2004).

Professionalism

Professionalism is a process of attaining and maintaining a proficient status through the

development of a trustworthy and worthwhile approach among a group of people (Evetts, 2014).
Professionalism is mainly required for extremely responsible occupations (e.g. auditing,
consultancy, technology, human capital, investment management and social care work). These
occupations seek recognition for the significance of their work often by calling for qualifications,
learning and training for standardized practice among new entrants. Many organizations have
included professionalism as a criterion in their hiring process to achieve their objectives, realize
their mission and motivate employees.

Work Ethics

Ethics refers to models of human behavior, norms and choice applied during the decision-
making process or performing of a task. Ethics plays a key role in the development of a sound
work culture and sets the required standards for a working culture in organizations. Ethics helps
the decision-making process where the decision maker must ponder the responsibility and moral
angles during the decision-making process, thus an ethnically based decision seems to be more
reliable than any other (Ferrell, Fraedrich & Ferrell, 2011). It is not unusual to find that many
business colleges include work ethics as one of their learning outcomes.

Voluntarism

Volunteering concerns activities to get involved in through participation, to support others

and to build trust between people in a network (Grese, Kaplan, Ryan & Buxton, 2000).
Volunteerism builds confidence in the volunteers through the existence of a social context and
thus better decisions can be taken and activities can be successfully performed with least effort.
Volunteerism raises the level of motivation for the volunteers, as well as other members of a
society who benefit from the volunteered acts. The desire to volunteer helps to develop better
recognition among the society and it also brings long-term survival and success to individuals
(Andronic & Andronic, 2011).

Social Responsibility

Social responsibility obliges decision makers to consider the possible effects of their
decisions on society rather than considering only their own benefits or gains at the cost or loss of
others (Friedman, 2007). A sense of social responsibility supports decision makers in deciding the

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best action to take; they can consider alternative and avoiding or minimizing negative effects on

society (Armstrong, 1977). Social responsibility skills bring long-term advantages to the
organization, such as high sales turnover, customer loyalty and low employee turnover
(Giannarakis, Litinas & Theotokas, 2009).

Hard Skills

Basic/Fundamental skills

Technical Skills: Technical skills are the skills that are acquired through professional
knowledge, practice and experience at the learning and development stage. These skills help tasks
to be performed better, with higher proficiency, in greater safety and more reliably (Rajesh & Ara
Darzi, 2006). These skills allow employees to understand how the various parts of the
organization work together (Messum, Wilkes & Jackson, 2015). Therefore, employees should
learn as many technical skills as possible to understand the different parameters of their
organization. Technical skills contribute to the prompt tackling by an organization ’s programming
gurus of challenges such as Internet and cyber security threats from hackers. Moreover, technical
skills place individuals at an advantage over competitors in the job market (Bedwell, Salas &
Eduardo, 2014).

Knowledge in the Specialized Area

According to Boystzis (1982), knowledge in a specialized area refers to expertise in terms

of a conceptual framework, models and theoretical knowledge, which are converted to usable
information. Models of performance are integrated with specialized knowledge so that it can be
used to improve performance. The results of numerous studies of job performance show that
specialized knowledge is mostly related to the management of performance. There is no doubt
that business colleges have been providing their students with the necessary knowledge in their
specialized fields.

Conceptual/Thinking Skills

Critical Thinking/Problem Solving

Critical thinking and problem solving skills are the abilities that are commonly applied in
everyday decision-making and the resolution of issues. Critical thinking is an intellectually based
process for actively and skilfully hypothesizing, examining, applying and synthesizing collected
data or information (Snyder & Snyder, 2008). Critical thinking refers to the ability to come up
with viable solutions for common as well as complex ideas through an elevated level of
comprehension, thinking, learning, analysis, synthesis, rational reasoning and decision-making
(Weaver & Kulesza, 2014). Employers are increasingly demanding problem solving or critical
thinking skills as a prerequisite for employment (Weaver & Kulesza, 2014). The elevated level of
complexity in the modern business world calls for individuals to be able to apply suitable skills
and knowledge for approaching novel and unusual business scenarios. To do this, students must
have problem solving and critical thinking skills instilled in them.

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Analytic Thinking

Analytical thinking is a capacity, which contributes to the prompt generation of solutions

for both the short- and long-term challenges facing an organization. Therefore, organizations want
to hire new employees who by thinking analytically can place them at a competitive advantage
against other industry players. Further, employees who possess and use their analytic thinking in
assigned tasks can contribute to the higher benchmarking of a corporation against other players
in the field (Brown, 2006). Most of the decisions in the organization require information, which
derives from an analysis of situations and challenges.

