To Be or Not To Be: The Nature and Extent of Identity Calculus among Accounting Professors from Underrepresented Backgrounds

Abstract

Professors from African American, Latinx, and Native American backgrounds are underrepresented in academia and are therefore ascribed a minority status. They are not the stereotypical professors, and so their experiences are not widely documented. This project uses semistructured interviews to garner an understanding of how underrepresented accounting professors navigate professional life in academia. We mobilize Goffman's (1959) The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life as a frame to analyze our interviews. The study findings reveal the multiple calculated actions that these professors undertake while performing on the frontstage of academia, as well as the disconnect between their frontstage and backstage personas. We extend literature and practice by documenting the frontstage performance's toll on underrepresented minorities (URMs) at all levels of their academic careers in accounting.