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

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 management 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.     

Challenges of AACSB international accreditation for business schools in the United States and Europe

The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International (AACSB International) is committed to its role in setting worldwide standards to enhance the quality of management education. The organization is expanding its brand presence in Europe, where business schools are beginning to seek AACSB International accreditation. In the United States, an increase in the number of business schools seeking AACSB International accreditation is also occurring. Business school leaders not only see the transcendent importance of AACSB International accreditation; they also realize the challenges that are involved in the accreditation process. The focus of our discussion is on the challenges confronted by business schools in both the United States and Europe. We compare and contrast the challenges on both continents. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The perfect match: Factors that characterize the AACSB International initial accreditation host school and mentor relationship

Initial Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International accreditation involves a process of pairing mentor and host schools to provide guidance and feedback on the congruence of the host school with the accreditation standards. The mentor serves as the primary resource for assisting the host school in identifying gaps with the standards, and the development and implementation of an initial self-evaluation report to detail steps to meet the standards. Matching mentors and host schools to encourage an effective relationship over a 5-year period would seem to be critical to achieving initial accreditation. In the present study, eight factors related to matching the mentors and host schools were identified. Results revealed only two significant differences between host business schools and mentors, indicating that the process is working well. Based on the results, ways to sustain and enhance the mentor–host school relationship are discussed.     

Internationalization Strategies of Business Schools: How Flat Is the World?

Business school strategy has become extremely complex, especially regarding internationalization. Using different paths, experiencing failure and success, business schools have internationalized, attracting many of the international students who contributed $27 billion¹ to the US economy in 2014. Some business schools are global, training global managers, while others serve national markets. How do business schools strategize about internationalization? Can we use existing models to explain this process? Are internationalization and globalization similar? Using a comparative analysis of six case studies in the United States and Europe, we found that the engine of internationalization influences its paths and outcomes. We contribute to international business (IB) research by discussing how business schools strategize their internationalization toward uniformity or diversity under isomorphic pressures from accreditation bodies (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business [AACSB], 2011) and rankings. The so‐called Uppsala model should be extended to address three tensions: internationalization versus globalization, enacted dimensions of audiences, and respective risks of different internationalization pathways. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Preparing undergraduate students for the Major Field Test in Business

Many business programs address the learning of undergraduate students with an exit exam. A reference librarian and the business school faculty created an online test preparation study guide (or LibGuide) which included no-cost resources that were readily available yet academically authoritative to aid students in studying for the Educational Testing Service Major Field Test in Business at an Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business–accredited college in northwest Georgia. The findings indicated that while some graduating business seniors did use the LibGuide materials, many were overwhelmed with the amount of material available and believed studying would not be beneficial to their performance on the exit exam. Discussion and areas for future research are presented.     

Content,Pedagogy, and Learning Outcomes in the International Marketing Course

Abstract

The early internationalization of business school curricula was in response to corporate needs and expectations, and the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International) fostered changes by instituting accreditation outcomes that focused upon international content in the curriculum. By the late 1990s, a course in international marketing was standard at most accredited college and universities, and faculty in these courses reported on various approaches to teaching the course. The main objective of the current study was to examine the course content, pedagogy, and learning outcomes of current international marketing courses. As such, a content analysis of international marketing syllabi from 89 colleges and universities was conducted. Findings from this indepth analysis offer insights regarding knowledge content coverage, pedagogical strategy, and learning outcomes assessment and provide an update on the current status of teaching international marketing in schools of business.     

Measuring business school faculty perceptions of student cheating

Dealing with academic dishonesty remains an ongoing issue for business school faculty. In this study, using an online survey, the authors examined responses of 233 business school faculty from a Tier 1 Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business–accredited university and measured their perceptions of undergraduate cheating and reporting of such behavior. Study results showed promise for measuring 3 types of cheating behavior scales: paper based, internet based, and direct exam. Faculty who formally reported a cheating incident perceived a higher general cheating problem, and higher levels of paper-based, internet-based, and direct exam cheating than the faculty who had never reported a student.     