Planning and Organizing

Planning is the process of listing and mapping a future task, while organizing is the
process of allocating and controlling resources of the planned tasks. Planning and organizing
both contribute to the prompt and effective execution of assigned tasks for employees (Olusanya,
Awotungase & Ohadebere, 2012). People and organizations can attain better success and results
through effectively planning and organizing their tasks to reduce the consumption of resources
such as time and materials.

Decision-Making

The decision-making process affects everyone as a matter of routine. Research has shown
that cognitive and behaviourist approaches lead to better decision-making skills, which can be
developed through learning and development (Kutty, Shee & Pathak, 2007). According to Wood
& Bandura (1989), decision-making skills bring stability to an organization enhancing the
environment of control and self-governance needed for the decision-making process.

Information Technology

Contemporary organizations depend on technological efficiency and innovation; hence

the increasing demand for candidates who are familiar with information technology applications.
Employers are likely to prefer candidates who have taken additional information technology
related courses, as well as their basic degree courses (Conrad & Newberry, 2011). Most
organizational processes are now automated and rely on specific technology skills to operate.
Chatterjee et al. (2015) note that to succeed in today's world, candidates should have armed
themselves with adequate knowledge of current computer applications.
Business Skills

Dealing With Real World Problems

Real world problems are recurring practical issues such as the uncertainty, complexity and
risk management that people regularly face. These issues are critical to people’s performance and
work life; they can face them only if they have prior learning or guidance in dealing with them.
A constructive learning approach based on a fast-driven curriculum and practical prototype
exercises using adequate handling can help to face future practical problems (Gordon, 1998).
According to Wood, Bruner & Ross (1976), higher-level problem solving skills can be
developed through a hierarchical learning approach in which a variety of skills works together.

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With this approach, candidates are given different tasks related to real-world scenarios to

exercise their problem-solving approach. Students at business colleges are exposed to real world
problems through discussing case studies and participating in internship programs where
students spend time in a real business environment.

Creative Thinking/Innovation

Creative thinking refers to set of rational actions applied by a person while keeping in
view some specific item, situation and state; in other words, we can define it as people’s efforts to
deal with non-routine issues in a unique, imaginary and proactive way (Birgili, 2015). The
rapidly evolving business environment has led to increased use of innovation as a differentiator
and source of competitive advantage (Lee & Benza, 2015). All employees must nowadays be
actively involved in resolving current issues in the business environment and contribute towards
business growth by their lively ideas (Sripirabaa & Maheswari, 2015). Creativity and innovation
have thereby become critical skills for job seekers to possess. Employers seek candidates who
will provide value for their organizations through creative and innovative ideas. The process of
innovation calls for students to possess creative thinking skills, open-mindedness and creativity
(Lee & Benza, 2015; Sripirabaa & Maheswari, 2015).

Global Business

Awareness of global business is needed because international firms are exposed to many
more challenges and risks than local businesses are. Therefore, a dynamic learning environment
is required to develop international business skills and professionalism for employees in complex
international economies. According to Ananthram & Nankervis (2014), global business requires
sets of skills for mounting efficient and active operations in today's complex universal business
atmosphere. A business curriculum should be designed in a way that satisfies the requirements of
international business skills so that the candidates meet the challenges of the global business
environment (Ortiz, 2004). As a response to this challenge, business accreditation agencies
demand that business colleges include in their learning outcomes the global business issues.

Multicultural awareness

Increasing globalization has meant that modern workplaces are highly diverse, requiring
employees to be multicultural sensitive, able to work with people from diverse backgrounds
(McAllister & Irvine, 2000). Furthermore, global business means that employees are likely to
interact with people of varied cultural backgrounds employed elsewhere. Thus, individuals who
understand the culture, beliefs, behaviors and business practices of diverse cultural groups and
nationalities are likely to interact more effectively. Multicultural awareness ensures that an
individual can interact, communicate and negotiate with people from diverse cultural
backgrounds, while maintaining professionalism and good relations. Deepa & Seth (2013) note
that the demand for employees with multicultural awareness is expected to grow exponentially in
current workplaces as the level of globalization accelerates and workplace diversity begins to
prevail at all levels. An organization whose employees are aware of unfamiliar cultural
parameters is likely to create and uphold good business relationships. Institutions of higher
learning need to create curricula that foster the appreciation of cultural diversity (Yee et al,
2015).

