Abstract
It is a general understanding that higher education has characteristics of an “experience good” because the quality cannot be determined before receiving the service, which induces information asymmetry. In response to reducing the asymmetry, external assessment tools like international accreditations have emerged in higher education, which is especially evident in the field of business and management research. Quality is an integral part of reputation and legitimisation, so business schools actively engage in the accreditation race. In order to ensure legitimacy in the higher education market, business schools pay special attention to their intellectual output. It is reflected in the development of academic policies designed to encourage publication activities. It is pivotal to analyse how international accreditations contribute to the research performance and impact of business schools. The results of the study provide evidence that AACSB accreditation contributes to the research performance, however, it does not contribute to increasing the impact of the papers. Since the signalling research-based reputation is important for business schools, the study places attention on further examination of determinants of impactful research as international accreditation only determines the growth of quantity not the quality.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Availability of data and materials
Open source data and Data subject to third party restrictions.
Code availability
Not applicable.
References
AACSB (2021, November 7). 2001–2020 Business school questionnaire. Retrieved from https://www.aacsb.edu/DataDirect
Abramo, G., D’Angelo, C.A. and Murgia, G. (2013) The collaboration behaviors of scientists in Italy: A field level analysis. Journal of Informetrics 7(2): 442–454. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joi.2013.01.009
Alajoutsijärvi, K., Juusola, K. and Siltaoja, M. (2015) The legitimacy paradox of business schools: Losing by gaining? Academy of Management Learning and Education 14(2): 277–291. https://doi.org/10.5465/amle.2013.0106
Alajoutsijärvi, K., Kettunen, K. and Sohlo, S. (2018) Shaking the status quo: Business accreditation and positional competition. Academy of Management Learning and Education 17(2): 203–225. https://doi.org/10.5465/amle.2015.0199
Antonakis, J., Bastardoz, N., Liu, Y. and Schriesheim, C.A. (2014) What makes articles highly cited? The Leadership Quarterly 25(1): 152–179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2013.10.014
Avolio, B. and Benzaquen, J. (2020) Strategic drivers to approach business school’s accreditations. Journal of Education for Business 95(8): 519–526. https://doi.org/10.1080/08832323.2019.1707751
Bauer, D.J., Preacher, K.J. and Gil, K.M. (2006) Conceptualizing and testing random indirect effects and moderated mediation in multilevel models: New procedures and recommendations. Psychological Methods 11(2): 142–163. https://doi.org/10.1037/1082-989X.11.2.142
Beaudry, C. and Allaoui, S. (2012) Impact of public and private research funding on scientific production: The case of nanotechnology. Research Policy 41(9): 1589–1606. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2012.03.022
Bieker, R.F. (2014) Does AACSB accreditation provide quality assurance and foster quality improvement for limited resource business schools whose missions are primarily teaching? The International Journal of Management Education 12(3): 283–292. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijme.2014.09.003
Bos-Nehles, A., Renkema, M. and Janssen, M. (2017) HRM and innovative work behaviour: A systematic literature review. Personnel Review 46(7): 1228–1253. https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-09-2016-0257
Certo, S.T. (2003) Influencing initial public offering investors with prestige: Signaling with board structures. The Academy of Management Review 28(3): 432. https://doi.org/10.2307/30040731
Chicherina, N.V., Vasilieva, J.S. and Okulova, O.I. (2019) International accreditations as a tool to develop faculty engagement. University Management: Practice and Analysis 23(1–2): 47–59. https://doi.org/10.15826/umpa.2019.01-2.003
Chirikov, I. (2021). Does conflict of interest distort global university rankings? UC Berkeley: Center for Studies in Higher Education. Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8hk672nh
Connelly, B.L., Certo, S.T., Ireland, R.D. and Reutzel, C.R. (2011) Signaling theory: A review and assessment. Journal of Management 37(1): 39–67. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206310388419
Deming, D.J. and Figlio, D. (2016) Accountability in US education: Applying lessons from K-12 experience to higher education. Journal of Economic Perspectives 30(3): 33–56. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.30.3.33
Didegah, F. and Thelwall, M. (2013) Which factors help authors produce the highest impact research? Collaboration, journal and document properties. Journal of Informetrics 7(4): 861–873. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joi.2013.08.006
Durand, T. and Dameron, S. (2017) 'Trends and challenges in management education around the world', in S. Dameron and T. Durand (eds.) The future of management educationPalgrave Macmillan, pp. 1–21.https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56091-9_1.
