The (uncertain) invisible college of Spanish accounting scholars

In order to test empirically the invisible college thesis in an accounting academic community and evaluate the internal mechanisms that are embedded in its reproduction, we explore in this paper the social network of Spanish accounting scholars. The social network examined arises from one event that combines formal and informal aspects of interaction between scholars: the selection of members of Ph.D. panels for the period 1994–2003. Results are consistent with the existence of an oligarchic academic community that shows a strong and positive association with measures of local influence, but that is decoupled from measures of scholarly contribution. In this regard it is difficult to sustain that high profile scholars in this community generate a disproportionate volume of new ideas, which is the basic tenet of the invisible college hypothesis. This finding is also indicative of the schizophrenia in which non-tenured Spanish accounting scholars live, between increasing demands of refereed publications by academic institutions and a hierarchical academic community sponsoring very different values.

► We test the invisible college thesis in the academic community of Spanish accounting scholars.
► We explore the social network that arises from the selection of Ph.D. panels.
► An oligarchic academic community is associated with measures of local influence and decoupled from scholarly contribution.
► High profile scholars in this community do not generate a disproportionate volume of scholarly publications.