Premium
Beauty Revisited: The impact of attractiveness, ability, and personality in the assessment of employment suitability
Author(s) -
Tews Michael J.,
Stafford Kathryn,
Zhu Jinfei
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
international journal of selection and assessment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.812
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1468-2389
pISSN - 0965-075X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-2389.2009.00454.x
Subject(s) - attractiveness , psychology , conscientiousness , personality , beauty , big five personality traits , sample (material) , social psychology , physical attractiveness , applied psychology , philosophy , chemistry , epistemology , chromatography , psychoanalysis , extraversion and introversion
This study examined the relative weight that hiring managers place on applicants' attractiveness, general mental ability (GMA), and the Big Five personality dimensions in assessing employment suitability for high and low customer contact positions. A sample of 130 managers from 43 hotel properties in the United States and Canada evaluated applicant profiles that varied on these dimensions. The policy capturing results demonstrated that attractiveness does impact employment suitability ratings across positions. However, attractiveness is valued less than GMA and conscientiousness. The attractiveness weight was greater in the evaluation of high customer contact positions, suggesting that attractiveness may be perceived as more job‐relevant for positions where employees interact extensively with people outside the organization. These findings are discussed along with implications for practice and future research attention.