Review Reports

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The research conducted by the author aimed to establish a contemporary definition of Critical Thinking Skills (CTS) and identify their components, as viewed by employers in the accounting sector, professional bodies and academics.

In addition to the research question formulated in the introduction (lines 79–81), it is proposed to formulate a testable research hypothesis, which, in the light of the research findings, should be confirmed or rejected.

In the literature review and methodological framework, greater attention should be paid to the differences in the development of critical thinking skills in accounting education across various systems worldwide, e.g. in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, and North and South America, and these should be compared with the approaches used in South Africa. This will allow for a more accurate identification of potential problems and challenges facing stakeholders from South African countries, set against the backdrop of the best, proven and effective systems for developing accounting competencies in the field of CT in other regions of the world.

The structure of the entire article is clear and well-designed.

The author has gathered a sufficient number of theoretical sources and skilfully refers to them in the discussion within the main text.

The research materials and methodology have been described in detail.

The research findings have been presented correctly.

The key conclusions should also be highlighted in the abstract.

Author Response

Comment 1: In addition to the research question formulated in the introduction (lines 79–81), it is proposed to formulate a testable research hypothesis, which, in the light of the research findings, should be confirmed or rejected.

Response 1: Thank you for this comment. The study is a qualitative exploratory study. The words in the aim of the study have been updated to reflect the qualitative nature of the study as opposed to testing a hypothesis. 

Comment 2: In the literature review and methodological framework, greater attention should be paid to the differences in the development of critical thinking skills in accounting education across various systems worldwide, e.g. in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, and North and South America, and these should be compared with the approaches used in South Africa. This will allow for a more accurate identification of potential problems and challenges facing stakeholders from South African countries, set against the backdrop of the best, proven and effective systems for developing accounting competencies in the field of CT in other regions of the world.

Response 2: Thank you for this comment. The comment highlight attention to showing the development of critical thinking in accounting education across various systems worldwide. However, this study focuses on the definition of critical thinking and not its development. However, this comment was considered through a systematic literature review to provide a structured review of these definitions provided in accounting over time. 

Overall, the reference list has also been updated. 

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This article provides new insights into the definition of critical thinking relevant to the context of accounting education. In the Introduction, the authors present the issues and challenges facing accountants due to the development of digital technologies and systems quite effectively.

The Literature Review section discusses the changing role of accountants, the definitions of critical thinking from various experts, and accounting stakeholders. This section presents some of the results of previous studies, but it hasn't been followed up with a deeper critical engagement. I recommend that this section be supplemented with a critical assessment of how these previous studies contribute to answering the research problem.

Materials and Methods.

The research sample has been well described, including the specific criteria for selecting participants in this study. However, in the data analysis section, the authors do not adequately present the analysis stages. I suggest that the six steps of inductive theme analysis be explained more clearly. Demonstrate (possibly with images) what the authors did in each step to provide a clearer picture of the theme determination process. This can begin with initial thematic, developed thematic, and final thematic (Braun and Clarke, 2006).

If the data analysis section has been explained as suggested, then the Results section should also be presented following the flow of explanations in the data analysis section.

Figure 1: Critical Skills Definition also needs to be clarified as to whether the figure refers to the results of individual work or is a synthesis across the cited studies.

Page 11 line 432

The writing of Attitudes required to engage in critical thinking should be written in italics and the writing should start from the margin according to the other dimensions (on the same page there is the Presenting information dimension)

References

In writing References is inconsistent, there are writing journal titles capitalized (i.e. reference no. 14, etc);  inconsistency in writing volumes and journal pages (i.e compare reference no. 2 with no. 4, 6, 14, etc). It should be adjusted to the writing standards in the Journal of Education Sciences.

Author Response

Dear Review

Thank you for the time you invested in reviewing my manuscript and providing valuable feedback. Please see below for the response to the identified comments:

Comment 1: This section presents some of the results of previous studies, but it hasn't been followed up with a deeper critical engagement.

Response 1: An SLR was carried out to provide a structured synthesis of previous literature on the conceptualisation of critical thinking, highlighting the themes that are emerging from literature regarding the different constructs and definitions of critical thinking over time. Hopefully, this provides a deeper critical engagement on the definition of critical thinking in accounting. 

Comment 2: I suggest that the six steps of inductive theme analysis be explained more clearly. Demonstrate (possibly with images) what the authors did in each step to provide a clearer picture of the theme determination process. 

Response 2: The thematic analysis steps have been explained in detail, highlighting the use of both inductive and deductive approach in finalising the emerging themes and comparing them to literature. Examples of the phases that were used to identify the codes have been provided as well as the grouping of these codes into broader themes. 

Comment 3: 

Figure 1: Critical Skills Definition also needs to be clarified as to whether the figure refers to the results of individual work or is a synthesis across the cited studies.

Page 11 line 432

The writing of Attitudes required to engage in critical thinking should be written in italics and the writing should start from the margin according to the other dimensions (on the same page there is the Presenting information dimension)

Response 3: The figure has been updated to accurately link to the contents of the results section. numbering and formatting has been amended to indicate the different headings and subheadings, enabling easier connection of the information to the figure and results. 

Comment 4: In writing References is inconsistent, there are writing journal titles capitalized (i.e. reference no. 14, etc);  inconsistency in writing volumes and journal pages (i.e compare reference no. 2 with no. 4, 6, 14, etc). It should be adjusted to the writing standards in the Journal of Education Sciences.

Response 4: The reference list has been amended accordingly. 

Regards