An Examination of Alternative Sources of Doctoral Accounting Faculty

In 2003 the Doctoral Faculty Commission, created by Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB, 2003) International to address the problem of doctoral faculty shortages in business, reported that alternative supply of business faculty with doctoral degrees can be obtained by attracting and transitioning doctoral-trained researchers from other disciplines. In this study, the authors examined the alternative sources of doctoral accounting faculty by comparing accounting faculty with nonaccounting doctorates (48 participants) and accounting faculty with accounting doctorates (96 participants). Results suggest that doctoral programs are most influential on broad areas of ability and that these abilities can be successfully transitioned from one discipline to another.