IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/bracre/v52y2020i5s089083891930099x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Current issues in PhD supervision of accounting and finance students: Evidence from Australia and New Zealand

Author

Listed:
  • Khosa, Amrinder
  • Burch, Steven
  • Ozdil, Esin
  • Wilkin, Carla

Abstract

This paper reports on the current trends in accounting and finance PhD supervision in Australia and New Zealand. By examining the various supervision styles adopted by students and supervisors, we identified various tensions, including the influence of performance outcomes that may hinder the vibrant spirit of inquiry that should be intrinsic to the PhD journey and to future academia. Our findings demonstrated both supervisor and student preference for more structured (contractual or directorial) styles of supervision. Changes consistent with this preference include group supervision, the closer alignment of student research topics with supervisor interests, and the preference for certain research paradigms and a focus on journal publications. While students and supervisors regard these changes as key elements in addressing the performance demands associated with PhD outcomes, they present challenges for attaining a balance between product (thesis/contribution to knowledge) and process (students' journeys towards scholarship), together with supervisors' roles therein.

Suggested Citation

  • Khosa, Amrinder & Burch, Steven & Ozdil, Esin & Wilkin, Carla, 2020. "Current issues in PhD supervision of accounting and finance students: Evidence from Australia and New Zealand," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(5).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:bracre:v:52:y:2020:i:5:s089083891930099x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.bar.2019.100874
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S089083891930099X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.bar.2019.100874?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anthony Hopwood, 2008. "Changing Pressures on the Research Process: On Trying to Research in an Age when Curiosity is not Enough," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 87-96.
    2. Smith, Sarah Jane & Urquhart, Vivien, 2018. "Accounting and finance in UK universities: Academic labour, shortages and strategies," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(6), pages 588-601.
    3. Raineri, Nicolas, 2015. "Business doctoral education as a liminal period of transition: Comparing theory and practice," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 99-107.
    4. Yves Gendron, 2008. "Constituting the Academic Performer: The Spectre of Superficiality and Stagnation in Academia," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 97-127.
    5. Rihab Khalifa & Paolo Quattrone, 2008. "The Governance of Accounting Academia: Issues for a Debate," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 65-86.
    6. Pelger, Christoph & Grottke, Markus, 2015. "What about the future of the academy? – Some remarks on the looming colonisation of doctoral education," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 117-129.
    7. Linda Wedlin, 2006. "Ranking Business Schools," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3941.
    8. Malsch, Bertrand & Tessier, Sophie, 2015. "Journal ranking effects on junior academics: Identity fragmentation and politicization," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 84-98.
    9. Helen Irvine & Lee Moerman & Kathy Rudkin, 2010. "A green drought: the challenge of mentoring for Australian accounting academics," Accounting Research Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 23(2), pages 146-171, September.
    10. Prasad, Ajnesh, 2015. "Liminal transgressions, or where should the critical academy go from here? Reimagining the future of doctoral education to engender research sustainability," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 108-116.
    11. Humphrey, Christopher & Gendron, Yves, 2015. "What is going on? The sustainability of accounting academia," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 47-66.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tharapos, Meredith & Marriott, Neil, 2020. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder: Research quality in accounting education," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(5).
    2. Gerdin, Jonas & Englund, Hans, 2022. "Vertical, horizontal, and self control in academia: Survey evidence on their diverging effects on perceived researcher autonomy and identity," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(5).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Endenich, Christoph & Trapp, Rouven, 2018. "Signaling effects of scholarly profiles – The editorial teams of North American accounting association journals," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 4-23.
    2. Palea, Vera, 2017. "Whither accounting research? A European view," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 59-73.
    3. Palea, Vera, 2015. "Journal Rankings and the Sustainability of Diversity in Accounting Research," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201546, University of Turin.
    4. Fox, Kenneth A., 2018. "The manufacture of the academic accountant," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 1-20.
    5. Gendron, Yves & Rodrigue, Michelle, 2021. "On the centrality of peripheral research and the dangers of tight boundary gatekeeping," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    6. Reilley, Jacob & Löhlein, Lukas, 2023. "Theorizing (and) the future of interdisciplinary accounting research," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    7. Brooks, Chris & Fenton, Evelyn & Schopohl, Lisa & Walker, James, 2019. "Why does research in finance have so little impact?," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 24-52.
    8. Humphrey, Christopher & Gendron, Yves, 2015. "What is going on? The sustainability of accounting academia," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 47-66.
    9. Maran, Laura & Bigoni, Michele & Morrison, Leanne, 2023. "Shedding light on alternative interdisciplinary accounting research through journal editors’ perspectives and an analysis of recent publications," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    10. Pimentel, Erica & Cho, Charles & Bothello, Joel, 2022. "The blind spots of interdisciplinarity in addressing grand challenges," MPRA Paper 114562, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Bamber, Matthew & Tekathen, Matthäus, 2023. "Beyond the pages of the ‘how-to’ textbook: A study of the lived experiences of the accounting ethnographer," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    12. Argento, Daniela & van Helden, Jan, 2023. "Are public sector accounting researchers going through an identity shift due to the increasing importance of journal rankings?," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    13. Christoph Pelger & Markus Grottke, 2017. "Research diversity in accounting doctoral education: survey results from the German-speaking countries," Business Research, Springer;German Academic Association for Business Research, vol. 10(2), pages 307-336, October.
    14. Pelger, Christoph & Grottke, Markus, 2015. "What about the future of the academy? – Some remarks on the looming colonisation of doctoral education," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 117-129.
    15. Becker, Albrecht & Lukka, Kari, 2023. "Instrumentalism and the publish-or-perish regime," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    16. Messner, Martin, 2015. "Research orientation without regrets," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 76-83.
    17. Meyer, Matthias & Waldkirch, Rüdiger W. & Duscher, Irina & Just, Alexander, 2018. "Drivers of citations: An analysis of publications in “top” accounting journals," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 24-46.
    18. Gendron, Yves, 2015. "Accounting academia and the threat of the paying-off mentality," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 168-176.
    19. Guo, Ken H., 2018. "The odyssey of becoming: Professional identity and insecurity in the Canadian accounting field," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 20-45.
    20. Gerdin, Jonas & Englund, Hans, 2022. "Vertical, horizontal, and self control in academia: Survey evidence on their diverging effects on perceived researcher autonomy and identity," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(5).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:bracre:v:52:y:2020:i:5:s089083891930099x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/the-british-accounting-review .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.