Abstract

Purpose: Business schools turn to prestigious international accrediting bodies (AACSB, EQUIS and AMBA) in their quest for legitimacy, improved status and reputation. What pains and gains are involved when pursuing these credentials? What are the facilitative and friction forces, supporting or inhibiting development in the different levels of the organization? The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach: This qualitative single case study provides an extant literature review on business accreditations and their effect on business school development. Through examining the business school organization from four angles, “levels of change,” the accreditation process related events in a Nordic business school during 2009–2017 are analyzed.

Findings: Regardless of the typical path-dependency of academic organizations, an accreditation process significantly affects the business school development in all four levels of the organization — dominant logic, culture, structures and systems — through changing the everyday activities. Individual actors become more aware of the underlying values, beliefs and assumptions behind their own behavior as well as that of the overall organization. Deeply rooted understanding of “academic freedom” is challenged. New relationships and working culture are created across sub-units and individuals. Introducing faculty qualifications criteria may lead to department mergers. Accreditation data systems bring transparency into academic work, increasing the consciousness and result orientation among individuals.

Originality/value: This study contributes to the limited theoretical understanding of the development a professional organization through accreditation, adds to the understanding of practical consequences on the level of an individual organization, as well as offers managerial suggestions for business school leaders.