Special Report: A Current Look at Salaries and Faculty Demand within the Field of Entrepreneurship

THE PURPOSE OF THIS ARTICLE is to fill a gap within the field of entrepreneurship by examining the trends in salaries and demand of entrepreneurship faculty over the past 10 years from 2004 to 2015. There has been a significant amount of research done within the field of entrepreneurship education on a wide variety of topics (see Buller & Finkle, 2013; DeTienne & Chandler, 2004; Finkle, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2007a, b, 2008, 2010a, b, c, 2011, 2012a, 2013a, b, 2014; Finkle & Buller, 2012a, b; Finkle & Deeds, 2002; Finkle et al., 2001, 2004, 2006, 2009; Finkle & Greenwood, 1996; Finkle & Kuratko, 2004; Finkle & Mallin, 2010; Finkle & Scoresby, 2012; Finkle & Shrader, 2015a, b; Finkle & Thomas, 2008; Katz, 2003, 2004; Kuratko, 2005; Mallin & Finkle, 2011; Stetz et al., 2008; Thomas et al., 2010; Vesper & Gartner, 1997).Despite all of this research, sparse work has been done on the subject of salaries for entrepreneurship faculty. Information does exist on faculty salaries in places like the Chronicle of Higher Education and websites like HigherEdJobs, but most of the time entrepreneurship is coupled with other fields like management, marketing or even business. This article will provide entrepreneurship faculty with a quick way to determine what their tangible market value is within academia.Faculty in the field of entrepreneurship desperately need a source to benchmark their true value in the academic marketplace. The findings of this study are also important to schools because they need to understand the salary and faculty demand trends that are occurring within the field. This article will answer the following four research questions: (1) What are the salaries for entrepreneurship faculty by rank at AACSB schools within the US from 2004 to 2015? (2) What are the salaries for entrepreneurship faculty by gender at AACSB schools within the US from 2004 to 2015? (3) What are the salaries for entrepreneurship faculty by type of school at AACSB schools within the US from 2004 to 2015? and (4) What is the demand for entrepreneurship faculty at AACSB schools within the US from 2005 to 2015?Previous researchOne of the first people that investigated salaries within the field of entrepreneurship was Katz (2004) with a study that was sponsored by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. He examined salaries, stipends, travel and research funding, and course loads for endowed chairs in the field of entrepreneurship and related areas (e.g. small business, family business, free enterprise, private enterprise, etc.). He found that the average annual salary for an endowed chair was $162,018 (median = $148,500).The only other studies done on salaries (Finkle et al. 2010, 2012, 2013) were studies that examined entrepreneurship center directors. Their first study in 2012 found that the average annual salary of a US center director was $145,948. In 2013 they found that the average US entrepreneurship center director's annual salary was $136,989 versus $131,250 for an international center director.This study fills a much needed gap in the field of entrepreneurship by examining faculty salaries since 2004. The study will look at salaries by rank, gender, and type of school (public versus private). The study also examines entrepreneurship faculty demand.MethodologyThe data for this study was based on an annual survey of 325 American Association for Colleges and Schools of Business (AACSB) schools within the US from 2004 to 2015. Faculty salaries include the base contract only and do not include summer pay, stipends, or other benefits. A list of the schools used to evaluate salaries can be seen in Appendix 1.ResultsTo evaluate the trends in salaries for entrepreneurship faculty over the past 10 years, three tables were created. Table 1 examines the salaries of faculty based on their rank (Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, Instructor, and New Doctorate). …