The Effect of Early-Career Recognition on the Subsequent Success: Evidence from the Academy Awards

The research in OB, sociology, management, and even finance has recognized an important effect of prior recognition on achieving career success. However, there is little research on whether the early attainment of such a recognition can affect the degree of subsequent success. Furthermore, the few prior studies on early recognition to date have only inspected the consequences of early recognition in the field of science. The main purpose of this study is to fill this literature gap by broadening the scope of such investigation to the field of motion pictures and more specifically, the Academy awards. We developed four hypotheses addressing the effect of early recognition (i.e., nomination for Oscar award) on different success measures of performing artists, including future productivity, quality of the roles, and the subsequent award nominations. Using a sample of 438 Academy awards nominees, we showed that, relative to those who received recognition later in their careers, actors and actresses who were nominated in the earlier stages of their careers were more successful later in terms of the number of movies they starred in, the importance or quality of their roles, and the subsequent awards and nominations they received. In addition, younger nominees were shown to have higher chances of receiving another Oscar nomination following their initial nomination. Thus, early recognition is positively related to future career success not only in science but also in other fields. These findings have important practical implications to both individuals seeking to build a successful career and to other social actors (organizations, recruiters, agents, etc.), who should consider such findings for identifying and selecting competent candidates based on their prior records and make more accurate predictions about a person’s potential for achieving future success