Who gets to guru?

July 5, 2019

Brian P. Reschke        Taeya Howell

Brigham Young University

Marriott School of Business

 The valuation of multiple audience engagement as bids for brokerage

Denied tenure at first academic job

 

Denied admission to National Academy of Sciences in US

 

 

‘Carl Sagan Effect’ in Science

Peer: “If he had not done television, he probably would be in the academy.”

Candidate

Audience(s)

Primary Audience

Secondary Audience

Research Question:

How does engagement with a secondary audience impact valuation by a candidate’s primary audience?

Primary Audience Considerations: Capability and Commitment

Capability

  • When uncertain about candidate quality, primary audiences may view secondary audience engagement as an index of ability

=> Positive evaluation

 

(Fini, Jourdan, Perkmann, 2018)

Primary Audience Considerations: Capability and Commitment

Commitment

  • Where audience interests  potentially conflict, primary audiences may view secondary audience engagement as betrayal of identity

=> Negative evaluation

 

(Phillips, Turco, and Zuckerman 2013; Fini, Jourdan, Perkmann, 2018)

Alternate Consideration: Brokerage Fitness

Representative Brokerage

(Gould & Fernandez, 1989)

  • Primary (peer) audience may view secondary audience engagement as a bid to broker
  • Peers evaluate the representativeness of the candidate
  • Aligned => Positive evaluation
  • Misaligned => Negative evaluation

Design

Pre-TED Publication

Control

\ni
\ni

time

citations

citations

CVs, Resumes

Principal Research Areas of TED Speakers with an Academic Background (N=108)

Differences-in-differences design

 

Model annual citation rates

  • Article, article-age, and calendar-year fixed effects
  • Other models include interactions of interest (e.g., quantiles of scientist career age)

Results

Result: No Main Effect of TED Event on Citations to Pre-TED Articles

Scientist Career-Age Interaction

Result: No Main Effect of TED Event on Citations to Pre-TED Articles

Discussion

 

Peripheral candidates are punished for secondary audience engagement

 

Would-be brokers can recoup considerable rewards, but the window of opportunity is limited

Next Steps

  • Repeat citers vs. new citers
  • Within-field citations vs. out-of-field citations

                   -> May help qualify the mid-career scientist benefit

Characterize citations substantive vs. symbolic

  • Appears in introduction, conclusion; multiple; isolation or list

Evaluator Attributes

Decompose citations

Thank You!

brianreschke@byu.edu