Abstract
Significant scholarly attention has been given to understanding if the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) helps or harms business school differentiation. In contrast, we apply categorization theory to investigate which and when AACSB business schools are more differentiated. Because middle AACSB tenure schools perceive differentiation as being more beneficial than longer AACSB tenure business schools and as posing less risk to their continued accreditation than shorter AACSB tenure business schools, we propose an inverse-u shaped relationship between AACSB tenure and differentiation. We also imply that private business schools are enabled to differentiate more than public business schools, leading to private business schools having greater differentiation across lengths of AACSB tenure. These patterns are supported by data from a variety of sources. In addition, post-hoc analysis shows an indirect effect from a business school being affiliating with a private university to students’ starting salaries through the business school prioritizing social acumen. Our findings highlight the importance of investigating between-school differences in differentiation.
Published Version
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