2022 EDSIG Proceedings: Abstract Presentation
The State of FinTech in Academia: An AACSB Survey
Brad Fowler
Georgia College & State University
Peter Cardon
University of Southern California
Bryan Marshall
Georgia College & State University
The global financial technology (fintech) market is expected to reach $190 billion by 2026. Fintech is becoming a competitive advantage for firms inside and outside of the financial services industry (Gomber et al., 2018; Sangwan et al., 2019). As a result, business schools are increasingly providing degrees and offering courses in fintech (Hendershott et al., 2021). In addition, many consortia exist to promote fintech education. For example, the Georgia Fintech Academy is a collaboration between Georgia’s fintech industry and the University of Georgia system. It offers classes for students who specialize in fintech. However, there is substantial variation in terms of how fintech is defined, prioritized, and taught across business schools. This study is designed to understand emerging standards and expectations for fintech curricula in business programs.
We have developed a survey that will be administered to department chairs at AACSB business schools to address the following: (a) fintech programs and classes offered; (b) opportunities for students in fintech; (c) professional backgrounds and expertise of professors who teach the courses; (d) departments and programs in which fintech courses are offered from; and (e) outlook and planning for future fintech programs. Specifically, we seek to understand how much various fintech topics are addressed, including the following: Cryptocurrency and digital cash; Blockchain; Financial software; Financial security; Payment methods (i.e., payments tech, payments security, payments processing); ERP / accounting software; Digital banking; and Financial data analytics.
The goal of the research is to create an ongoing evaluation of how business schools teach fintech. As a result, we seek feedback on the survey we have developed so that we can adequately capture the state of fintech curricula across diverse institutions.
Gomber, P. Kauffman, R. J., Parker, C. & Weber, B. W. (2018). On the fintech revolution: Interpreting the forces of innovation, disruption, and transformation in financial services. Journal of Management Information Systems, 35(1), 220-265. https://doi.org/10.1080/07421222.2018.1440766
Hendershott, T., Zhang, X., Zhao, J. L., & Zheng, Z. (2021). FinTech as a game changer: Overview of research frontiers. Information Systems Research, 32(1), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2021.0997
Sangwan, V., Harshita, Prakash, P., Singh, S. (2019). Financial technology: A review of extant literature. Studies in Economics and Finance, 37(1), 71-88. https://doi.org/10.1108/SEF-07-2019-0270
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