Contextual and linguistic challenges for French business schools to achieve international accreditation: experts as boundary-spanners

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the contextual and linguistic challenges that French business schools face when preparing for international accreditation and to shed light on the different ways in which experts facilitate these accreditation processes, particularly with respect to how they capitalize on their contextual and linguistic boundary-spanning competences. Design/methodology/approach The authors interviewed 12 key players at four business schools in France engaged in international accreditations and in three specific categories: senior management, tenured faculty and administrative staff. The interview-based case study design used semi-structured questions and an insider researcher approach to study an underexplored sector of analysis. Findings The findings suggest that French business schools have been particularly impacted by the colonizing effects of English as the mandatory language of the international accreditation bodies espousing a basically Anglophone higher education philosophy. Consequently, schools engage external experts for their contextual and linguistic boundary-spanning expertise to facilitate accreditation processes. Originality/value The authors contribute to language-sensitive research through a critical perspective on marginalization within French business schools due to the use of English as the mandatory lingua franca of international accreditation processes and due to the underlying higher-education philosophy from the Anglophone academic sphere within these processes. As a result, French business schools resort to external experts to mediate their knowledge and competency gaps.

Language as a source of otherness

“…This widespread use of English over other languages in nonanglophone countries, referred to as Englishization (Boussebaa and Brown, 2017), has made individuals vulnerable to inequalities in fluency and precision in interactional contexts (Phillipson, 2006), entailing linguistic Othering. In particular, Englishization has created marginalisation and exclusion for individuals who are not familiar with the language, especially when it involves professional jargon (Gaibrois, 2018) and specialist language (Michaliski and Śliwa, 2021;Tietze et al, 2016;Vigier and Bryant, 2023), enhancing and intensifying colonising effects (Tietze and Dick, 2013). This neo-colonial domination (Boussebaa and Tienari, 2019;Tietze, 2022) puts non-English speakers at a disadvantage to fully comprehend and adapt to an anglophone system, which may not necessarily correspond to their (organisational/higher education) cultures and practices (Vigier and Bryant, 2023).…”

“…This involves deliberate strategies such as favouring basic English, using simple phrases, and speaking slowly. It can also be achieved by avoiding the use of technical terms and jargon (Gaibrois, 2018; Welch et al, 2005) as well as specialist professional language (Tietze et al, 2016; Vigier and Bryant, 2023), which may not be easily understood. Secondly, linguistic convergence involves choosing the language that enables successful communication depending on the precise situation (Sanden, 2020).…”