Matthew: Effect or Fable?
In a market context, a status effect occurs when actors are accorded differential recognition for their efforts depending on their location in a status ordering, holding constant the quality of these efforts. In practice, because it is very difficult to measure quality, this ceteris paribus proviso...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS)
2014
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/87604 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6511-4824 |
| _version_ | 1826213618914426880 |
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| author | Azoulay, Pierre Stuart, Toby Wang, Yanbo |
| author2 | Sloan School of Management |
| author_facet | Sloan School of Management Azoulay, Pierre Stuart, Toby Wang, Yanbo |
| author_sort | Azoulay, Pierre |
| collection | MIT |
| description | In a market context, a status effect occurs when actors are accorded differential recognition for their efforts depending on their location in a status ordering, holding constant the quality of these efforts. In practice, because it is very difficult to measure quality, this ceteris paribus proviso often precludes convincing empirical assessments of the magnitude of status effects. We address this problem by examining the impact of a major status-conferring prize that shifts actors' positions in a prestige ordering. Specifically, using a precisely constructed matched sample, we estimate the effect of a scientist becoming a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator on citations to articles the scientist published before the prize was awarded. We do find evidence of a postappointment citation boost, but the effect is small and limited to a short window of time. Consistent with theories of status, however, the effect of the prize is significantly larger when there is uncertainty about article quality, and when prize winners are of (relatively) low status at the time of election to the HHMI Investigator Program. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T15:52:07Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/87604 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T15:52:07Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publisher | Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/876042022-09-29T16:40:22Z Matthew: Effect or Fable? Azoulay, Pierre Stuart, Toby Wang, Yanbo Sloan School of Management Azoulay, Pierre In a market context, a status effect occurs when actors are accorded differential recognition for their efforts depending on their location in a status ordering, holding constant the quality of these efforts. In practice, because it is very difficult to measure quality, this ceteris paribus proviso often precludes convincing empirical assessments of the magnitude of status effects. We address this problem by examining the impact of a major status-conferring prize that shifts actors' positions in a prestige ordering. Specifically, using a precisely constructed matched sample, we estimate the effect of a scientist becoming a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator on citations to articles the scientist published before the prize was awarded. We do find evidence of a postappointment citation boost, but the effect is small and limited to a short window of time. Consistent with theories of status, however, the effect of the prize is significantly larger when there is uncertainty about article quality, and when prize winners are of (relatively) low status at the time of election to the HHMI Investigator Program. National Science Foundation (U.S.) (SciSIP Program [Award SBE-0738142]) 2014-06-02T16:55:45Z 2014-06-02T16:55:45Z 2014-01 2012-03 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0025-1909 1526-5501 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/87604 Azoulay, Pierre, Toby Stuart, and Yanbo Wang. “Matthew: Effect or Fable?” Management Science 60, no. 1 (January 2014): 92–109. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6511-4824 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2013.1755 Management Science Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ application/pdf Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) NBER |
| spellingShingle | Azoulay, Pierre Stuart, Toby Wang, Yanbo Matthew: Effect or Fable? |
| title | Matthew: Effect or Fable? |
| title_full | Matthew: Effect or Fable? |
| title_fullStr | Matthew: Effect or Fable? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Matthew: Effect or Fable? |
| title_short | Matthew: Effect or Fable? |
| title_sort | matthew effect or fable |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/87604 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6511-4824 |
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