The impact of AACSB accreditation: A multiple case study of Canadian university business schools

• Date: 01 September 2013
• Author: Catherine Elliott
• Published date: 01 September 2013
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/cjas.1257

The impact of AACSB accreditation: A multiple

case study of Canadian university business

schools

Catherine Elliott*

University of Ottawa

Abstract

Over the last two decades there has been a signif‌icant

increase in the number of university business schools seeking

accreditation from the Association to Advance Collegiate

Schools of Business (AACSB International). Despite this

remarkable growth there has been limited empirical research

on this phenomenon. Using a qualitative multiple case study

approach, this research explores the impact of accreditation

on four Canadian university business schools. Participants

reported seven main effects, with the most important being

enhanced reputation, leverage for change, increased man-

agement eff‌iciencies, and focus on research. These impacts

were inf‌luenced by the context in which accreditation took

place. Environmental uncertainty as a contextual dimension

is discussed. Copyright © 2013 ASAC. Published by John

Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

JEL Classif‌ication: M10

Keywords: accreditation, impact, university business

schools, case study, qualitative

Résumé

A u cours des deux dernières décennies, le nombre d’écoles

de commerce universitaires en quête d’agrément auprès de

l’Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business

(AACSB International) a augmenté de façon fulgurante.

Malgré cette croissance remarquable, peu de recherches

empiriques se sont penchées sur le phénomène. Dans cette

étude, nous utilisons l’approche qualitative d’étude de cas

multiples pour explorer l’impact de l’agrément sur quatre

écoles de commerce d’universités canadiennes. Les partici-

pants signalent sept répercussions majeures dont les plus

importantes sont une réputation en hausse, la pression pour

le changement, une eff‌icacité accrue de la gestion et l’accent

sur la recherche. Toutes ces répercussions sont inf‌luencées

par le contexte dans lequel l’agrément a lieu. L’incertitude

environnementaleest analysée comme contexte dimensionnel.

Mots-clés : agrément, impact, écoles de commerce

universitaires, étude de cas, qualitatif

The last 20 years have witnessed a proliferation of

accreditation-seeking and grantingin the f‌ield of man agement

education. Originating in the United States, the voluntary

accreditation of business schools by private, self-governing

organizations is increasingly becoming a global phenomenon

(Carraher, 2009; Pfeffer & Fong, 2002; Trapnell, 2007;

Zammuto, 2008). While there are many different bodies that

confer accreditations on business programs or schools, the

American-based Association to Advance Collegiate Schools

of Business (AACSB International) is the most longstanding

body and is stillrecognized as the premier accreditor(Espiritu,

2007; Iossifova,2008).

1

Founded in 1916by 16 of the leading

American universities (e.g., Harvard, Columbia, Chicago),

AACSB has been relatively unchallenged in this role until

the entry of two other American agencies: the Association of

Collegiate Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) in

1988, and the International Assembly for Collegiate Business

Education (IACBE) 10 years later (Pringle, Michel, &

Madison, 2007; Trapnell, 2007; Zammuto,2008). In the same

year, two Europeanplayers also entered the fray:the European

Foundation for Management Development (EFMD)launched

its European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS) in 1997,

and the UK’s Association of MBA’s established its own ac-

creditation system for MBA programs (AMBA).

Accompanying this increase in accrediting bodies was a

corresponding surge in demand. For the AACSB, the

I would like to thank Professor Swee Goh, Telfer School of Management,

for his careful review and suggestions in the preparation of this manuscript.

*Please address correspondence to: Catherine Elliott, University of Ottawa,

Telfer School of Management, 55 Laurier Avenue East, Ottawa, Ontario,

Canada, K1N 6N5. Email: elliott@telfer.uottawa.ca

Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences

Revue canadienne des sciences de l’administration

30: 203–218 (2013)

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI: 10.1002/CJAS.1257

Can J Adm Sci

30(3), 203–218 (2013)Copyright © 2013 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 203

Association’s initial growth was primarily on American soil.

For instance, in 1987, the AACSB had accredited 246 US

business schools; however, by 1996, this had grown to 320

and by the end of 2006 it had reached 438 accredited institu-

tions (Zammuto, 2008).

2

As of November 2010, there were

486 accredited American business schools, representing a

growth rate of 98% over the last 23 years; in 2013, this num-

ber reached 497 (AACSB, 2010; AACSB, 2013). More

noteworthy is the entry of new international participants.

While there were only three AACSB accredited schools

from outside the US in 1996 (all three being Canadian), by

2006 there were 93 from across the globe, 110 by 2010,

and 175 by 2013. According to Fernandes, former President

and CEO of the AACSB, almost 40% of the association’s

members are now international (Carraher, 2009).