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Based on the previous sections and the purpose of the study, the following hypotheses are

proposed: st st

st
H1: There is a significant difference between business educators’ satisfaction with their curricula coverage
of the 21 century skills and the employers’ perceptions of the importance of the 21 century skills.
st st

H2: There is a significant difference between business educators and employers’ perceptions of the
importance of the skills needed for the 21 century
st workforce.

H3: There is a significant difference between business educators’ satisfaction with their curricula c overage
of the 21 century skills and their perceptions of the importance of the 21 century skills.

H4: There is a significant difference between the employers’ satisfaction with business graduates skills and
their perceptions of the importance of the 21 century skills.

H5: Gender influences business educators’ responses.

H6: Academic ranks influence business educators’ responses.

H7: Gender influences employers’ responses.

H8: Employment sectors influence employers’ responses.

METHODOLOGY

Sampling st

The target population for this study consists of business educators from all departments in
the College of Business and Economics at Qatar University and employers from the private,
government and semi government sectors in Qatar. The employers' survey was sent online by
email to about 140 employers in different sectors in Qatar; only 60 responses were collected. The
faculty survey was sent also by email to 110 instructors and only 49 responses were collected.

Study Instruments

Two surveys (one for business educators and one for employers) were compiled based on
the literature review (Baird, 2016; and Duvall, 2016). Employers’ and business educators’
feedback was also considered, in order to identify the essential skills for the 21 century
workforce. As a result, a list of the 20 skills that were most important for today's business
students to possess was created. Then, the first drafts of the surveys were prepared. The
instrument used for data collection was a structured questionnaire with close ended questions.
Reactions to statements on all skills were to be chosen on a 5-point Likert-type scale (ranging
from 5-very important/strongly satisfied to 1-not important/strongly not satisfied). The surveys
were translated using the back-translation method. A linguistic specialist conducted the
translation (from English to Arabic and vice versa). Then the two versions were compared and
any discrepancies were resolved, to ensure consistency between the Arabic and English versions.
The survey instruments were validated by a pilot test to ensure that all the questions were
understandable and clear to the respondents. Their feedback and comments were noted and used
to develop a revised survey. The links to these online questionnaires surveys were sent and
distributed to individuals using emails and WhatsApp to widen the publication, especially for

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employers.

Statistical Procedure

The collected data were examined and analysed with descriptive statistics, using SPSS
software. The mean, frequencies and standard deviation for all factors (skills) were calculated.
The proposed hypotheses were tested using independent T test and paired sample T test. In
addition, ANOVA was used to determine whether the demographic variables had influenced the
participants’ responses.

Data Analysis

Descriptive statistics

A sample of 60 employers and 49 instructors are considered in this study. More than half
of the sample were male (58%). Thirty-eight percent of the participants were from the private
sector and 37 percent from the semi-government sector. The reset of the respondents were from the
government sector. Most employers (43%), whether they were managers, heads or supervisors
had worked in the same company from one to five years. Approximately, 27% worked for more
than 11 years in the same company.
With respect to the business educators’ sample, 78% were males. About 53% of the
business educators taught undergraduate students only and approximately 47% of the instructors
taught both undergraduate and graduate students. Forty-seven of instructors were associate
professors. Eighteen percent were assistant and others and 16 were professors. Thirty-nine
percent of the instructors have taught in the same college for 6 to 9 years.
Business educators ranked the twenty employability skills according to their importance
from their own perspective, from greatest importance to least importance as shown in Table 1.
Among the hard skills, critical thinking/problem solving and dealing with real world problems
skills were reported as the most important skills. On the other hand, work ethics and
interpersonal skills were rated as the most important soft skills. Instructors see that these skills as
very important in enabling business students in today's competitive labour market. Business
educators, however, ranked voluntarism as the least important skill. It should be noted that
instructors rated all the twenty skills as important to very important.
When instructors were asked to rate their satisfaction with the coverage of these skills in
their curricula, they were most satisfied with the following hard skills: Knowledge required in
specialized area and decision-making. Among the soft skills, the instructors were most satisfied
with interpersonal skills and collaboration/teamwork as shown in Table 2. However, they
believed that their curricula did not provide enough coverage of creative thinking/innovation and
critical thinking/problem solving skills, which are very important skills for today's challenging
workplace.
 When instructors were asked to rate their satisfaction with the coverage of these skills in
their curricula, they were most satisfied with the following hard skills: Knowledge required in
specialized area and decision-making. Among the soft skills, the instructors were most satisfied
with interpersonal skills and collaboration/teamwork as shown in Table 2. However, they
believed that their curricula did not provide enough coverage of creative thinking/innovation and
critical thinking/problem solving skills, which are very important skills for today's challenging
workplace.

