The face of achievement: Editors' facial structure and journal performance

• Published in: International review of financial analysis Vol. 84; p. 102366
• Main Authors: Tian, Jinfang, Zhang, Mingxuan, Xue, Rui, Cao, Wei, Shan, Yuli
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Inc 01.11.2022
• Subjects: Achievement drive hypothesis; EICs; Facial structure; Journal performance; Achievement drive hypothesis; Facial structure; EICs; Journal performance
• ISSN: 1057-5219; 1873-8079
• DOI: 10.1016/j.irfa.2022.102366

Achievement drive hypothesis indicates that individuals with higher facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR) are biologically associated with stronger achievement-drive incentives and are hence likely to exhibit better performance. In this study, we examine the relationship between editors' fWHR, an established proxy for achievement drive, and journal performance. Using finance journals as the research setting, we find a positive association between editors' fWHR and journal impact factor. The observed positive association is more pronounced for editors with shorter editorship tenure and professional career, implying that editors of relatively lower social status are more motivated to pursue better performance. These results are robust to alternative specification of independent variable, alternative journal performance measures, and different sample selection criteria. This study makes the first attempt to provide evidence on the relationship between editors' behavioral traits and journal performance from a neurological perspective. •We find a positive association between finance editors' facial width-to-height (fWHR) and journal performance.•Such positive association is more pronounced for editors with relatively lower social status.•This research makes the first empirical attempt to examine achievement drive hypothesis in the academic profession.•Our findings shed light on an important relationship between EICs' achievement drive and refereed journal impact.