Despite this remarkable growth—in both the number of

business schools seeking accreditations as well as in

granting accreditations—there has been limited empirical

research on this phenomenon. In 2006, Julian and Ofori-

Dankwa called upon management scholars to “conduct

rigorous theoretically and empirically based inquiries into

various aspects of the accreditation process”(2006, p. 232).

Romero (2008), an advocate of AACSB accreditation, also

admitted “there is a lack of published, hard, and systematic

data on AACSB’s positive strategic impact”(p. 246). While

a review of the literature surfaced a number of articles on

AACSB accreditation, the research tends to be primarily

quantitative survey data of American deans or directors.

With the exception of several articles that apply institutional

theory to the study of accreditation (e.g., Durand &

McGuire, 2005; McKee, Mills, & Weatherbee, 2005), there

is little recognition of the importance of the context in which

the accreditation takes place, nor is there much attention

paid to other stakeholders’perspectives. As noted by Johns

(2006), context is a critical consideration that has often been

ignored in management research; attention to context pro-

vides an opportunity to examine the deeper issues and

meanings surrounding accreditation and its consequences.

For this reason, the present study takes a new approach.

Employing a qualitative multiple case study methodology,

this study explores the following questions: (a) what is the

impact of AACSB accreditation on Canadian university

business schools? and (b) how does organizational context

inf‌luence these impacts?

Background: Business School Accreditation

Possible Negative Effects

In recent years, a healthy debate has been brewing on

the topic of business school accreditation. Taking a deliber-

ately provocative stance in their 2006 article, Julian and

Ofori-Dankwa fuelled the discussion by boldly claiming that

the inf‌luence of external accrediting bodies is negative and

“profound”(p. 225), referring to this phenomenon as an

accreditocracy. They cited many negative effects: accredita-

tion has inf‌luenced business school staff‌ing, research, and

curriculum policies (Gore, Steven, & Bailey, 1998;

Henninger, 1994) and caused schools to alter the processes

by which they conduct strategic planning and environmen-

tal scanning activities (Julian & Ofori-Dankwa; Kerby &

Weber, 2000; Yunker, 2000). Julian and Ofori-Dankwa also

argue that current university environments are discontinuous

and require adaptive strategies whereas accreditation

increases rigidity—the opposite of what is needed. Yunker

(2000, p. 351) contends that AACSB criteria have “dubious

sensibleness,”and that accreditation wastes time, breeds

ineff‌iciency, and proliferates paperwork. White, Miles, and

Levernier (2009, p. 411) claim that AACSB standards have

become increasingly diluted over the last decade as more

lower tier schools attain accreditation.

The AACSB accreditation process is also very costlyand

time-consuming (McKee et al., 2005; Pringle et al., 2007;

Roberts, Johnson, & Groesbeck, 2006; Wood, 1999). For

example, direct costs for accreditation—application fees,

conference fees, air fares, meals, and consultant costs—have

been estimated by Roberts et al. (2004, 2006) at between

$50,000 and $100,00 (2006, p. 60). In a study of 10 small

to medium-sized American business schools (newly

accredited or seeking initial accreditation), Heriot, Austin,

and Franklin (2009) found that all schools experienced both

initial one-time expenditures as well as increased annual

expenses. Other than the costs of the peer review visit, costs

for external consultants were the most commonly incurred

one-time capital expenditure (9 of 10 schools reported

average fees of $5,217). Other one-timecosts were associated

with a mock peer review (M= $7,207 reported at seven

schools) and technology improvements (M = $33,750

reported at four schools). The other categoryof costs—annual

expenditures—has greater economic impact on the business

schools. Annual expenditures included items such as:

increased faculty salaries (and recruitment costs), profes-

sional development, library enhancement, annual dues,

and opportunity costs (e.g., reduced tuition fees due to

program changes). By far the most signif‌icant was

increased faculty salaries at an average value of

$319,088 (reported by nine schools). More recently,

researchers have also examined the cost of assurance of

learning standards (AOL) f‌irst introduced by the AACSB

in 2003. For example, Pringle et al. (2007), in their

recent survey of 138 accredited schools, found that 54%

of accreditation coordinators estimated that the costs of

assurance of learning standards (AOL) alone had

exceeded $10,000 US.

Possible Positive Effects

However, there are many documented benef‌its of

accreditation, and proponents argue that the benef‌its of

THE IMPACT OF AACSB ACCREDITATION ELLIOTT

Can J Adm Sci

30(3), 203–218 (2013)Copyright © 2013 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 204