The Influence Of Physical Attractiveness And Dress On Campus Recruiters' Impressions Of Female Job Applicants

Abstract

The influence of physical attractiveness, dress, and job type upon recruiters' im pressions of females' employment potential was investigated. Three hundred college campus recruiters served as subjects. The study was a 2 × 3 × 2 be tween‐subjects factorial design with two levels of attractiveness (attractive, mod erately attractive), three levels of dress (appropriate, moderately appropriate, in appropriate) and two levels of job type (male dominated, female dominated). Subjects were mailed a questionnaire with a photograph of a bogus female appli cant and asked to rate her on eight employment potential statements using a five‐point scale indicating subjects' degree of agreement with each statement. Results indicated the dress of the applicant exerted a consistent influence on recruiters' perceptions of the female applicants' employment potential.