Advancing Practical Wisdom in Ethics as an Essential Soft Skill Developed through Experiential Learning

Abstract

This chapter explores practical wisdom’s role in managing the application and use of soft skills. The authors explore how practical wisdom can connect technical and soft skills by developing moral skill and moral will to enhance ethical decision-making. Given practical wisdom’s importance, the authors further examine its role in the experiential learning process and how experiential learning activities like the Giving Voice to Values (GVV) curricular offering can bring practical wisdom and soft skills into the classroom with modest effort and investment. Through the application of the GVV methodology to a case study, the authors demonstrate how practical wisdom can be used in accounting education to support and advance accounting students’ moral and skill development, and accounting educators looking to do so can use this chapter as a starting point.