The Impact of Peer Performance and Relative Rank on Managerial Career Attainment: Evidence from College Students
Management Science · 2025 · Rafael P. Ribas、Breno Sampaio、Giuseppe Trevisan
中文摘要
学术环境中的排名体系可能影响未来的职业轨迹。考察班级排名对大学生管理职位获得的影响，对于理解职业晋升的部分决定因素至关重要。本文估计在表现优异的班级中处于较低排名对大学生未来获得管理职位概率的影响。我们的数据结合了巴西一所高度选拔性大学的行政记录与就业登记数据。对于大多数专业，该大学根据学生的偏好和录取分数将一年级学生分为两个班级。在断点回归设计中，我们通过比较被高分班（“第一班”）录取的最后一名学生与被该班排除、进入“第二班”的第一名学生，来控制学生的偏好与内在技能。结果显示，第一班的最后一名学生毕业后不久获得管理职位的概率比第二班的相似学生低10个百分点。尽管这一效应在性别之间最初相似，但对男性而言随时间推移而减弱，而对女性则持续存在。总体而言，我们的研究表明，表现更好的同伴可能通过降低学生在课堂中的相对排名而阻碍其管理职业发展。
Abstract
The ranking system within academic environments may impact future professional trajectories. Examining the influence of class rank on college students’ managerial attainment is crucial for understanding some determinants of career advancement. This paper estimates the effect of a low rank in a high-performing class on the probability of college students attaining a managerial position in the future. Our data combine administrative records from a highly selective university in Brazil and employment registries. For most programs, this university divides first-year students into two classes based on their preferences and admission scores. In a regression discontinuity design, we control for students’ preferences and inherent skills by comparing the last student admitted to the high-score class (the “first class”) with the first student excluded from this class, who joins the “second class.” Results show that the last student in the first class is 10 percentage points less likely to attain a managerial position soon after graduating than a similar student in the second class. Although this effect is initially similar between genders, it diminishes for men over time while persisting for women. Overall, our study indicates that better-performing peers can hinder a student’s managerial career by lowering their relative rank in the classroom.