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On the other hand, employers in the Qatari employment market ranked the skills that in

their opinion employees should possess in order of their importance, as indicated in Table 3 from
greatest to least importance were work ethics, communication and adaptability/flexibility, which
are belong to soft skills category. This means that employers need employees who have
principled work ethics and can communicate probably with their co-workers in several ways. In
addition, they want employees who are adaptable and flexible, ready for any changes in the
environment at the workplace.

Table 1

SKILLS RANKING ORDER BUSINESS EDUCATORS PERCEPTION OF

Skill Mean Std. Dev.
1) Critical Thinking/Problem-solving 4.71 0.500
2) Dealing with “real world” problems 4.71 0.540
3) Knowledge required in their specialized area 4.69 0.619
4) Work Ethics 4.69 0.624
5) Analytical Thinking 4.61 0.533
6) Technical Skills 4.55 0.679
7) Interpersonal Skills 4.53 0.710
8) Creative Thinking/Innovation 4.53 0.767
9) Adaptability & Flexibility 4.47 0.680
10) Collaboration/Teamwork 4.47 0.649
11) Information Technology 4.45 0.679
12) Communication Skills 4.43 0.866
13) Decision Making 4.43 0.707
14) Planning & Organizing 4.35 0.751
15) Social responsibility 4.33 0.826
16) Global Business 4.29 0.890
17) Leadership 4.20 0.735
18) Multicultural Awareness 4.10 0.770
19) Professionalism 4.00 0.890
20) Voluntarism 3.94 0.899

Table 2

SKILLS RANKING ORDER BUSINESS EDUCATORS’SATISFACTION WITH

Skill Mean Std. Deviation
1. Knowledge required in their specialized area 3.78 0.848

3. Interpersonal skills 3.59 0.888

4. Decision Making 3.59 0.814

6. Communication 3.49 0.794

7. Information Technology 3.41 0.888
8. Social Responsibility 3.39 1.017
9. Adaptability & Flexibility 3.37 0.859
10. Technical Skills 3.37 0.972
11. Dealing with “real world” problems 3.35 0.969
12. Work Ethics 3.33 1.068
13. Planning & Organizing 3.31 0.94
14. Professionalism 3.27 0.953
15. Multicultural Awareness 3.24 0.83

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16. Analytical Thinking 3.18 1.034

17. Global Business 3.18 0.782
18. Leadership 3.16 0.85
19. Voluntarism 3.12 0.904
20. Critical thinking/Problem Solving 3.08 1.057
21. Creative Thinking/Innovation 2.96 1.06

Table 3

SKILLS RANKING ORDER_ EMPLOYERS' PERCEPTION OF SKILLS

Skill Mean Std. Deviation
1. Work Ethics 4.36 1.287
2. Communication 4.33 1.166
3. Adaptability & Flexibility 4.33 0.971
4. knowledge required in their specialized area 4.24 1.181
5. Collaboration/Teamwork 4.22 1.208
6. Information Technology 4.21 1.183
7. Planning & Organizing 4.20 1.105
8. Critical thinking/Problem solving 4.17 1.129
9. Interpersonal Skills 4.17 1.299
10. Dealing with “real world” problems 4.13 1.166
11. Creative Thinking/Innovation 4.09 1.114
12. Professionalism 4.09 1.154
13. Technical Skills 4.09 1.033
14. Social Responsibility 4.08 1.141
15. Analytical Thinking 4.06 1.156
16. Multicultural Awareness 3.91 1.103
17. Decision Making 3.89 1.223
18. Leadership 3.81 1.167
19. Global Business 3.44 1.144
20. Voluntarism 3.44 1.284

When employers report their level of satisfaction with business students ’ skills, they
were very satisfied with their knowledge about the subject, work ethics, information technology,
professionalism and technical skills as shown in Table 4. However, they were least satisfied
with students’ skills/competences of multicultural awareness, voluntarism and global business.
st

Testing the Hypotheses

Table 5 summarizes the results of testing the hypotheses. Busines s educators’ satisfaction
of skills learned by business graduates through curriculum versus employers’ perception of
importance of the 21 century skills (Hypothesis H1) was tested by an independent sample t-test.
The results indicate that there were significant differences in 17 out of the 20 studied skills.
These skills/competences are knowledge, dealing with “real world” problems, technic al skills,
adaptability and flexibility, critical thinking/problem solving skills, creative thinking skills,
interpersonal skills, communication skills, leadership ability, professionalism, work ethics, social
responsibility, information technology, multicultural awareness, analytical thinking, planning
and organizing and collaboration/teamwork skills. Their p-values were less than 0.05, as shown
in Table 6.

