Nicola Beatson, Our staff, Department of Accountancy & Finance, University of Otago, New Zealand

Nicola Mitchell Senior Lecturer
BCom (Otago), MCom (Otago), PhD (Otago)

Tel +64 3 479 8321
Office OBS 5.08a
Email nicola.beatson@otago.ac.nz

Nicola joined the Department of Accountancy and Finance at the University of Otago in 2010. Since that time she has had several teaching accolades, including being named in the Otago University Student Association (OUSA) awards (student voted) as the ‘Premier Lecturer, Commerce Division’ in 2017, the OUSA ‘Overall Premier Lecturer’ in 2018, and the ‘2019 University of Otago Award for Excellence in Teaching’. In addition to her department role, Nicola is a ‘Research Leader’ for the Office of Student Success.

Nicola has a passion for accounting education and she is student focused, both in teaching and research activities. Her areas of research expertise are ‘Accounting Education’, ‘Self-efficacy Beliefs’, Student Engagement and Motivation’, ‘Teaching and Learning, and ‘Non-cognitive Learning Variables’. She is seeking PhD candidates for a number of projects all based in these broad research areas. Nicola's enthusiasm for her research saw her win the PhD Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition in 2017, after winning the same competition for Masters students in 2015.

Nicola enjoys several service roles within the department including as a course approver and advisor, a member of the AKO teaching and learning committee, being the tutor coordinator for the department, and as the Kaiāwhina Māori in Accounting and Finance.

In 2017, Nicola was appointed a College Fellow for Cumberland College, one of Otago's residential colleges. College Fellows have the special purpose of relating with residents to facilitate and expand College residents' network within and beyond the University.
Visit the Cumberland College website.

Further information

Read the Otago Magazine story on Nicola's PhD research
Read the Otago Daily Times story on Nicola winning the 3MT competition
Read the Otago Post story on Nicola's PhD research and her goal to change the world view of accounting
Watch Nicola compete in the 3MT competition

Teaching

BSNS115

Research interests

Nicola is an active member of the Accounting Education community, shown by her committee membership on the Accounting Education, Special Interest Group, for Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand (AFAANZ). She has editorial roles on Accounting Education, Journal of Accounting Education, and Heliyon.

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Publications

de Lange, P., O'Connell, B. T., Tharapos, M., Beatson, N., & Oosthuizen, H. (2023). Accounting graduate employability: Employer perspectives on skills and attributes of international graduates. Accounting Education, 32(3), 249-277. doi: 10.1080/09639284.2022.2059383

Luong, H., Man, Y., Botafogo, F., & Beatson, N. (2022). Sense of belonging during a global pandemic: A case of accounting students. Accounting Education. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/09639284.2022.2134732

Beatson, N., Oates, G., Patel, S., & White, A. (2022, July). First year accounting, how to enthuse and engage students with a fresh approach. Verbal presentation at the Accounting & Finance Association of Australia & New Zealand (AFAANZ) Conference, [Hybrid].

Sithole, S. T. M., Ran, G., de Lange, P., Tharapos, M., O'Connell, B., & Beatson, N. (2022). Data mining: Will first-year results predict the likelihood of completing subsequent units in accounting programs? Accounting Education. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/09639284.2022.2075707

Beatson, N. J., Tharapos, M., O'Connell, B. T., de Lange, P., Carr, S., & Copeland, S. (2022). The gradual retreat from academic citizenship. Higher Education Quarterly, 76, 715-725. doi: 10.1111/hequ.12341

Journal - Research Article

Beatson, N. J., de Lange, P., & Oosthuizen, H. (2021). A question of balance: Study-work–life, perspectives from accounting students. Pacific Accounting Review, 33(3), 257-273. doi: 10.1108/PAR-09-2020-0137

Journal - Research Article

Beatson, N., de Lange, P., O'Connell, B., Tharapos, M., & Smith, J. K. (2021). Factors impacting on accounting academics' motivation and capacity to adapt in challenging times. Accounting Research Journal, 34(2), 184-195. doi: 10.1108/arj-08-2020-0240

Journal - Research Article

Oosthuizen, H., De Lange, P., Wilmshurst, T., & Beatson, N. (2021). Leadership-in-teams, ready, willing and able: Perspectives of international accounting students. Meditari Accountancy Research, 29(1), 161-182. doi: 10.1108/medar-05-2019-0499

Journal - Research Article

Oosthuizen, H., De Lange, P., Wilmshurst, T., & Beatson, N. (2021). Teamwork in the accounting curriculum: Stakeholder expectations, accounting students’ value proposition, and instructors’ guidance. Accounting Education, 30(2), 131-158. doi: 10.1080/09639284.2020.1858321

