Framework for critical thinking among internal auditing students using technology-based educational intervention

Abstract

Although cultivating critical thinking skills in learners is a difficult task, it has become increasingly important. To succeed in the 21st century workforce, learners must be able to think critically. Future auditors must adjust to the rapidly changing, technology-driven economy in which critical thinking skills enable them to solve unstructured problems, analyse and interpret, make educated decisions, and investigate data. With concerns that the auditing profession is failing to provide entry-level auditors with the required skills and abilities to bring value to auditing customers, teachers must encourage students to acquire critical thinking skills. Because critical thinking is a multi-dimensional concept, teaching it to students is a complex procedure. Simulations and virtual reality are among technology-based educational interventions that can provide useful platforms for promoting critical thinking. Teachers, on the other hand, are sometimes hesitant to adopt new technologies because they are unsure of how to develop critical thinking in students. As a result, it is evident that University teachers demand guidance and a comprehensive, thorough framework for the promotion of critical thinking skills using technology-based educational interventions. The fundamental purpose of this study was to construct a conceptual framework that would guide teachers in addressing the growing demand for auditors with strong critical thinking skills. More insights into the conceptualisation and development of critical thinking were necessary to arrive at this conceptual framework. These discoveries laid the groundwork for a conceptual framework based on the literature. The viewpoints of three groups of respondents consisting of ten individuals each were acquired using an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) design to confirm the concepts and relationships provided in the provisional framework and to provide insight into further concepts and connections. Student-related factors, educator-related factors, diversity considerations, technology enablers, collaboration among partners, the training process, ethics and internationalisation, were all included in the proposed conceptual framework. The result is an innovative, integrative, and rigorous conceptual framework for developing critical thinking in auditing students via technology-based instructional interventions. The intricate complexity of critical thinking development is given structure by this framework. The development of critical thinking skills, on the other hand, is not a once-off linear process. As a result, the framework, as well as its various concepts and linkages, should be viewed as part of an ongoing process of critical thinking development. This study’s offers a novel contribution by providing teachers with a framework for critical thinking using technology-based educational intervention