Analyzing the analysts: The effect of technical and social skills on analyst career

• Main Authors: LI, Congcong, LIN, An-Ping, LU, Hai
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2016
• Subjects: Analysts; Skills; Connections; Labor Market; Social Media; Accounting; Finance and Financial Management
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soa_research/1633; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soa_research/article/2660/viewcontent/analyzing.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

This paper investigates how technical and social skills of financial analysts affect theirperformance and career advancement. Using a sample of LinkedIn profiles of financial analysts,we document that analysts with good social skill, proxied by the number of social connections,generate more accurate earnings forecasts and produce more informative stock recommendations.These analysts are also more likely to be voted as All-Star analysts and to move to high-statusbrokers when changing jobs. However, the effect of technical skills, proxied by the quantitativeskills disclosed on LinkedIn, only affect earnings forecast accuracy. The analysts with technicalskills are indifferent in the likelihood of being voted as star analysts and job separations comparingwith other analysts. These findings provide the first large sample evidence that social skills aremore important than technical skills in analyst career advancement.