December 2013

IZA DP No. 7847: Better Sexy than Flexy? A Lab Experiment Assessing the Impact of Perceived Attractiveness and Personality Traits on Hiring Decisions

Stijn Baert, Lynn Decuypere

revised version published in: Applied Economics Letters , 2014, 21 (9), 597 - 601

In this letter we present a laboratory experiment to assess the relative and independent effect of perceived attractiveness and personality traits on hiring decisions. Our results indicate that attractiveness and conscientiousness, followed by emotional stability, are important drivers of recruiters' decisions.