Measuring accounting educators’ views on the teaching–research nexus (TRN): an international comparative study

The relationship between teaching and research in the modern university has been the subject of vigorous scholarly enquiry in the education literature for several decades. Few international comparative studies are reported in the literature. This study compares and discusses the teaching–research nexus (TRN) in accounting in three international regions: the UK and Ireland (UKI); Australia and New Zealand (ANZ); and South Africa (SA). The purpose of this study is to provide evidence of that the TRN empirical model operates in the different regions, and more so to describe the TRN that remains challenging for the accounting academic profession globally. Positive synergies from the TRN are evident in all jurisdictions in this study but are largely ignored by academic institutions and professional accounting bodies (PABs) that influence the university accounting curriculum. Formal government research assessment measures, coupled by PABs pressures, result in accounting becoming more a teaching-led rather than research-informed academic discipline. This has implications for: the status of accounting academics; the public perception of the professional standing of accounting in society; and the learning experiences of accounting students.