Why should Business schools teach blockchain technology? - The case of Botswana Accountancy College

Aug 29, 2026

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This study examines why business schools should teach blockchain technology to tertiary students to improve industry readiness in a rapidly evolving digital environment. It investigates students’ awareness and competency of blockchain and cryptocurrency, assessing knowledge on blockchain and exploring depth of understanding of bitcoin and altcoins. A closed-ended questionnaire was administered to 266 students at Botswana Accountancy College. Results show most students know little about blockchain, including Bitcoin and altcoins, prompting recommendations to educate both students and the broader community and to embed blockchain into teaching, learning, record-keeping, and information management strategies.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages17

Reading Time43 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Definition of Terms

Blockchain

Cryptography

Why should Business schools teach blockchain technology? The case of Botswana Accountancy College WilbertR. Mutoko, Senior Lecturer Tapiwa Gande, Portfolio Manager School of Business and Leisure, Botswana Accountancy College, Gaborone, Botswana Doi:10.19044/esj.2021.v17n32p349 Submitted: 14 June 2021 Accepted: 09 September 2021 Published: 30 September 2021 Copyright 2021 Author(s) Under Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 OPEN ACCESS Cite As: Mutoko W.R. & Gande T. (2021) . Why should Business schools teach blockchain technology? The case of Botswana Accountancy College. European Scientific Journal, ESJ, 17 (32), 349. [https://doi.org/10.19044/esj.2021.v17n32p349](https://doi.org/10.19044/esj.2021.v17n32p349) Abstract In this digital era, tertiary education institutions students need to be acquainted with the latest technology such as blockchain, to equip them for industry readiness. There is a paradigm shift in blockchain technology. Thus, business schools would do well to teach tertiary students about blockchain technology which in turn can help them to solve real-life and industry challenges efficiently and effectively. This paper aimed to investigate tertiary students’ awareness and competency of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency. The paper’s objectives were to assess students’ level of knowledge on blockchain, to explore students’ depth of awareness and competency on bitcoin and altcoins, and to recommend steps that business schools can take to teach students on blockchain. In July 2018, a closed-ended questionnaire was distributed to 266 students studying Business and Leisure related programs at Botswana Accountancy College, School of Business & Leisure. Quota-randomized system was used to allow participation of respondents that are more entrepreneurially aligned according to course content and aims. The data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) . The study findings revealed that most students are challenged or know little about blockchain, let alone Bitcoin and Altcoins. Thus, business schools should take it upon themselves to educate not only students, but the community at large about blockchain to bring awareness. Furthermore, business schools such as BAC should make policies that allow them to embed blockchain technology into their teaching/learning strategies, record-keeping, and information management. Keywords: Blockchain technology, Cryptocurrency, Botswana Accountancy College, Bitcoin, tertiary students, business schools Introduction There is an ongoing debate as to whether institutions of higher learning are still relevant (Bracey, 2017, Willcocks, 2020; Wiklund, Wright and Zahra, 2019) . This debate gets worse when it comes to business schools (Busher, Choudhury, Thomas, Harris, 2017; Blackman, 2017) . One would wonder whether business schools are playing a significant role in preparing graduates for the world of work and entrepreneurship. Botswana is not exempt from this debate in question. Gone are the days when teaching and learning dwelt on traditional methods and strategies. In today’s dynamic world, there is a need for practitioners and students to embrace technology. This paper looks at how business schools could acquaint students with knowledge on block chain technology. A blockchain is a distributed database of records of all transactions, or public ledger of digital events that have been executed and shared among participating parties. Each transaction in the public ledger is verified by consensus of most of the participants (Crosby, Pattanayak, Verma,& Kalyanaraman, 2016; Deshpande, Stewart, Lepetit, & Gunashekar, 2017) . Block chain technology can also be defined as mutual distributed ledgers (Mainelli & Smith, 2015; Korpela, Hallikas, & Dahlberg, 2017; Wüst & Gervais, 2018) . In this digital era, tertiary students need to be acquainted with the latest technology such as blockchain, to equip them for industry readiness (Luhanga

FAQs

What is the main focus of the paper?

The paper focuses on why business schools should teach blockchain technology and evaluates students’ awareness and competency regarding blockchain and cryptocurrency.

How was the data collected for the study?

A closed-ended questionnaire was distributed to 266 students studying business and leisure-related programs at Botswana Accountancy College.

What do the study findings indicate about students’ blockchain knowledge?

Most students are challenged or know little about blockchain, and even less about Bitcoin and altcoins.

Aug 29, 2026

Uploaded by Cart