Relationship between Spiritual Intelligence and competencies of Thai professional accountants

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to study the relationship between spiritual intelligence and competencies of Thai professional accountants. Questionnaires were collected from 401 Thai professional accountants who attended the training with the Federation of Accounting Professions under the Royal Patronage of His Majesty the King. This research used partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to study the relationship between spiritual intelligence and competencies of Thai professional accountants through the mediating variables including role of work-life balance, work stress, self-efficacy and job satisfaction. The results showed that spiritual intelligence has a positive relationship in statistical significant with competencies of Thai professional accountants, which can be explained by the role of self-efficacy and job satisfaction. Except for work-life balance and work-stress, they are 2 of 4 variables that do not have any positive relationship in statistical significant with spiritual intelligence. Furthermore, the results showed that competencies of Thai professional accountants have positive relationship in statistical significant with job performance. This research is the first study that provides empirical evidence about the relationship between spiritual intelligence and competencies of Thai professional accountants. This study helped to confirm previous studies about the relationship between spiritual intelligence and competencies in personnel in the organization again. We will be able to used as a guideline for developing competencies with spiritual intelligence for Thai professional accountants. Furthermore, we will obtain new knowledge for educational institutions in Thailand at various levels in opening relevant courses in order to prepare students to be professional accountants in the needs of organizations and ASEAN. They can confidently adjust to be professional accountants in accordance with the standards, increase job performance in the era 4.0 with confidence and sustainability.