A Comparison of Western Business Instruction in China With U.S. Instruction: A Case Study of Perceived Program Emphases and Satisfaction Levels

This research presents a case study of a joint business degree program between an Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International (AACSB‐I) accredited business school in the United States and a Chinese PhD granting partner university. The case investigates the impact of a U.S.‐based curriculum, taught by U.S. instructors and which uses all English instruction on Chinese student perceptions of program emphases and satisfaction. It compares these perceptions with those of U.S. sister students. The comparison reveals program dissatisfaction among Chinese students when contrasted to U.S. students and for the most part a failure to attend to the program emphases of the West. Reasons for the departures are explored and strategies for improvement are developed.     

Globalization of Management Education

A new study, sponsored by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, presented a comprehensive new perspective on the globalization of management education, (AACSB International, 2011). Its findings are sobering: with regard to emerging global trends in higher education and cross-border business, the report reveals a sizable gap between what the world needs and what management educators generally do. Key areas for attention include the expansion of mechanisms for quality improvement and assurance globally, strengthening the use of international partnerships, more intentional internationalization within the curriculum, and connecting various global activities to one another through a comprehensive globalization strategy.     

Innovation,engagement, and impact measures: Two exploratory studies on the processes and outcomes development

The authors examine the development and implementation of measures for the 2013 Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) thematic dimensions of innovation, engagement, and impact (IEI) at two AACSB-accredited business schools. Agreement exists among faculty in Study 1 that IEI should be viewed as interrelated and overlapping concentric circles rather than separate dimensions. Study 2 findings suggest the importance of dialogue with faculty during the implementation process to further clarify the conceptual IEI boundaries. Overall, the authors' findings can assist schools in ensuring that the development and implementation of IEI themes in their institutions are consistent with the AACSB standards.     

An Analysis of the Ethical Codes of Corporations and Business Schools

Reports of ethical lapses in the business world have been numerous and widespread. Ethical awareness in business education has received a great deal of attention because of the number and severity of business scandals. Given Sarbanes-Oxley legislation and recent Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International’s (AACSBI) recommendations, this study examined respective websites of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulated public companies and AACSBI-accredited business schools for ethical policy statement content. The analysis was accomplished by classifying ethical expressions into a framework consisting of the attributes of thematic content and focus/themes partially based on the 2004 research of Gaumnitz and Lere. Findings indicate that public companies have been diligent in presenting website ethical content that closely follows authoritative recommendations. Business schools appear not to have prioritized such disclosure to the extent done so by public companies. Although there was improvement between two samples taken in 2005 and 2007, this study provides evidence that many accredited business schools have little or no disclosed ethical expectations in their mission, vision, goals, or other similar types of statements on their websites. Additional findings provide several opportunities for future research.     

A curriculum model for IT infrastructure management in undergraduate business schools

As information technology infrastructure becomes strategic to organizations, the author examines business-school programs that educate future infrastructure analysts. Information systems (IS) 2010 and information technology (IT) 2008 curriculum models are used to survey courses required by telecommunications and IT infrastructure programs in business schools. Of 525 Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business–accredited schools, 259 have IS/IT programs and 18 have telecommunications and infrastructure-related programs. IT Infrastructure, Networking-Advanced, and IT Security are the top three infrastructure-related courses. Programs also require courses including IS Project Management; Social and Professional Issues; and IS Strategy, Management and Acquisition. Data collected are used to develop a new curriculum model of IT infrastructure management program that can be offered by business schools.     

Challenges and Opportunities of Business Education in Southeast Europe: The Case of a Balkan Business School

In 2004, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) concluded a 4‐year, 10 million dollar contract with the University of Delaware to create the Sarajevo Graduate School of Business, the first Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business [AACSB]‐accredited business school in Southeast Europe. This case study examines inconsistencies in the school's mission and goals, the structure and operation of the joint venture between Delaware and the University of Sarajevo, the fit between Delaware's MBA program and the local environment, pricing in an emerging market, the impact of the school's business model on its sustainability, challenges of market estimation and new product introduction, and the realism of USAID's goal of cultural change. The article concludes with an up‐to‐date epilogue and summary of conclusions that pertain generally to organizational strategies in emerging markets.     

