Q: Does the author's profile influence the outcome of a manuscript ?

Ideally, an article should be judged only based on its quality and scientific merit. The name of the corresponding author, author's institution, etc. should not influence the decision on a manuscript. However, unfortunately, these are biases that do exist, and more often, if the corresponding author is a known name in the scholarly circles, or if the author is from a prestigious institution, they do sometimes stand a better chance. however, it is difficult to say to what extent these biases work. It is something entirely personal and sometimes may even be a subconscious bias that the editor/reviewer doesn't realize. But when faced with a choice between two papers of exactly the same quality and scientific merit, it is natural that the reviewer/editor would give preference to the paper authored by an established researcher in the field or an author who has been publishing good quality papers with the journal for some years. Some journals indirectly try to get authors to cite other papers from the same journal. However, I haven't heard of instances where citing papers from higher impact journals would be a criteria for accepting a paper.

To be very frank, things such as biases or citations from the same journal are minor points, if at all, in deciding the outcome of a paper. I think the best you can do is focus on the quality of your paper and provide only citations that are relevant. If your paper quality is excellent, you will definitely stand a better chance at acceptance than if you use all these extraneous techniques to impress the editor/reviewer. 

Recommended reading:

• Biases in publication and reporting