Burning Bridges? Conflicting Advice in Early Job Reneging and Implications for Practice

Abstract

The time between early talent offers and students’ graduation dates is increasing. Although students are strongly encouraged by their universities not to renege on accepted early job offers, reneging is not uncommon in practice. In this paper, we explore how students approach the reneging decision, specifically examining the questions they ask and the advice they receive from peers and professionals. Using an interpretivist approach and reflective thematic analysis, we analyzed 25 Reddit posts by accounting students navigating reneges. Our findings offer novel insights into the student experience and the advice students are receiving from social network contacts. We find that the advice students receive from these connections is fundamentally at odds with the information provided by universities. We also uncover the interesting way that reneging on early talent offers seems to be normalized within these exchanges. This paper contributes to early talent acquisition research by examining an underexplored perspective: the student experience and advice from peer and professional networks. We conclude our paper by suggesting avenues for additional research and practice change.

Recommended Citation

Bisson, Amanda Leigh and Huq, Jo-Louise (2026) "Burning Bridges? Conflicting Advice in Early Job Reneging and Implications for Practice," Engaged Management ReView: Vol. 9 : Iss. 2 , Article 3.
Available at: https://doi.org/10.28953/2375-8643.1168