Elliott, C. and Soo, K.T. (2016) The impact of MBA programme attributes on post-MBA salaries. Education Economics 24(4): 427–443. https://doi.org/10.1080/09645292.2015.1113233
Engers, M. (1987) Signalling with many signals. Econometrica. https://doi.org/10.2307/1913605
Fang, W., Dai, S. and Tang, L. (2020) The impact of international research collaboration network evolution on Chinese business school research quality. Complexity 2020: 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/7528387
Faria, J.R. and Mixon, F.G. (2022) Opportunism vs. excellence in academia: Quality accreditation of collegiate business schools. American Business Review 25(1): 4–24. https://doi.org/10.37625/abr.25.1.4-24
Financial Times. 50 Journals used in FT Research Rank. Retrieved from: https://www.ft.com/content/3405a512-5cbb-11e1-8f1f-00144feabdc0. Retrieved July 25, 2022.
Gao, H., Darroch, J., Mather, D. and MacGregor, A. (2008) Signaling corporate strategy in IPO communication: A study of biotechnology IPOs on the NASDAQ. Journal of Business Communication. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021943607309349
Goulet, L.R. (2016) Mission-driven expected impact: Assessing scholarly output for 2013 Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business standards. Journal of Education for Business 91(1): 11–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/08832323.2015.1108280
Guillotin, B. and Mangematin, V. (2018) Authenticity-based strategizing: Moving business schools beyond accreditations and rankings. Journal of Management Development 37(6): 480–492. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMD-12-2016-0301
Hommel, U. & Thomas, H. (2014). Research on business schools: Themes, conjectures and future directions. In The institutional development of business schools (pp. 6–39). Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School of Business.
Jacqmin, J. and Lefebvre, M. (2021) The effect of international accreditations on students’ revealed preferences: Evidence from French Business schools. Economics of Education Review 85: 102192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2021.102192
Judge, T.A., Cable, D.M., Colbert, A.E. and Rynes, S.L. (2007) What causes a management article to be cited—Article, author, or journal? Academy of Management Journal 50(3): 491–506. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2007.25525577
Kaplan, A. (2014) European management and European business schools: Insights from the history of business schools. European Management Journal 32(4): 529–534. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2014.03.006
Ke, S.-W., Lin, W.-C. and Tsai, C.-F. (2016) Research performance of AACSB accredited institutions in Taiwan: Before versus after accreditation. SpringerPlus 5(1): 1285. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40064-016-2934-6
King, G. and Zeng, L. (2001) Logistic regression in rare events data. Political Analysis 9(2): 137–163. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.pan.a004868
Krull, J.L. and MacKinnon, D.P. (2001) Multilevel modeling of individual and group level mediated effects. Multivariate Behavioral Research 36(2): 249–277. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327906MBR3602_06
Landry, R. and Amara, N. (1998) The impact of transaction costs on the institutional structuration of collaborative academic research. Research Policy 27(9): 901–913. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0048-7333(98)00098-5
Lee, S. and Bozeman, B. (2005) The impact of research collaboration on scientific productivity. Social Studies of Science 35(5): 673–702. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306312705052359
Lehtimäki, H. and Peltonen, T. (2013) Relations of power and knowledge: University–industry relations in business studies in Finland. Higher Education 66(2): 203–216. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-012-9599-z
Lejeune, C. and Vas, A. (2009) Organizational culture and effectiveness in business schools: A test of the accreditation impact. Journal of Management Development 28(8): 728–741. https://doi.org/10.1108/02621710910985504
Marconi, G. (2013) Rankings, accreditations, and international exchange students. IZA Journal of European Labor Studies 2(1): 5.
Merton, R.K. (1968) The Matthew Effect in Science: The reward and communication systems of science are considered. Science 159(3810): 56–63. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.159.3810.56
Nelson, P. (1970) Information and consumer behavior. Journal of Political Economy 78(2): 311–329
Nigsch, S. and Schenker-Wicki, A. (2013) Shaping performance: Do international accreditations and quality management really help? Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management 35(6): 668–681. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360080X.2013.844669
OECD. (2022). Tertiary graduates by field (indicator). https://doi.org/10.1787/9af26c71-en. Retrieved July 25, 2022.
