False Perceptions of Quality? AACSB Accreditation Myth and Propaganda Marketing Strategies

Abstract. This paper examines the perceptions of business school, college, and program accreditation relative to the practices and strategies of the AACSB to promote itself as the “Gold Standard ” of accreditation. The author explores competition in business education accreditation by looking at some of the most notable players across the globe and their current institutional membership. The value of AACSB degrees are examined in terms value to individuals and the real value of accreditation via its impact on culture and institutional ability to adapt to change. The idea that accreditation, especially AACSB accreditation increases costs of at tendance and operations is communicated, and the author argues on the comparative scholarly productivity of AACSB-degreed faculty members and their non-AACSB counterparts, bridge programs, and AACSB quality myths. The author discusses business practices by AACSB and its member institutions relative to prospective faculty or faculty applicants as involving deliberate exclusion and anti-intellectual practices. Arguing from the perspective of the need for flexibility, diversity, and innovation, the author asserts that other accreditation agencies for business embrace equally high or higher quality and standards than AACSB and that decisions on business school accreditation requires cultural, societal, and other considerations and should not just be relegated to propaganda or numbers and profitability gains for accrediting agencies