The role of social responsibility in shaping quality assurance practices in accounting education

Publication Date

2025-07

Avondale Affiliates

Publisher

Elsevier

Original

Rights

Peer Review Status

Review Status

Peer Reviewed

Field of Education

08 Management and Commerce

Field of Research

35 COMMERCE, MANAGEMENT, TOURISM AND SERVICES::3501 Accounting, auditing and accountability
35 COMMERCE, MANAGEMENT, TOURISM AND SERVICES::3599 Other commerce, management, tourism and services
39 EDUCATION::3901 Curriculum and pedagogy

Degree

Department

Faculty

Supervisor

Awarding Institution

Degree

Department

Faculty

Supervisor

Awarding Institution

Abstract

Social and ethical dimensions of business practices are under heightened scrutiny in today's world and have raised increasing interest and demands for action by accounting professionals in providing relevant information to stakeholders. This increased concern has implications for Accounting Education and content within curricula. This study investigates the influence of social responsibility on the quality assurance practices within accounting education at Australian business schools through the lens of Legitimacy Theory. It reports on a questionnaire of 132 academic staff and interviews with 16 academic staff from AACSB accredited and non-accredited accounting schools. The qualitative data were analysed through a three-stage process involving data reduction, display, and interpretation, where key themes and codes emerged inductively from interview transcripts. Quantitative data were analysed using independent t-tests and descriptive statistics to compare groups, with results summarised in tables to identify relationships. The findings reveal that social responsibility is a significant driver in the development and implementation of quality assurance frameworks. These frameworks not only enhance educational outcomes but also align with broader societal expectations and ethical standards, contributing to the legitimacy of educational institutions. Implications for educators highlight the need for a holistic quality assurance approach that integrates social responsibility to maintain legitimacy.4

Description

© 2025 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This article is unavailable for download due to publisher restrictions. The final published version is available from the publisher here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1472811725000254. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Research Statement

Keywords

Accounting education, Business schools, Social responsibility, Sustainability, Legitimacy theory, Quality assurance

Citation

Sithole, S. T. M., Ashraf, S. F., Wilmshurst, T. D., & Horner, C. (2025). The role of social responsibility in shaping quality assurance practices in accounting education. The International Journal of Management Education, 23(2), 101155. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijme.2025.101155

International Standard Serial Number

International Standard Book Number

Collections

Avondale University acknowledges our Sovereign God as Creator and Provider of all things. We respectfully acknowledge the Awabakal and Darramuragal people as the traditional custodians of the lands on which we live, work, study and worship across our Lake Macquarie and Sydney campuses. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging, and extend that respect to all First Nations People.

Avondale University is a member of the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist system of universities and colleges.

CRICOS Provider No.: 02731D. RTO: 91191. TEQSA: PRV12015. ABN: 53 108 186 401.

© Avondale University Ltd 2025