Journal - Research Article

Beatson, N. J., Berg, D. A. G., & Smith, J. K. (2020). The influence of self‐efficacy beliefs and prior learning on performance. Accounting & Finance, 60, 1271-1294. doi: 10.1111/acfi.12440

Journal - Research Article

Beatson, N., Berg, D., & Smith, J. K. (2020). Facing failure. Accounting Research Journal, 33(2), 287-306. doi: 10.1108/ARJ-10-2018-0164

Journal - Research Article

Beatson, N., Gabriel, C.-A., Howell, A., Scott, S., van der Meer, J., & Wood, L. C. (2020). Just opt in: How choosing to engage with technology impacts business students’ academic performance. Journal of Accounting Education, 50(100641). doi: 10.1016/j.jaccedu.2019.100641

Journal - Research Article

Beatson, N. J., Berg, D. A. G., & Smith, J. K. (2019). The Sheldon effect: Fixed mindset does not always mean fragile confidence. Accounting Education, 28(5), 532-552. doi: 10.1080/09639284.2019.1661858

Journal - Research Article

Beatson, N. J., Berg, D. A. G., Smith, J. K., & Smith-Han, C. (2019). Progression to intermediate level courses; Is a “pass” enough? Pacific Accounting Review, 31(2), 275-287. doi: 10.1108/PAR-03-2018-0025

Journal - Research Article

Beatson, N. J., Berg, D. A. G., & Smith, J. K. (2018). The impact of mastery feedback on undergraduate students’ self-efficacy beliefs. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 59, 58-66. doi: 10.1016/j.stueduc.2018.03.002

Journal - Research Article

Graham, A., Toon, I., Wynn-Williams, K., & Beatson, N. (2017). Using 'nudges' to encourage student engagement: An exploratory study from the UK and New Zealand. International Journal of Management Education, 15(2, Part A), 36-46. doi: 10.1016/j.ijme.2017.04.003

Journal - Research Article

Wynn-Williams, K., Beatson, N., & Anderson, C. (2016). The impact of unstructured case studies on surface learners: a study of second-year accounting students. Accounting Education, 25(3), 272-286. doi: 10.1080/09639284.2016.1165125

Journal - Research Article

Beatson, N. J., Berg, D. A. G., & Smith, J. K. (2019). Where does confidence come from? A study of the sources of self-efficacy beliefs in accounting education. Proceedings of the Accounting & Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand (AFAANZ) Annual Conference. Retrieved from http://www.afaanzconference.com

Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Full paper

Beatson, N., Berg, D. A. G., & Smith, J. K. (2018). Facing failure: Insights and reflections from six students repeating a first-year accounting course. Proceedings of the Accounting & Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand (AFAANZ) Conference. Retrieved from https://www.afaanz.org/

Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Full paper

Beatson, N., Berg, D., & Smith, J. (2017). Confidence matters: Self-efficacy beliefs in accounting education. Proceedings of the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand (AFAANZ) Conference. Retrieved from https://www.afaanz.org/conferences

Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Full paper

Venkatraman, I., & Beatson, N. (2021). Story of a local community response to International Students' needs during COVID-19 induced lockdown. Proceedings of the Coronavirus and its Impacts on International Students Conference. Retrieved from https://impactinternationalstudentscorona.wordpress.com/

Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Beatson, N., & Smith, J. (2020). Do self-efficacy beliefs and a sense of belonging influence the ability to learn accounting? Proceedings of the Accounting & Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand (AFAANZ) Conference. Retrieved from http://www.afaanzconference.com

Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Rogers, T., Wass, R., Berg, D., Brown, K., Smith-Han, K., Beatson, N., & Tagg, J. (2019). Enhancing PASS through structured metacognitive awareness training. Proceedings of the Australasian PASS and Peer Learning Conference: Excellence and Innovation: The Future of Peer Learning. (pp. 10). Retrieved from https://www.uow.edu.au/engage/pass-centre/conference

Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Beatson, N., & Carr, S. (2017). The barriers to using tools and techniques for transformational teaching. Proceedings of the Talking Teaching Conference. Retrieved from https://akoacademy.ac.nz/programme

Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Smith, J., Beatson, N., & Berg, D. (2017). Course performance feedback as a source of university students' sense of self-efficacy. Proceedings of the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI) Conference. (pp. 646). Retrieved from https://earli.org/earli-2017

Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Wynn-Williams, K., & Beatson, N. (2014). Learning in today's academic environment. Proceedings of the Ako Aotearoa Southern Hub Projects in Progress Colloquium II. (pp. 4). Wellington, New Zealand: Ako Aotearoa. Retrieved from https://akoaotearoa.ac.nz

Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract