Macro- and Microaggressions in the Accounting Academy: The Black Experience

Collectively, Black, Hispanic/LatinX, and Native Americans comprise fewer than five percent of US accounting faculty (Brown-Liburd and Joe 2020). By interviewing Black faculty about their personal experiences of inequity during their doctoral education and institutional hiring and promotion processes, we discover stories of macro- and microaggressions that the participants report negatively impact their views about the accounting academic profession and increase their turnover intentions. Although our focus is on the disparate treatment of Black accounting academics, many of their stories and our conclusions are applicable to other underrepresented groups and academic disciplines. Further, because accounting faculty help influence whether students choose accounting careers, our findings are also relevant to accounting firms and other businesses whose outcomes are positively impacted by diversity.