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Your wingman could help you land a job: How beauty composition of applicants affects the call-back probability

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  • Leckcivilize, Attakrit
  • Straub, Alexander

Abstract

This paper analyses how both own appearance and the beauty composition of other candidates influence the chances of being selected for a job interview. Based on our lab experiment with randomised CVs, we confirm the role of appearance on job recruitment. Importantly, we show that appearance of other applicants with the same gender has significant incremental effects on top of the existing beauty premium. This “wingman effect” is more pronounced in high skilled occupations and mainly among male recruiters. We provide evidence that the “wingman effect” is not driven by system one decision making and predominantly affects choices at the margin.

Suggested Citation

  • Leckcivilize, Attakrit & Straub, Alexander, 2020. "Your wingman could help you land a job: How beauty composition of applicants affects the call-back probability," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:labeco:v:65:y:2020:i:c:s0927537120300610
    DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2020.101857
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Beauty premium; Decoy effect; Labour discrimination;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing
    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • D90 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - General

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