Star-Arrival Effects on Scientists’ Productivity: Does the Nature and Extent of Relatedness to the Star Matter?

John McHale, Jefferson R. B. Galetti, Jason Harold, Jen-Chung Mei, Akhil Sasidharan and Anil Yadav

Journal of Human Capital, 2026, vol. 20, issue 2, 223 - 260

Abstract: There is increasing interest in recruiting star scientists to catalyze clusters in targeted research areas. While star-arrival effects on incumbents’ productivity are often positive, we know less about how the relatedness between incumbents’ and stars’ knowledge intermediates the size of these effects. Using Scopus data on publications and citations, we find that incumbent productivity is insensitive to a fixed measure of relatedness at the time of arrival but is positively affected when relatedness changes after arrival. This distinction between “being related” and “becoming related” to the star matters. Results are robust across alternative measures of relatedness, output, and time windows.

Date: 2026
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