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Academy of Educational Leadership Journal Volume 22, Issue 1, 2018

Table 4

SKILLS RANKING EMPLOYERS' SATISFACTION WITH

Skill Mean Std. Deviation
Knowledge required in their specialized area 3.85 0.921
Work Ethics 3.80 1.203
Information Technology 3.77 1.202
Professionalism 3.75 1.056
Technical Skills 3.69 1.004
Collaboration/Teamwork 3.62 1.269
Creative Thinking/Innovation 3.55 1.131
Social Responsibility 3.50 1.198
Analytical Thinking 3.47 1.086
Planning & Organizing 3.45 1.108
Interpersonal Skills 3.45 1.176
Decision Making 3.43 1.035
Adaptability & Flexibility 3.43 1.059
Communication 3.35 1.122
Critical thinking/Problem solving 3.35 1.027
Leadership 3.33 1.155
Dealing with “real world” problems 3.31 0.977
Multicultural Awareness 3.22 1.074
Voluntarism 3.20 1.067
Global Business 3.18 1.083

st
Table 5st

Hypothesis Result
H1: There is a significant difference between business educators’ satisfaction
with their curricula coverage of the 21 century skills and the employers ’ Supported
st
H2: There is a significant difference between business educators and
st Partially
employers’ perceptions of the importance of the skills needed for the 21st

st
H : There is a significant difference between business educators’ satisfaction with

their curricula coverage of the 21 century skills and their perceptions of the Supported
H4: There is a significant difference between the employers’ satisfaction with
Supported
business graduates skills and their perceptions of the importance of the 21
H5: Gender influencescenturybusinessskills.educators’responses. Not supported
H : Academic ranks influence business educators’ responses. Not supported
H7: Gender influences employers’ responses. Not supported
H8: Employment sectors influence employers’ responses. Not supported

With respect to the second hypothesis, the results of the two independent samples t-test
indicated that there were significant differences between employer and business educators’
perceptions in 10 skills out of the 20 skills. These skills/competences are knowledge, dealing
with “real world” problems, technical skills, critical thinking/problem solving skills, creative
thinking/innovation skills, leadership, global business, voluntarism, decision making and
analytical thinking, as shown Table 7. Thus, H2 was partially supported. The results of the paired
sample t-test for the third hypothesis showed that there were significant differences in business
educators’ satisfaction with curriculum coverage of the skills and their perceptions of the

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 Academy of Educational Leadership Journal Volume 22, Issue 1, 2018

importance of the skills for all the twenty skills (Table

st 8a). Thus, H3 was supported. With

respect to the fourth hypothesis, which tests employers’ satisfaction of business student’s skills
versus their perceptions of the importance of the 21 century skills, the results, as shown in
Table 8b, indicated that there were significant differences in all of the twenty skills. Therefore,
H4 was supported. The results show that gender and academic rank were not significant factors in
influencing business educators’ responses. Moreover, gender and employment sector did not
influence employers’ responses. Thus, Hypotheses H5-H8 was not supported.

Table 6

TWO INDEPENDENT SAMPLES T-TEST RESULTS (BUSINESS EDUCATORS’ SATISFACTION VERSUS

Sig.
Sig.
Skill Group Mean SD Skill Group Mean SD (2-
Instructors 3.78 0.848 Instructors 3.27 0.953 0.000

