That study is completely flawed, conclusion does not agree with content. I can find paragraphs like this all day:
Direct entry first officers are more likely to have had higher exposure to, and familiarity with, these concepts prior to entry to this airline and it is not surprising that their communication would be stronger, given the necessity of operating in a team environment for longer than the 5 years in this airline alone. This also applies to the results from Airline C, which showed that direct entry pilots were scoring higher in both situation awareness and leadership and management.