Wow, another myth ( or it should be a myth)!

Doctoral students have told me recently that an “important” criteria for them to get a campus visit during recruitment is that they have a paper under review ( apparently first round will do) at TAR or an equivalent journal. Indeed, I am reliably informed that some students submit very early working papers, ones that still need a lot of work, so as to comply with this supposed imperative of the ” job market.”

If true then it gives more ammunition to post modernists who would trot this out as yet more evidence that the academic job market in accounting only relies on performative influences and no one takes the time to evaluate the substance of research and an individuals potential to contribute! And they would be right.

My guess is this is yet another “folk story” based on one ” big mouthed” student’s experience ( probably due to a faculty member at a school that turned them down for an site visit not wanting to have a long awkward conversation with a less than successful student) getting passed on and on so that it reaches the status of conventional wisdom. More on why this is a horrible idea to comply with, even if it is true, soon!