5.1.3. Accreditation
The AACSB also appears something of an outsider to the current system. Although the AACSB recognizes that there have
been concerns raised about the value of research and the emphasis on top-tier journal publications (AACSB International,
2008), it adheres to its position of programme diversity whereby different schools pursue different (but apparently equal)
missions (AACSB International, 2012). Given the extensive evidence documenting the dominance of one research agenda in
the U.S., it is difficult to accept that there is equality of mission among programmes. In this respect there is no real incentive
for AACSB to press for a re-examination of the current scripts because they benefit from the status quo, as evidenced by the
strong membership base in the U.S. However, the AACSB’s expansion of accreditation into international jurisdictions and the
types of Schools accredited does reflect greater acceptance of a broader research agenda, at least outside of a U.S. context.
There is considerable evidence that limited, if any, real change is occurring despite the fact that the problems have been
well documented. There are sometimes symbolic change gestures but none of the actors that have the ability to effect change
have an incentive to do so. This tendency towards replication is consistent with the predictions of the Barley and Tolbert
(1997) model and it is thus not surprising that we have seen so little change. How the academy responds to the most recent
documentation of the crisis by the Pathways Commission (2012) remains to be seen. However, we should be concerned by
Reiter’s (1998) finding that the last response to calls for greater innovation and relevance (in the 1990s) was simply for the