To improve the teaching quality of higher education, the Chinese government has been striving to strengthen teaching accountability in universities. This qualitative study investigates the effects of the current teaching accountability mechanisms on academics at two universities. This study finds a gap between the goal of accountability and the felt responsibilities of academics due to the institutional contexts and the one-size-fits-all characters of external accountability. Along with this, the felt responsibilities of academics are affected by their self-identities and moral and normative responsibilities. Finally, the role responsibilities of academics are closely related to their felt responsibility and largely contribute to improving the effectiveness of teaching accountability.