I recently read a fascinating book by Malcolm Gladwell entitled The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (Little, Brown, 2001). It discusses a wide range of topics from why Paul Revere was successful in alerting that the British were coming to why young people smoke cigarettes despite health warnings. He investigates other such questions as why some people are great salespeople, why some products become fads, and what explains sudden changes in people's collective actions. He shows that little things can make a big difference in success or failure. The book is very enjoyable reading and I recommend it. I have been trying to think how it might apply to accounting education.

Basically, Gladwell postulates that sudden explosive trends come from three sources: the law of the few, stickiness, and contagiousness.

The law of the few means that a few opinion setters who are well-connected can make all the difference in the acceptance of an idea. Paul Revere was well-connected in colonial Massachusetts and thus people listened to him when he said "the British are coming." Influential people are connected to many people by networks. Stickiness refers to how long certain ideas stay in the public's mind. For example, safety has long been associated with Volvo automobiles. Several years ago, when management tried to change the image to something flashier, it did not work because the concept of safety stuck to the image of the car. By returning to the concept of safety, Volvo's sales improved again. The concept of contagiousness refers to how fast a concept can be adopted people in a group. At the present, the Harry Potter books illustrate this point as the popularity of these stories spreads contagiously around the world.

How do these concepts apply to accounting education? I believe they can be applied on the macro and micro levels.

At the macro level, the number of accounting majors has declined in recent years. According to the law of the few, we need to focus on recruiting the student leaders—the trend setters and influencers—to become accounting majors. Gladwell cites research that clearly shows that young people are more influenced by peers than by any other group, including parents. To reverse the enrollment trends in accounting, it is critical to identify and convince the students who are networked and to whom other students look for leadership of the value of careers in accounting. Stickiness is a very difficult obstacle for accounting education. It has an image of unexciting bookkeeping and paperwork that is very sticky. In spite of efforts to change the image of accountants by the AICPA and other bodies, the "green-eye-shade" image still exists and will exist. It is important to recognize this fact in working to show the true work that modern accountants do. Finally, accounting has suffered because other competing disciplines have become contagious, especially computer science and information systems but also finance and marketing. Beginning salaries have slipped in accounting over the years so that it does not still have this advantage. Accounting is not contagious anymore as it was when many of us went to school. This fact combined with the sticky outmoded image of accounting and the lack of influencers makes accounting education a difficult sell to young people.

At the micro, the individual teacher can benefit from Gladwell's concepts. First, it is important to identify the good students in one's class who have the respect of the other students. Get them involved in class, seek them out for input as to how the class is going, and assign tasks to them such as finding out what is the best time for a review class. Second, a teacher's or a course's reputation, positive or negative, can be very sticky. Work to build the reputation for a good course. A well-done syllabus with clear course objectives and expectations is essential as are fairness in grading and enthusiasm in approach. Third, once a reputation is on track to change, the word spreads rapidly in the student grapevine.

Several years ago, my students' evaluations for "instructor availability" were unusually low despite the fact that I kept regular office hours and was willing to meet with students any time at their convenience. I concluded I must have offended an opinion leader in class who spread the word that established a poor reputation in this respect. After that, I revised my syllabus to clearly state my availability. I emphasized my availability on the first day of class, and several times during the term I emphasized that, "I am available." I also sought out class leaders to mention causally to them that I was always available to help if needed. I hung around for a few minutes after each class to see if there were any questions. Although the number of students visiting my office was no more or less than "normal," my ratings in this category soared to the highest level. It was a matter of changing a sticky image by influencing a few leaders so that the new view would spread contagiously. Other areas to which this technique has been applied successfully are to attendance, starting class on time, completing homework assignments, performance on examinations, and generally to overall course evaluations.

Gladwell's concepts are perhaps common sense, but he does such a good job in focusing attention on critical areas of success that I find his book has been valuable to me in thinking about the challenges of accounting education and in my own teaching. I would be interested in your thoughts. I can be reached at bneedles@needles-powers.com.