Digital tools and competencies for investment project management in business administration

Abstract

Training in investment projects requires students to turn economic assumptions into verifiable financial models. This research examined how the use of spreadsheets and business simulation games shaped the development of competencies for investment project management among students of the Business Administration program at Universidad Estatal del Sur de Manabí. The study followed a qualitative approach with an interpretive phenomenological design. Thirty final-year students took part, selected through purposive sampling. Data were gathered through four focus groups and non-participant scientific observation of twelve workshop sessions, and were processed by means of thematic content analysis across three coding cycles. Findings were organised into four categories: instrumental command, understanding of the financial model, decision making under uncertainty, and collaborative work. Students handled calculation functions fluently and struggled to interpret results whenever the tool delivered the indicator without requiring them to build it. Observation recorded a gap between technical execution and economic reasoning that the students' own accounts tended to downplay. Digital tools support competence when teachers pair them with tasks that force students to justify every assumption.