Fostering Ethics Research: An Analysis of the Accounting, Finance and Marketing Disciplines

This study compares the level of ethics research published in 25 business-ethics journals and the Top-40 journals for the accounting, finance, and marketing disciplines. This research documents an increasing level of ethics research in the accounting and marketing disciplines starting in 1992. While the level of finance doctorates reported by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) has increased at a higher rate (40.4%) than accounting (18.4%) and marketing (32.2%) since 1995, this increase has not been reflected in the level of ethics scholarship in finance. The level of ethics scholarship in finance remained relatively constant between 1987 and 2005 at an average of seven coauthor-adjusted articles per year. However, both the accounting and marketing disciplines now regularly publish approximately 50 coauthor-adjusted articles each year. Richard A. Bernardi, Professor of Accounting at Roger Williams University, is a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who flew B-52s and FB-111s. Dr. Bernardi received a PhD in Accounting from Union College in 1992. He has published over 80 articles as well as receiving Teaching Excellence Awards from Roger Williams University and the State University of New York. Michael R. Melton, Associate Professor of Finance at Roger Williams University, received a PhD in Finance from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is currently the Director of the Center for Advanced Financial Education in the Gabelli School of Business at Roger Williams University. Scott D. Roberts is the Associate Dean and an Associate Professor of Marketing at Saint Edwards University. Dr. Roberts received a PhD in Marketing from the University of Utah in 1988; since then, he has published 50 articles in marketing and consumer behavior journals and proceedings. David F. Bean, the Senior Research Consultant at B. D. & C. Academic Consultants, has extensive public and private accounting experience. In academia he attained the rank of Full Professor and has published numerous journal articles. He was granted his PhD in Accounting from Temple University in 1994. The authors are involved in several research projects and alternate lead author responsibilities; the authors contribute equally to all of their published work.     

Developing an Interdisciplinary Major in International Business

ABSTRACT

Since the change of the accreditation standards by the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) requiring internationalization of the business school curriculum about twenty years ago, different models of internationalization have been developed and tried by different types of business schools across the nation. However, no single model has emerged as an ideal model suitable for all kinds of institutions, large or small, urban or rural. At small and rural universities, internationalization efforts pose some extra challenges because of the general lack of global exposure and practices among its faculty and students, lack of adequate resources, financial crunch and locally centered vision of its leadership. This paper describes how a small and rural university has successfully implemented its own model to internationalize its business programs in spite of all the financial and non-fiscal challenges. Such a model could be emulated by similar small and rural institutions across the country.     

A retrospective of international business education in the United States over the past fifty years

International business relationships are almost as old as mankind, but the idea that people needed to be educated to manage global business enterprises is less than 50 years old. The American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird), established in 1946 was the first school to provide languages, international studies, and business management as a basic education in international management. Business schools in America have been slow to realize and to promulgate courses and curriculums in the field. It has only been in the last ten years that the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business, composed of over 700 colleges and universities in the country, has become an advocate through a revision in its standards. After the words “and worldwide” were inserted in the AACSB standards of accreditation, international business education began to permeate the offerings of American business schools.     

