Do big prizes attract talent or big heads? (Knox et al., 2026) | FT50 AOS

English Podcast Starts at 00:00:00Bengali Podcast Starts at 00:19:41Hindi Podcast Starts at 00:39:25Danish Podcast Starts at 00:49:46ReferenceKnox, B. D., Omer, T. C., & Stallings, M. A. (2026). Do big prizes attract talent or big heads? The role of prize concentration, relative skill information, and narcissism in public and private tournament choice. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 117, 101650. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aos.2026.101650‌‌Youtube Channel⁠https://www.youtube.com/@weekendresearcher⁠Podcast Websitehttps://mayukhmukhopadhyay.com/reviseandresubmitAcademy of Management PDW on Space Economy Registration Flyerhttps://cto.aom.org/discussion/flagship-aom-2026-pdw-space-economy-consolidating-a-research-agenda-8AOM SIM Curriculum Committeehttps://sim.aom.org/curriculum/curriculum-committeeAOM SIM-Bytes Curriculum Lessonshttps://sim.aom.org/curriculum/simbytes🎙️ Welcome to Revise and Resubmit! 🌟I am so grateful that you have chosen to spend these moments with me. Every episode is an invitation to slow down, to think a little more carefully, and to notice the quiet questions that often hide beneath the loud conclusions. 📚✨Today, we turn our attention to a fascinating new paper, "Do big prizes attract talent or big heads? The role of prize concentration, relative skill information, and narcissism in public and private tournament choice," by Brian D. Knox, Thomas C. Omer, and Matthew A. Stallings, published in Accounting, Organizations and Society, one of the world's most respected academic journals and a proud member of the prestigious FT50 journal list, published by Elsevier. 🏆📖As I reflected on this study, I found myself thinking about the competitions that quietly shape our lives. We often assume that the biggest rewards naturally call forth the brightest minds. It is a comforting belief, almost elegant in its simplicity. Yet life has a way of reminding us that what shines from a distance is not always what endures when we move closer. 🌿💭The authors invite us into that delicate space between ambition and appearance. Through carefully designed experiments, they reveal that extraordinary prizes do indeed attract extraordinary talent, but only when people have a clear understanding of their own abilities. When certainty fades and choices become visible to others, something else begins to emerge. Prestige itself becomes a stage, and confidence, sometimes misplaced, can step into the spotlight ahead of genuine capability. 🎭✨What makes this research so compelling is not simply its findings, but its quiet reminder that organizations, universities, and businesses do not merely design incentives. They also shape the kinds of people those incentives invite. In that sense, every promotion, every executive search, and every public competition tells a story about what we choose to value. 🌍🧠I am excited to explore this remarkable work with you, not only as an accounting and organizational study, but as a reflection on human nature itself, where aspiration, identity, recognition, and self-belief meet in ways that are both subtle and deeply familiar. ☕📘🙏 My sincere thanks to Brian D. Knox, Thomas C. Omer, and Matthew A. Stallings for this thought-provoking contribution, and heartfelt thanks to Elsevier and the editorial team of Accounting, Organizations and Society for publishing this outstanding research in one of the prestigious FT50 journals.💙 If you enjoy conversations where rigorous research meets thoughtful reflection, please subscribe to Revise and Resubmit on Spotify and to our YouTube channel, Weekend Researcher. 🎧📺 You can also listen on Amazon Prime and Apple Podcasts, so you can take these conversations wherever your day leads you.🤔✨ And as we begin, perhaps the question worth carrying with us is this. When the brightest prize catches our eye, are we witnessing the quiet confidence of true ability, or simply the louder echo of someone who longs to be seen?