International Journal of Doctoral Studies Volume 11, 2016 Cite as: MacLennan, H. L., Piña, A. A., Hafford, P. F. & Moran, K. A. (2016). Doctor of Business Administration (D.B.A.): A viable credential for faculty in programmatically accredited business degree programs? International Jour- nal of Doctoral Studies, 11, 217-226. Retrieved from http://www.informingscience.org/Publications/3529 Doctor of Business Administration (D.B.A.): A Viable Credential for Faculty in Programmatically Accredited Business Degree Programs? Helen L. MacLennan Anthony A. Piña Saint Leo University, Sullivan University, St. Leo, FL, USA Louisville, KY, USA [email protected] [email protected] Patrick F. Hafford Kenneth A. Moran Wentworth Institute of Sullivan University, Technology, Boston, MA, USA Louisville, KY, USA [email protected] [email protected] Abstract Is the Doctor of Business Administration (D.B.A) a viable degree option for those wishing a ca- reer in academe? The D.B.A. degree is often considered to be a professional degree, intended for business practitioners, while the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree is portrayed as the degree for preparing college or university faculty. Conversely, many academic programs market their D.B.A. programs to future academicians. In this study, we investigated whether the D.B.A. is, in fact, a viable faculty credential by gathering data from university catalogs and doctoral program websites and handbooks from 427 graduate business and management programs to analyze the terminal degrees held by 6159 faculty. The analysis indicated that 173 institutions (just over 40% of the total) employed 372 faculty whose terminal degree was the D.B.A. This constituted just over 6% of the total number of faculty. Additionally, the program and faculty qualification stand- ards of the six regional accrediting agencies and the three programmatic accrediting agencies for business programs (AACSB, IACBE, and ACBSP) were analyzed. Results indicated that all these accrediting agencies treated the D.B.A. and Ph.D. in business identically and that the D.B.A. was universally considered to be a valid credential for teaching business at the university level. Sug- gestions for future research are also of- Material published as part of this publication, either on-line or fered. in print, is copyrighted by the Informing Science Institute. 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Editor: Michael Jones Submitted: January 22, 2016; Revised: March 22, 2016; Accepted: June 25, 2016 D.B.A. as a Viable Faculty Credential Introduction According to the Survey of Earned Doctorates--sponsored annually by six federal agencies--1,545 doctoral degrees in business management and administration were awarded in 2013, comprising 2.9% of total U.S. doctorates awarded that year (National Science Foundation, 2015). With few exceptions, these degrees were either the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) or the Doctor of Business Administration (D.B.A.). The Ph.D. in business has been available in the United States since the early 1920s (University of Chicago, 2015). The newer D.B.A. was developed in 1953 at Harvard Business School as a more scholarly successor to its Doctor of Commercial Science degree. By the end of its first decade, the D.B.A. had become firmly established as Harvard’s primary business doctorate (Harvard Business School, 2014a; Lockhart & Stablein, 2002). Other U.S. universities would soon begin offering their own D.B.A. degrees. By the early 1990s, the DBA degree had begun to be adopted internationally (Banerjee & Morley, 2013). Is the D.B.A. a viable degree option for those wishing a career in academe? The answer could be a critical one in the selection of a business doctoral program. The messages from websites and even from the schools themselves can be confusing, as some institutions will claim that the D.B.A. is designed primarily for business practitioners, while the Ph.D. is the proper degree for college and university faculty (e.g., Lewis, 2013). While a number of studies from the U. K. and Australia have investigated the impact of “professional doctorates” (including the D.B.A.), com- paratively little such research has been conducted among U.S. higher education institutions (Er- wee, 2004; Fink, 2006; Gill & Hoppe, 2009). An analysis of prior studies on the D.B.A. versus the Ph.D., the origin and history of professional doctorates (including the D.B.A.), and a comparison of D.B.A. and Ph.D. curriculum from over 100 doctoral programs in management has been done previously by the authors (Piña, MacLen- nan, Moran, & Hafford, 2016). In this study, we will address the viability of the D.B.A. as a cre- dential for business faculty by considering the following research questions: • Do institutions