Assurance of Learning and Study Abroad: A Case Study

Most academic programs are now held accountable for measuring student‐learning outcomes. This article reports the results of an assurance of learning (AOL) project designed to measure the impact of study abroad on the development of ethical reasoning, intercultural sensitivity, and environmental attitudes. The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International (AACSB) AOL guidelines (2007 Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International. 2007, November 20. AACSB assurance of learning standards: An interpretation (AACSB White Paper), Tampa, FL: AACSB International Accreditation Coordinating Committee and the AACSB International Accreditation Quality Committee. Retrieved May 16, 2009 from http://aacsb.edu/accreditation/papers/AOLPaper‐final‐11‐20‐07.pdf [Google Scholar], 2008 Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International. 2008, January 31. Eligibility procedures and accreditation standards for business accreditation, 12, 15, 71, &; 74Tampa, FL: Author. Retrieved March 12, 2009 from http://aacsb.edu/accreditation/process/documents/AACSB_STANDARDS_Revised_Jan08.pdf [Google Scholar]) are used to frame the overall assessment process. Hammer and Bennett's (2002 Hammer, M. R. and Bennett, M. J. 2002. The intercultural development inventory (IDI) manual, Portland, OR: Intercultural Communication Institute.  [Google Scholar]) intercultural development inventory (IDI); Dunlap, Van Liere, Mertig, and Jones' (2000 Dunlap, R. E., Van Liere, K. D., Mertig, A. G. and Jones, R. E. 2000. Measuring endorsement of the new ecological paradigm: A revised NEP scale.. Journal of Social Issues, 3: 425–442.  [Google Scholar]) new ecological paradigm; Forsyth's (1980 Forsyth, D. R. 1980. A taxonomy of ethical ideologies.. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39: 175–184. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) ethics position questionnaire (EPQ); and Richins' (1987 Richins, M. L. 1987. “Media, materialism, and human happiness.”. In Advances in consumer research, Edited by: Wallendorf, M and Anderson, P. 352–56. Provo, UT: Association for Consumer Research.  [Google Scholar]) materialism scale are the primary measurement rubrics used in the study. Results support the proposition that study abroad does have a positive impact on the development of cross‐cultural sensitivity and environmental attitudes. Although study abroad appears to have no direct impact on moral reasoning, changes in ethical reasoning do appear to be related to intercultural development and environmental attitudes. The AOL project demonstrates how assurance of learning programs can be extended to include experiential learning outcomes and can serve as a guide for the furthering of the globalization of a business curriculum.     

International Marketing (14th edition), by Philip R. Cateora,Mary C. Gilly,and John I. Graham

Abstract

The trend toward internationalizing business curriculum at American colleges and universities should be incorporated as a strategy throughout the United States. The catalyst that has led most business schools to adopt a systematic acceptance of the internationalization of their curriculum was the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) 1984-1985 Standards and Guidelines for business school accreditation. Most would agree that without AACSB mandates, the transition would be slower, but inevitable, due to the focus on worldwide business issues. The global economy is rapidly evolving and the needs for competencies in international business are becoming very important to the U.S. and its economic well-being. Because of this, industry is looking for a new kind of employee, the kind that understands both the importance of international business and how to operate within it successfully. The halls of academia must respond to this pressing need by going much further than providing a sporadic array of “elective” international topics. Their response has to be synergistic with university presidents, deans and faculties fully supportive of an organizational design change that promotes a new way of thinking. The new organization is one in which there must be an international focus throughout the business school. With that synergy in place, the process of internationalizing students, the university, curriculum and faculty can move forward.     

Concerns of college students regarding business ethics: A replication

In 1984 we reported the results of surveying a nationwide sample of college students about selected business ethics issues. We concluded that (a) college students were in general concerned about the issues investigated and (b) female students were relatively more concerned than were male students. The present study replicated our earlier study and not only corroborated both of its conclusions, but also found a higher level of concern than had been observed previously.Robert A. Peterson is the John T. Stuart III Centennial Chair in Business Administration and Charles C. Hurwitz Fellow at the IC² Institute, The University of Texas at Austin. He is a former editor of the Journal of Marketing Research and is editor of the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. He has published more than 150 books and articles.Richard F. Beltramini is Associate Professor of Marketing and Advertising at Arizona State University. He has published numerous articles in marketing and advertising journals and has chaired national-level committees for the American Academy of Advertising and the American Marketing Association.George Kozmetsky is Executive Associate for Economic Affairs, The University of Texas System and Director, the IC² Institute at the University of Texas. A co-founder of Teledyne, he is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has received such awards as the Dow Jones Award from the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business and the Thomas Jefferson Award from the Technology Transfer Society.