The Academic Marketplace in the 1980s: Appointment and Termination of Assistant Professors

With the use of Caplow and McGee’s 1958 (The Academic Marketplace) research, framework, and materials, Burke has replicated their study within the same sample of universities. This paper draws upon part of the current research to provide an overview of the search for, selection of, and failure to retain assistant professors in the 1980s, with comparisons to the late 1950s. It concludes that human resource management in the academy would be improved and that the onus for improvement is on the academic department.