The Impact of Attractiveness on Retail Managers’ Decisions: Labor Market Discrimination when Hiring Salespeople

9 Pages Posted: 12 Nov 2019

See all articles by Ze'ev Shtudiner

Ze'ev Shtudiner

Ariel University - Department of Economics

Date Written: November 1, 2019

Abstract

This paper investigates the role of physical attractiveness in retail managers’ decisions about hiring salespeople. Using data on attractiveness and the potential employment qualifications of 30 candidates, we found that retail managers prefer to hire candidates who are more physically attractive. This beauty premium can be explained by our findings on the positive correlation between candidates’ attractiveness and the perceived presence of traits essential for becoming a successful salesperson, such as charisma, kindness and persuasiveness. We also found that beauty plays a more important role for female candidates, from the earliest stage of the hiring process. No difference was found between the beauty premiums in the decisions of male and female retail managers. Based on our findings, we recommend that retail managers remain vigilant about the potential for intentional or unintentional biases based on physical appearance when hiring employees.

Keywords: Beauty, Labor market, Discrimination, Salespeople

JEL Classification: J71

Suggested Citation

Shtudiner, Ze'ev, The Impact of Attractiveness on Retail Managers’ Decisions: Labor Market Discrimination when Hiring Salespeople (November 1, 2019). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3479010 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3479010

Ze'ev Shtudiner (Contact Author)

Ariel University - Department of Economics ( email )

Ariel, 40300
Israel

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