Experience, instruction and knowledge acquisition: a study in taxation

This study examines the effects of direct work experience, gained through internships and cooperative educational experiences, on subsequent knowledge acquisition. In particular, theoretical and empirical research in education, cognitive psychology and accounting suggests that experienced individuals develop organizational knowledge structures which allow them to better assimilate new information into memory than inexperienced individuals. Consistent with this notion, the research investigates whether the benefits of prior direct work experience on knowledge acquisition is a function of the nature of the learning tasks (structured versus unstructured) used in subsequent educational experiences.As hypothesized, the results indicate that inexperienced subjects were assisted to a greater extent in the knowledge acquisition process by structure oriented tax return preparation tasks than by relatively unstructured tax research assignments. Also consistent with expectations, the opposite was true for experienced subjects. When experienced subjects were provided with instruction supplemented by unstructured tax research assignments, they demonstrated a greater level of tax knowledge than when assigned structured tax return problems. Further, the knowledge level of experienced subjects was found to be greater than that of inexperienced subjects only when unstructured tax research assignments were provided. These findings suggest that all benefits of direct work experience on the knowledge acquisition process cannot be realized without the specific consideration of such experiences on the design of educational and firm training materials. Finally, the study also indicates that the benefits of direct work experience on subsequent knowledge acquisition are generally greater for individuals with low versus high learning aptitudes.