Knowledge Employers 4.24 1.181 0.023 Professionalism Employers 4.09 1.154

Dealing with Instructors 3.35 0.969 0.000 Instructors 3.33 1.068 0.000

“real world” Employers 4.13 1.166 Work Ethics Employers 4.36 1.287

Technical Skills Social Responsibility

Employers 4.09 1.033 Employers 4.08 1.141

Instructors 3.37 0.859 0.000 Instructors 3.41 0.888 0.000

Adaptability &
Employers 4.33 0.971 Information Technology Employers 4.21 1.183
Critical Instructors 3.08 1.057 0.000
Instructors 3.24 0.830 0.001
Thinking/
Employers 4.09 1.114 Multicultural awareness Employers 3.91 1.103
Instructors 2.96 1.060 0.000 Instructors 3.12 0.904 0.142
Creative thinking Voluntarism
Employers 4.09 1.114 Employers 3.44 1.284
Interpersonal Instructors 3.59 0.888 0.010 Instructors 3.59 0.814 0.147
Decision Making
Employers 4.17 1.299 Employer 3.89 1.223
Instructors 3.49 0.794 0.000 Instructors 3.18 1.034 0.000
Communication Analytical Thinking
Employers 4.33 1.166 Employers 4.06 1.156
Instructors 3.16 0.850 0.002 Instructors 3.31 0.940 0.000
Leadership Planning & Organizing
Employers 3.81 1.167 Employers 4.20 1.105
Instructors 3.18 0.782 0.177 Instructors 3.55 0.937 0.002
Global Business Collaboration/Teamwork
Employers 3.44 1.144 Employers 4.22 1.208
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 Academy of Educational Leadership Journal Volume 22, Issue 1, 2018

st

Table 7

TWO INDEPENDENT SAMPLES T-TEST RESULTS (BUSINESS EDUCATORS' AND EMPLOYERS'

Sig. Sig.
1.18
Skill Group Mean SD (2- Skill Group Mean SD (2-
Instructors 4.69 0.619 Instructors 4.00 0.890 0.652
Knowledge Employers 4.24 0.016 Professionalism Employers 4.09 1.154
Dealing with Instructors 4.71 0.540 Instructors 4.69 0.624 0.101
1.16
1.03
“real world” Employers 4.13 0.001 Work Ethics Employers 4.36 1.287

Technical Instructors 4.55 0.679 0.010 Instructors 4.33 0.826 0.209

Social Responsibility
Employers 4.09 Employers 4.08 1.141

Adaptability & Instructors 4.47 0.680 0.417 Instructors 4.45 0.679 0.205
Employers 4.33 0.971 Information Technology Employers 4.21 1.183
Critical
Instructors 4.71 0.500 0.002 Instructors 4.10 0.770 0.298
Thinking/
Employers 4.17 1.129 Multicultural awareness Employers 3.91 1.103
Problem
Creative Instructors 4.53 0.767 Instructors 3.94 0.899 0.025
Voluntarism
Employers 4.09 1.114 0.023 Employers 3.44 1.284
Interpersonal Instructors 4.53 0.710 Instructors 4.43 0.707 0.007
Decision Making
Employers 4.17 1.299 0.078 Employers 3.89 1.223
Instructors 4.43 0.866 0.642 Instructors 4.61 0.533 0.002
Communication Analytical Thinking
Employers 4.33 1.166 Employers 4.06 1.156
Instructors 4.20 0.735 Instructors 4.35 0.751 0.448
Leadership Employers 3.81 1.167 0.044 Planning & Organizing Employers 4.20 1.105
Global Instructors 4.29 0.890 0.000 Instructors 4.47 0.649 0.194
Collaboration/Teamwork
Employers 3.44 1.144 Employers 4.22 1.208

OBSERVATIONS ON THE RESULTS

The initial observations from the study results are:

1 . While business educators emphasize
st the importance of hard skills (e.g. critical thinking/problem solving,
dealing with “real world problems), employers, on the other hand, give emphasis to the soft skills (e.g.
work ethics, communication/flexibility and adaptability).

2 . Business educators were not satisfied with the level of coverage of the listed skills in their curricula, at the
same time they strongly believed in the importance of such skills/competences.

3 . Employers, in general, were not satisfied with many of business graduates’ skills/competencies; for
example, communication, adaptability/flexibility and interpersonal skills, in which they believe these
 skills, are very important for the 21 century workforce.

4 . Both groups agreed on the importance of the twenty employability skills/competencies. However, they
differed in the extent of their importance.

5 . Both groups rated the importance of the skills/competencies higher than their rating for their satisfaction. 6.
Both groups indicated that the skill/competence that they were most satisfied with was students’

knowledge required in their specialized area.

