And the award goes to…the Matthew Effect: Examining external status as a predictor of productivity and opportunity

Abstract

It has been suggested that increased status that comes from being an award winner can generate enduring advantages that compound over one’s career via the Matthew Effect. However, research in this area has yielded conflicting results and has been unable to isolate the unique effect of status on career outcomes from the positive endogenous characteristics of award winners. In the current research, we attempt to address previous research limitations and examine if winning an award is associated with career outcomes (i.e., opportunities and productivity) irrespective of individual productivity levels prior to receiving an award. We examined our research questions using observational data of National Hockey League (NHL) league championship winners and non-winners (N = 427). By using a team award and several different analytic approaches we were able to examine the unique effects of affiliation-based external status, generated from an award win, on career outcomes. Our results generally show support for the Matthew Effect and suggest that affiliation-based external status, achieved by an award win, provides access to increased opportunities, which ultimately results in more productivity. We discuss the importance of incorporating opportunity and investigating its role in the cumulative advantage process and implications of the results.