Comparing Business Faculty's Salaries by Rank and Gender: Does AACSB Accreditation Really Make a Difference?

INTRODUCTION Once collegiate business schools have achieved accreditation recognition through the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International (AACSB), there is the burden of proof for maintaining the more rigorous standards imposed on the academic program offerings. One of the hardest things for business school deans--and their department heads--to do is not dissatisfy their faculty members, a factor, arguably, that is directly related to the production of intellectual contributions of a reasonable (measureable) quantity and quality. Frederick Herzberg was a psychologist whose writings popularized "enrichment theory. " We know from Herzberg, Mausner and Snyderman (1959) and Herzberg (1964) that motivation and dissatisfaction are different factors. Herzberg (1964) included salary among the list of hygiene factors, i.e., fringe benefits, status, job security, and salary. These factors do not cause positive satisfaction, but their absence results in dissatisfaction. Herzberg used the term "hygiene" within the context of human motivation and job enrichment. He surmised, correctly, that factors at work that motivate people are different and not simply the opposite of the factors that dissatisfy people. Therefore, it is easy to construe from this theory that a faculty member can be not "dissatisfied" with salary but also not necessarily "motivated" or "satisfied" with the work he or she does in general. (1964) This is often the case with tenured faculty members (who already have job security and status hygiene) but whose ICs are so low that they cannot be classified as professionally qualified (PQ) or academically qualified (AQ) by even the most liberal standards. They seem perfectly satisfied doing the mundane and, with very moderate, if any annual pay increases. Thus, it is possible to hypothesize that since AACSB is imposing higher standards, one of which is a financial commitment from administration, including university presidents, that AACSB accredited business schools should be more hygienic when it comes to salary, status (rank), and security (tenure). We can surmise in most cases that annual merit pay increases, tenure appointments, and promotion through the ranks will include considerations of a faculty member's research productivity, especially at AACSB accredited business schools. Anyone chairing a faculty development committee knows all about the proof required from faculty members on the tenure-track or those up for post-tenure review; they must submit to the committee their dossiers including peer reviewed publications, peer-reviewed proceedings, peer reviewed paper presentations, and other intellectual contributions. What business schools are doing to make continuous improvements on "closing the loop" on weaknesses in their programs--accomplishments consistent with the standards that must be documented year-to-year in annual maintenance reports--is essential to maintaining AACSB accreditation. Faculty members' intellectual contributions are the justification for graduate programs in many cases, even at business schools whose missions are primarily teaching. Nonetheless, all-to-often schools of business have limited resources and a host of budget constraints that directly affect the salary hygiene factor that directly impact faculty members' intellectual contributions, i.e., money for conference travel, publication and pages fees reimbursed, sponsoring symposiums, and special incentives for publishing in top-tier journals. Are these AACSB accredited business schools using salary and promotion to quash dissatisfaction among the ranks and between genders? We wanted to know that since AACSB imposes more rigorous standards on the business schools it accredits and whether these AACSB business schools also provide more stable salary, security, and status as hygiene across rank and gender. AACSB RELATED LITERATURE Studies abound about the need for research and publishing in colleges of business nationwide. …