What Is Social Status and How Does It Impact the Generation of Novel Ideas?

Status constitutes a core research concept across the social sciences. However, its definition is still contested, and questions persist about its consequences. The authors begin with a flexible, provisional definition: status is a relational asset possessed by social actors insofar as they are highly regarded by highly regarded others. Using this definition as a backdrop, the authors develop a fourfold typology based on how status is used as an asset and from where it is derived. The typology allows the authors to explore the implications of considering status as either a quality signal or a good and of viewing status-conferring ties as either deference-based or dominance-based. The authors then consider the implications of their framework for the generation of novelty. Although status has been connected to many social and economic outcomes, because of competing predictions in the literature – the generation of novelty has been linked to all regions of the status distribution – the authors sketch intuitions for future research on the status–novelty linkage. The authors also work toward greater conceptual clarity by comparing and contrasting status with selected related concepts: quality, reputation, and legitimacy. The authors conclude with considerations for future research, including cautionary remarks regarding network-analytic measurement in light of the definition they propose.