{"title":"What should I wear to work? An integrative review of the impact of clothing in the workplace.","authors":"Yingyi Chang, Jose M Cortina","doi":"10.1037/apl0001158","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Perceptions of clothing are complex, varying across individuals, situations, cultures, and time. Although there is very little research on the topic in our field, evidence from a wide variety of other disciplines points to the importance of clothing in the workplace. In this article, we review this evidence and identify three universal and distinctive clothing characteristics at work: formality, provocativeness, and fashionability. We also identify two other categories: uniforms and religiosity of clothing, which are tied to particular social groups. Drawing on attribution theory and the stereotype content model, we provide a cohesive conceptual framework in which clothing characteristics influence observers' perceptions of wearer's warmth and competence through observers' dispositional attribution processes. These perceptions, in turn, influence facilitation behaviors, such as providing support to wearers, and harm behaviors, such as negatively biased performance appraisal. We conclude by offering suggestions for future research and implications for employees and employers with regard to managing clothing choices and avoiding potential biases. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":15135,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Applied Psychology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":9.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Applied Psychology","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0001158","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2023/12/7 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"MANAGEMENT","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Perceptions of clothing are complex, varying across individuals, situations, cultures, and time. Although there is very little research on the topic in our field, evidence from a wide variety of other disciplines points to the importance of clothing in the workplace. In this article, we review this evidence and identify three universal and distinctive clothing characteristics at work: formality, provocativeness, and fashionability. We also identify two other categories: uniforms and religiosity of clothing, which are tied to particular social groups. Drawing on attribution theory and the stereotype content model, we provide a cohesive conceptual framework in which clothing characteristics influence observers' perceptions of wearer's warmth and competence through observers' dispositional attribution processes. These perceptions, in turn, influence facilitation behaviors, such as providing support to wearers, and harm behaviors, such as negatively biased performance appraisal. We conclude by offering suggestions for future research and implications for employees and employers with regard to managing clothing choices and avoiding potential biases. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Applied Psychology® focuses on publishing original investigations that contribute new knowledge and understanding to fields of applied psychology (excluding clinical and applied experimental or human factors, which are better suited for other APA journals). The journal primarily considers empirical and theoretical investigations that enhance understanding of cognitive, motivational, affective, and behavioral psychological phenomena in work and organizational settings. These phenomena can occur at individual, group, organizational, or cultural levels, and in various work settings such as business, education, training, health, service, government, or military institutions. The journal welcomes submissions from both public and private sector organizations, for-profit or nonprofit. It publishes several types of articles, including:
1.Rigorously conducted empirical investigations that expand conceptual understanding (original investigations or meta-analyses).
2.Theory development articles and integrative conceptual reviews that synthesize literature and generate new theories on psychological phenomena to stimulate novel research.
3.Rigorously conducted qualitative research on phenomena that are challenging to capture with quantitative methods or require inductive theory building.