TY - JOUR
T1 - When beauty is beastly
T2 - The effects of appearance and sex on evaluations of job applicants for managerial and nonmanagerial jobs
AU - Heilman, Madeline E.
AU - Saruwatari, Lois R.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was partially funded by the Center for Research in Career Development, Columbia University, Graduate School of Business. Requests for reprints should be sent to Prof. Madeline E. Heilman, Yale School of Organization and Management, Box 1A, New Haven, CT 06520.
Copyright:
Copyright 2014 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 1979/6
Y1 - 1979/6
N2 - To explore the idea that the career opportunities of attractive women are hindered by their appearance an experiment was conducted to determine the effects of both appearance and sex on the evaluations of applicants for managerial and nonmanagerial positions. As predicted, attractiveness consistently proved to be an advantage for men but was an advantage for women only when seeking a nonmanagerial position. This was found to be the case in ratings of qualifications, recommendations for hiring, suggested starting salary, and rankings of hiring preferences. Additional results indicated that attractiveness exaggerated perceptions of gender-related attributes involving work behaviors. Taken together, these data were interpreted as supporting the idea that the effects of appearance are mediated by fluctuations in the perceived fit between applicant attributes and job requirements. The implications of these findings both for organizations and for women who seek to advance their careers are discussed.
AB - To explore the idea that the career opportunities of attractive women are hindered by their appearance an experiment was conducted to determine the effects of both appearance and sex on the evaluations of applicants for managerial and nonmanagerial positions. As predicted, attractiveness consistently proved to be an advantage for men but was an advantage for women only when seeking a nonmanagerial position. This was found to be the case in ratings of qualifications, recommendations for hiring, suggested starting salary, and rankings of hiring preferences. Additional results indicated that attractiveness exaggerated perceptions of gender-related attributes involving work behaviors. Taken together, these data were interpreted as supporting the idea that the effects of appearance are mediated by fluctuations in the perceived fit between applicant attributes and job requirements. The implications of these findings both for organizations and for women who seek to advance their careers are discussed.
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U2 - 10.1016/0030-5073(79)90003-5
DO - 10.1016/0030-5073(79)90003-5
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0001334112
SN - 0030-5073
VL - 23
SP - 360
EP - 372
JO - Organizational Behavior and Human Performance
JF - Organizational Behavior and Human Performance
IS - 3
ER -