Casual accounting academics’ sense of dignity and inclusion in the workplace

Abstract

The delivery of accounting higher education in Australia has been heavily dependent on casual academic staff in light of increased enrolments of national and international students. Whilst research to date has emphasized the demanding aspects of casual teaching and the need for improvements to the working conditions of casual academics, little is known about casual academics lived experiences and the way they develop ethical understanding of their day-to-day working conditions. We provide in-depth empirical evidence about casual accounting academics employment experiences in Australian Universities and highlight the factors that support and/or inhibit casual academics’ sense of inclusion and dignity in the workplace. Using ‘workplace dignity’ as our theoretical framework, we find that the stage of the casual academics’ career and their aspirations for academia impact their views and experiences of dignity and inclusion in the workplace.