High-Status Affiliation and Task Performance: The Analysis of Categorical Alignment as a Moderator

Abstract

This study attempts to extend the theoretical argument on the effect of high-status affiliations and the role of audiences in the process of performance evaluation. Because the status of an actor is dependent on the context that the actor is located in, it is problematic to conclude that positive effect of high-status affiliations is constant regardless of the category-based identity of affiliating actors. I suggest that an actor's rewards from high-status affiliations are contingent on the extent to which category-based identity of the actor overlaps with that of its affiliates. Two types of audiences -conformity-seeking and novelty-seeking- are expected to draw different judgments on the category overlap between affiliating parties, moderating the effect of high-status affiliations on actor's reward. I tested the predictions by investigating the collaboration between actors and directors in the context of Korean feature film industry from 2006 to 2015. Confirming the earlier researches, I found that actors who collaborated with high-status directors were likely to attain greater box-office success and receive more awards than those who collaborated with low-status directors. For actor's box-office success, the positive effect of directors status was strengthened with the overlap of genre identity between them. For actor's artistic recognition, however, the favorable effect of high-status affiliations was attenuated with genre overlap.