Innovators or inhibitors? Accounting faculty resistance to new educational technologies in higher education

• Published in: Journal of accounting education Vol. 36; pp. 1 - 15
• Main Authors: Watty, Kim, McKay, Jade, Ngo, Leanne
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Harrisonburg Elsevier Ltd 01-09-2016; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Accounting; Accounting education; Barriers to technology use; Business schools; College faculty; Educational technology; Faculty resistance; Higher education; Studies; Teachers; Technology Acceptance Model; Technology adoption; Technophobia; Australia; Technology adoption; Technology acceptance model; Faculty resistance; Accounting education; Higher education; Barriers to technology use
• ISSN: 0748-5751; 1873-1996
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jaccedu.2016.03.003

•A significant number of accounting academics are resistant to adopting new technologies in their teaching practice.•93 per cent of accounting academics interviewed resistance as a key barrier to innovative technology adoption.•With pressure on business schools to embrace technologies, accounting academics need to be innovators rather than inhibitors.
While technology affords new opportunities and benefits for educators in their teaching practice, a significant number of faculty are resistant to adopting new technologies. Unprompted, 93% of faculty interviewed in the Australian study to be discussed in this paper pointed to accounting educator resistance as a key barrier to technology adoption and use. Adopting the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as a framework, this paper argues that one of the greatest challenges facing business schools and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the 21st century is not new technologies themselves, but the ability of educators to embrace educational technologies. Drawing on the qualitative data to emerge from interviews with accounting educators recognised as exemplary in their use of innovative technologies, this paper explores the reasons for lack of faculty uptake and argues for academics to become innovators rather than inhibitors. The findings offer a timely insight into a twenty-first century issue affecting HEIs and, specifically, accounting academics. While carried out in the Accounting discipline, the findings may be relatable and applicable to all disciplines. A suite of recommendations are proposed for institutions, business schools and academics to consider.