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st

Table 8a
a b
PAIRED SAMPLE T-TEST RESULTS (SATISFACTION WITH BUSINESS GRADUATES
SKILLS VERSUS IMPORTANCE OF THE 21 CENTURY SKILLS)
Pair Diff. Mean Std. Dev. T Sig
BES1 –BEI1 -0.918 0.909 -7.071 0.000
BES2–BEI2 -1.367 1.074 -8.910 0.000
BES3–BEI3 -1.184 1.093 -7.580 0.000
BES4–BEI4 -1.102 0.918 -8.399 0.000
BES5–BEI5 -1.633 1.074 -10.639 0.000
BES6–BEI6 -1.571 1.155 -9.526 0.000
BES7–BEI7 -0.939 1.069 -6.149 0.000
BES8–BEI8 -0.939 0.944 -6.958 0.000
BES9–BEI9 -1.041 1.060 -6.874 0.000
BES10–BEI10 -1.102 1.177 -6.554 0.000
BES11–BEI11 -0.735 1.114 -4.617 0.000
BES12–BEI12 -1.327 1.214 -7.647 0.000
BES13–BEI13 -0.939 1.248 -5.264 0.000
BES14–BEI14 -1.041 1.020 -7.144 0.000
BES15–BEI15 -0.857 1.021 -5.879 0.000
BES16–BEI16 -0.816 1.149 -4.974 0.000
BES17–BEI17 -0.837 0.874 -6.699 0.000
BES18–BEI18 -1.429 1.021 -9.798 0.000
BES19–BEI19 -1.041 1.136 -6.415 0.000
BES20–BEI20 -0.918 1.038 st -6.196 0.000
Table 8b

PAIRED SAMPLE T-TEST RESULTS (SATISFACTION WITH BUSINESS GRADUATES

SKILLS VERSUS IMPORTANCE OF THE 21 CENTURY SKILLS)
Pair Diff. Mean Std. Dev. T Sig
EMS1c–EMI1d -0.735 0.751 -5.708 0.000
EMS2–EMI2 -1.061 0.933 -6.528 0.000
EMS3–EMI3 -0.848 0.939 -5.188 0.000
EMS4–EMI4 -1.176 0.999 -6.866 0.000
EMS5–EMI5 -0.912 1.164 -4.566 0.000
EMS6–EMI6 -0.848 0.939 -5.188 0.000
EMS7–EMI7 -0.882 0.946 -5.439 0.000
EMS8–EMI8 -1.206 1.225 -5.738 0.000
EMS9–EMI9 -0.727 1.180 -3.541 0.001
EMS10–EMI10 -0.588 1.351 -2.539 0.016
EMS11–EMI11 -0.559 1.078 -3.021 0.005
EMS12–EMI12 -0.727 1.039 -4.021 0.000
EMS13–EMI13 -0.758 1.173 -3.709 0.001
EMS14–EMI14 -0.606 1.223 -2.846 0.008
EMS15–EMI15 -0.912 1.111 -4.785 0.000
EMS16–EMI16 -0.559 1.501 -2.170 0.037
EMS17–EMI17 -0.794 1.008 -4.592 0.000
EMS18–EMI18 -0.853 1.019 -4.881 0.000
EMS19–EMI19 -0.971 1.000 -5.662 0.000
EMS20–EMI20 -0.939 1.144 -4.717 0.000
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Academy of Educational Leadership Journal Volume 22, Issue 1, 2018

b. Business educators’ satisfaction.

c. Business educators’ perception of skills importance.
d. Employers’ satisfaction.
e.
Employers’ perception of skills importance.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

