The Social Construction of Research Advice: The American Accounting Association Plays Miss Lonelyhearts

The control of important outcomes in academic accounting by the faculties of a small set of elite institutions has been well documented through a series of outcomes. Less is known about the processes by which this is sustained over time. This paper considers the advice provided to young scholars as one means whereby the social hierarchy is reproduced. Eight specific mechanisms are analyzed and found to bolster belief in the objective meritocracy of ideas in the discipline. Building upon the faux advice provided by Nathanael West's fictional Miss Lonelyhearts, the paper concludes that the stabilizing point embedded in the system is the necessity of people's acceptance of their own inadequacy.