What Makes a Top-Selling Textbook? Comparing Characteristics of AIS Textbooks

Abstract

The factors involved in the selection of accounting textbooks are under-investigated, and most of the research is survey-based, largely ignoring the information that could be analyzed by direct inspection of textbook content and its impact on textbook selection. In this study the authors fill this lacuna by deploying content analysis of the textbook content and devising new measures of textbook quality that may impact their ultimate selection by accounting information systems (AIS) instructors. These novel measures are discussed in the light of textbook market share information gleaned from three sources: a survey of AIS instructors, and executives at two leading educational publishers. The authors conclude with a consideration of pedagogical policy implications of the findings.

Keywords:

• AIS
• content
• selection
• texts
• topics