The results show that employers and business educators have different views of many of
the skills that business students need to acquire. For example, employers want business colleges
to focus more on the soft skills such as communication, adaptability and flexibility and work
ethics. This could indicate that employers and business educators are not communicating well
enough to establish common ground with respect to a set of skills that students need to have.
Moreover, the results indicated that there is a substantial skills gap in the Qatari market, because
the employers were barely satisfied with the performance of business graduates. This elevated
level of discrepancy can be explained in three ways: (a) Employers view certain skills as
important for graduates to possess, but they are not taught well enough in business curricula;
(b) the academic courses cover certain skills which are properly conveyed to the students, but the
employers often overlook or dismiss these skills as irrelevant to their businesses; and/or (c) the
main objective for each group is different; for example, while business educators focus on
preparing future business leaders, employers focus on skills/competencies needed for their
businesses to excel. Therefore, business educators value hard skills (e.g. critical thinking),
employers value soft skills which enable employees to work hard to improve businesses
environment. On one side, employers need to know that the mission of business programs is
career education, not job training and on the other side, business educators need to understand the
needs and the expectations of the employers from business graduates (Trauth, Farwell and Lee,
1993). Thus, the results of this study reinforce the need to take the action and institute the
reforms suggested by multilateral discussions, in which employers, policy-makers and educational
institutions would be involved.
The results of this study should be of interest to business educators and policy-makers in
the educational institutions. These results are also be of interest to people who want to understand
the evolution and progress of education and labour market requirements in satisfying the needs of
today's global economy. In addition, the results will be useful for readers with a general interest
in human capital and economic initiatives. Moreover, the results of this study will make
instructors aware of the modern skills and competences that employers need the most so that they
can be integrated in the business curriculum. The study demonstrated that there might be a
disconnection between employers and business educators in the sense of what being taught at the
college of business and what is required by marketplace. Several recommendations can be
formulated from the present findings that might help to bridge the skills gap. These
recommendations, as described in the next paragraphs, require the partnership and participation of
employers, business educators and the policy-makers.
 First, business educators need to teach students the skills that employers demand. This is
made possible by forging a relationship between them and employers and involving the latter in
designing the curriculum. As such, companies would play an active role in influencing the
business curriculum according to their present and projected skills needs. Moreover, this
communication would let business educators modify and update their curricula promptly at the
request of employers. Second, companies can play an active role in bridging the skills gap by
providing students with hands-on training, for example by offering internship programs and

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summer jobs where students could polish their skills and gain practical knowledge and

experience. Companies should also allocate funds to train their recent employees by providing
workshops and professional development seminars for them inside or outside the country to
develop their skills and keep them up to date. In addition, companies need to deepen their
involvement with educational institutions to improve the fit between graduates’ skills and the
jobs available. Third, government stakeholders can participate in reducing the skills gap by
funding “skills development” programs and implementing remedial reforms in educational
institutions. This can be done in partnership with international academic institutions and by
bringing expertise (academics or international experts) that will enhance the academic learning
process and improve
st
the students' engagement levels and skills.
Based on their written comments, business educators believe that for any college of
business to improve the quality of its student’s education and to better serve the employers’
needs for the 21 century marketplace in a global economy, students need to learn how to
process, analyse and use information. Teaching them ideas and facts, without teaching them how
to use them in real-life settings, is no longer sufficient. In addition, students need to be taught
how to, create, interpret and use information, rather than using most of their time in finding and
presenting information. Therefore, instructors need to adapt and develop innovative ways of
teaching and limit the use of traditional lectures so as to create more interactive classes; for
example, focusing on the intensive use of simulations and games to engage students more
deeply. Moreover, instructors need to foster students' understanding by facilitating problem-
solving discussions based on real-life situations and real case studies. The purpose of university
should be to prepare students for success after graduation. Therefore, teaching students only to
perform well in tests or exams is clearly inadequate. For example, business colleges can provide
more assignments that involve hands-on training and reduce the emphasis on closed book exams.
At the same time, teamwork based real projects can enhance the students’ ability to work in a real-
life setting. There is a need to link the knowledge gained in lectures with applications practiced in
organizations by expanding field trips and workshops and adjust the curricula to better simulate
real-world working conditions.
Employers, on their part, believe that, for college of businesses to improve the quality of
their students, they need to allow students to pursue alternative learning pathways. For example,
students might earn academic credits and satisfy graduation requirements by completing an
internship, apprenticeship or volunteer experience. Thus, they might acquire a variety of
practical, job-related skills and work habits, while also completing academic coursework and
meeting the same learning standards as are required of students on more traditional academic
courses. It should be noted that all these recommendations, whether being suggested by the
authors, business educators or employers will help in reducing the skills gap if and only if all
stakeholders are seriously engaged and committed to the process. This will contribute to
producing business graduates with a competitive edge in skills and competencies that are ready to
work in today's challenging and competitive workplace.

LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH Although

the results of this study provides insights for business educators who want to

modify and update their business program/curricula to enhance business students’ skills and
satisfy the requirements of employers, yet the study has several limitations, which are
highlighted below. First, this study was limited to business students at one business school, as
such; the results of this study cannot be generalized to all business students from other

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universities. Therefore, further research to increase the scope and coverage of the study is

recommended. In addition, further research may duplicate this study by including business
colleges from countries to compare the results. Second, this study has considered only the
opinions of business educators and employers, so this study might be repeated to consider
business students’ opinion, as a crucial factor if a triangular design approach is taken. Third,
further research would be valuable to study in depth the reasons for the gaps that are identified in
this study. Finally, larger sample sizes would enhance the reliability of the results.

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