Matching faces to expectations : the impact of political and business domain differences in gendered expectations on preferred appearance for leaders

Abstract

Prior research has demonstrated that feminine appearance is penalized in business contexts. However, a separate body of research, predominantly centered on electoral outcomes, has put forth conflicting results demonstrating that feminine appearance can be beneficial. In a series of experimental studies, I aim to resolve the conflict in the literature by proposing an expectation-matching theory. I propose that, although both domains of politics and business are associated with masculine characteristics, contexts within the political domain are associated with fewer masculine characteristics than contexts within the business domain and, as a result, perceivers expect and prefer less masculine facial appearances for political leaders than for business leaders. The findings of the studies add to the face perception literature and the gender bias literature that examines the impact of circumstances that make gender and professional roles discrepant in their impact on consequential outcomes, such as hiring and electoral outcomes.