offering the D.B.A. indicate that it is a faculty credential? • Do regional and programmatic accrediting agencies distinguish between the D.B.A. and Ph.D. as a faculty credential? • How prevalent is the D.B.A. among faculty in general business and management pro- grams? D.B.A. Granting Institutions A review of the websites of U.S. institutions offering D.B.A. programs was performed to locate language indicating whether the program intended the degree to be used as an academic creden- tial (Banerjee & Morley, 2013). The programs reviewed included those delivered online and in the traditional classroom, regardless of accreditation. As indicated in Table 1, 28 of the 36 web- sites, or 78% of those reviewed, provided some indication that the program intended to prepare graduates for careers in academe. 218 MacLennan, Piña, Hafford & Moran Table 1: Does D.B.A. Prepare Graduates for Academe? INSTITUTION ACADEME INSTITUTION ACADEME INSTITUTION ACADEME Alliant Interna- Harvard Temple YES YES NO tional University University University Anderson Indiana University of NO YES NO University University Dallas Argosy Jacksonville University of YES YES YES University University Florida Benedictine Kennesaw State University of NO YES YES University University Northern Virginia California Interna- Keiser University of tional Business YES YES NO University Phoenix University California South- Liberty University of NO NO YES ern University University South Alabama Capella Louisiana Tech University of NO YES YES University University South Florida Cleveland State Northcentral University of YES NO YES University University Texas Creighton Pace U. of Wisconsin YES YES YES University University at Whitewater DePaul Sacred Heart Walden NO YES YES University University University Florida Institute of Saint Leo Washington Uni- YES YES YES Technology University versity-St. Louis Georgia State St Ambrose Wilmington Uni- YES YES YES University University versity Adapted from Banerjee & Morley, 2013, p. 177. Regional Accrediting Agencies In order to determine whether the six regional agencies that accredit U.S. higher education institu- tions distinguish between the faculty qualifications of D.B.A. and Ph.D. holders, an analysis of accreditation resource manuals, faculty credentials guidelines, and websites of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE, 2009, 2011), the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (CIHE, 2011), the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (Higher Learning Commission, 2013, 2015), the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Univer- sities (NWCCU, 2013), the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACSCOC, 2006, 2012), and Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC, 2013). The standards and guidelines put forth by regional accrediting agencies and the tasks performed by those serving on accreditation review teams tend to focus on the operations of the entire insti- 219 D.B.A. as a Viable Faculty Credential tution, rather than the requirements of specific disciplines such as business and management. The process of gaining initial accreditation or pursuing substantive changes or reaffirmation of accred- itation for all regional accreditation agencies requires institutions to verify that faculty are quali- fied to teach the courses that they teach. When degrees are mentioned in relation to faculty cre- dentials, it is done by level (e.g., baccalaureate, master’s, doctorate, graduate, terminal), as in these examples: Faculty teaching in graduate programs should hold the terminal degree determined by the discipline and have a record of research, scholarship or achievement appropriate for the graduate program (Higher Learning Commission, 2015, p. 3). Faculty teaching graduate and post-baccalaureate course work: earned doctorate/terminal degree in the teaching discipline or a related discipline (SACSCOC, 2006, p.1). In June of 2006, a “Report on the Task Force of the Professional Doctorate” was received by the Board of Trustees of the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association. The re- port’s comments on the types of degrees considered to be “professional” (primarily “clinical” or “practicing” doctorates in health care fields) and the fact that the Ed.D.--(a degree with similar characteristics to the D.B.A)--is regarded to be outside the scope of the report, it seems clear that the D.B.A. would not fall under the Task Force’s definition of professional doctorate (Higher Learning Commission, 2006). With the single exception noted in the previous paragraph, none of the accreditation documents, faculty credential documents, or websites from the six regional accrediting agencies distinguished between the various doctoral degree titles and none mentioned the D.B.A.