Why does getText not work on record creation?

Hi there

I have a before record submit script that is supposed to run on a custom record and return an array of values called 'common values' if a value is found on more than one custom record:

/**
 * @NApiVersion 2.x
 * @NScriptType UserEventScript
 */
define(["N/record", "N/search"], function (record, search) {
  /**
   * @param {UserEventContext.beforeSubmit} context
   */
  function beforeSubmit(context) {
    try {
      var approverRecord = context.newRecord;

      var returnType = approverRecord.getText({
        fieldId: "custrecord_type_of_return",
      });

      log.debug("return type", returnType);

      var returnAuthAppr = search.create({
        type: "customrecord_ieturn_auth_approver",
        filters: [],
        columns: [
          search.createColumn({ name: "internalid", label: "Internal ID" }),
          search.createColumn({
            name: "custrecord_first_approver",
            label: "First Approver",