Exploring the social effect of outstanding scholars on future research accomplishments

Abstract

Outstanding scholars have generally been regarded as having special influence that enables them to publish articles in top‐tier journals and obtain higher levels of research funding. This study proposes that the social effect of an outstanding scholar, which is derived from the halo effect and the Matthew effect, is favorable for the expansion of the scholar's personal research network and will improve that scholar's future research accomplishments. Data for a total of 101 outstanding information systems scholars and 36 ordinary scholars were collected. The definition of an outstanding scholar is based on the quality and quantity of their publications. The results show that the social effect of the outstanding scholars is beneficial for the development of a research network, including 3 types of network structures. In addition, being highly connected with colleagues leads to higher research accomplishments in terms of quantity, while being connected with colleagues from different sub‐fields leads to higher research accomplishments in terms of novelty. Additionally, this study found that the social effect of outstanding scholars is a double‐edged sword, with both positive and negative impacts on research accomplishments. The findings contribute several theoretical and practical implications for future research.