Okulova, O. and Shakina, E. (2022) Is there value in international accreditation beyond quality? An empirical analysis of the AACSB accredited schools. Higher Education Quarterly 76(3): 612–625. https://doi.org/10.1111/hequ.12331
Onodera, N. and Yoshikane, F. (2015) Factors affecting citation rates of research articles: Factors Affecting Citation Rates of Research Articles. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology 66(4): 739–764. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.23209
Paphawasit, B. and Wudhikarn, R. (2022) Investigating patterns of research collaboration and citations in science and technology: A case of Chiang Mai University. Administrative Sciences 12(2): 71. https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci12020071
Riley, J.G. (1975) Competitive signalling. Journal of Economic Theory. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-0531(75)90049-6
Rindova, V.P., Williamson, I.O., Petkova, A.P. and Sever, J.M. (2005) Being good or being known: An empirical examination of the dimensions, antecedents, and consequences of organizational reputation. The Academy of Management Journal 48(6): 1033–1049
Ryazanova, O. and McNamara, P. (2016) Socialization and proactive behavior: multilevel exploration of research productivity drivers in U.S. business schools. Academy of Management Learning & Education 15(3): 525–548. https://doi.org/10.5465/amle.2015.0084
Ryazanova, O., McNamara, P. and Aguinis, H. (2017) Research performance as a quality signal in international labor markets: Visibility of business schools worldwide through a global research performance system. Journal of World Business 52(6): 831–841. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2017.09.003
Secundo, G., Dumay, J., Schiuma, G. and Passiante, G. (2016) Managing intellectual capital through a collective intelligence approach: An integrated framework for universities. Journal of Intellectual Capital 17(2): 298–319. https://doi.org/10.1108/JIC-05-2015-0046
Sohlo, S. and Nätti, S. (2019) International business accreditation as a trigger for business school development. Journal of Economic and Administrative Sciences 36(1): 64–81. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEAS-11-2018-0126
Spence, M. (1973) Job market signaling. Quarterly Journal of Economics. https://doi.org/10.2307/1882010
Stiglitz, J.E. (2000) The contributions of the economics of information to twentieth century economics. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 115(4): 1441–1478
Sziegat, H. (2021) The response of German business schools to international accreditation in global competition. Quality Assurance in Education 29(2/3): 135–150. https://doi.org/10.1108/QAE-01-2020-0008
Tingley, D., Yamamoto, T., Hirose, K., Keele, L. and Imai, K. (2014) mediation: R package for causal mediation analysis. Journal of Statistical Software. https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v059.i05
Tiokhin, L., Panchanathan, K., Lakens, D., Vazire, S., Morgan, T. and Zollman, K. (2021) Honest signaling in academic publishing. PLoS ONE 16(2): e0246675. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0246675
Trapnell, J.E. (2007) AACSB International accreditation: The value proposition and a look to the future. Journal of Management Development 26(1): 67–72. https://doi.org/10.1108/02621710710720112
Trieschmann, J.S., Dennis, A.R., Northcraft, G.B. and Niemi, A.W. (2000) Serving multiple constituencies in the business school: MBA program vs. research performance. Academy of Management Journal 43(5): 1130–1141. https://doi.org/10.5465/1556341
van Dalen, H. and Henkens, K. (2005) Signals in science: On the importance of signaling in gaining attention in science. Scientometrics 64: 209–233. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-005-0248-5
van Vught, F. (2008) Mission diversity and reputation in higher education. Higher Education Policy 21(2): 151–174. https://doi.org/10.1057/hep.2008.5
Wedlin, L. (2011) Going global: Rankings as rhetorical devices to construct an international field of management education. Management Learning 42(2): 199–218. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350507610389683
Wilson, D.C. and Thomas, H. (2012) The legitimacy of the business of business schools: What’s the future? Journal of Management Development 31(4): 368–376. https://doi.org/10.1108/02621711211219040
Wilson, D. and McKiernan, P. (2011) Global mimicry: Putting strategic choice back on the business school agenda: Global mimicry. British Journal of Management 22(3): 457–469. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8551.2011.00765.x
Funding
The reported study was funded by Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR), project number 20-310-90030\20 and project number 20-311-90079\20.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Authors equally contributed to the development of the research paper.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Veretennik, E., Okulova, O. Of Performance and Impact: How AACSB Accreditation Contributes to Research in Business Schools. High Educ Policy 36, 758–780 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41307-022-00284-y
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41307-022-00284-y