Personal Appearance and Productivity in the Automobile Sales Industry - Research Proposal Example

Research Design: Personal Appearance and Productivity I. Introduction Research Topic and Question A number of factors affect how employees are perceived, evaluated and judged by their supervisors. All of these have direct or indirect impact on their motivation, competence and productivity. The topic of the proposed research is the appearance discrimination at work which relates to the differential treatment by supervisors and colleagues towards employees on the basis of their personal appearance. In particular, the proposed study would explore this phenomenon in the automobile sales industry. The research question that would guide the proposed research is thus: Does better personal appearance correlate with better productivity in the automobile sales industry? Significance of the Research Topic The proposed research has been selected because it has significant practical and theoretical implications. One of the most crucial issues arises at the time of employee selection. Employers and recruiters who give greater weight to personal appearance over other job-related factors such as selling skills, technical knowledge, experience, etc. are more likely to reject talented applicants because they may not have exceptional personal appearance. This can adversely affect the quality of organisational human capital and thereby its competitive advantage. Research on the proposed topic can potentially contribute to the theory on organisational productivity because the link between personal appearance and productivity has been understudied. The findings from the proposed research will serve to illuminate the assertions made in the existing literature on employee perception. For instance, Dion, Berscheid and Walster (1972) discuss the phenomenon of appearance stereotyping and conclude that physically attractive people are perceived as more desirable by others and have better quality of interpersonal interactions. Dean (2014) has concluded that employees who are physically attractive are simultaneously perceived to have stronger managerial skills than employees who are less attractive. Katz (1974), in discussing the essential managerial skills, describes the “halo effect” which encourages an employee to be rated positively on several performance factors on the basis of positive rating on one factor, appearance for example. Mahajan (2007) argues that employers are more likely to hire applicants with better appearance than those with an ordinary appearance. Khalil and Mohammadrahim (2014) argue that a positive correlation exists between employee productivity and perceived body image. Engemann & Owyand (2005) argue that better personal appearance is correlated with higher wages because appearance is perceived to be related to productivity increases which are not measureable by conventional performance evaluation mechanisms. These include increased confidence and enhanced communication skills. Proposed Research Design The general design of the proposed research will be explanatory which is described by Jackson (2012) as a study that seeks to explain relationships between variables by identifying and studying correlations. Davis (1971) explains correlation in that seemingly unrelated or independent phenomena are actually interdependent phenomena in reality. The explanatory study will explain whether and how personal appearance and productivity are related. This design is appropriate for the study if the correct sample composition and size are chosen and bias is controlled in data collection. II. Theory and Research Design 2.1 Theory The theory and research discussed in the previous section indicates that while the concepts of productivity and personal appearance have been explored in several studies, research that explores the direct relationship between the two is lacking. For instance, Engemann & Owyand (2005) show a relationship between personal appearance and wages but point to some ambiguity in determining how much measured productivity contributes to higher wages. Similarly, Khalil & Mohammadrahim (2014) focus on self-body image as opposed to the perceptions and evaluations by others. Furthermore, theories developed by Dion, Berscheid & Walster (1972) and Katz (1974) describe the phenomenon of stereotyping based on personal attractiveness but do not link it to productivity in an explicit relationship. Therefore, the proposed study aims to identify a direct, explicit correlation between personal appearance and productivity. The hypotheses that will be tested in the proposed study are: Null hypothesis or H0: No relationship exists between employee personal appearance and employee productivity. Experimental hypothesis or H1: A relationship (positive or negative) exists between employee personal appearance and employee productivity. The results of the hypothesis testing will produce evidence for or against a relationship between the independent variable (employee personal appearance) and the dependent variable (employee productivity). 2.2 Research Design Data Collection Strategy: The data collection strategy outlines how the data for the dependent and independent variables will be obtained from the participants. The research will be a quantitative study as it will explore the correlation between personal appearance and the productivity of employees in the automobile sales industry. The data will be collected by means of a survey. A brief interview will be conducted with the employer and the sales associates at various car showrooms, such as showrooms of Ferrari, Mercedes, etc. A rating scale will be developed by the researcher and will be used during the course of the interview to rate the personal appearance of the sales associates on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being the lowest and 10 the highest rating. Along with the rating data for personal appearance, data will also be collected for the productivity of each sales associate from the employer. However, accessing these data will be comparatively difficult since these data are proprietary in nature and it may be against the employer’s policy to share it with third parties. Prior information will be obtained from the employer or showroom manager to make the figures available for the research. This data will include the number of sales made by each sales associate during a period and the monetary value of those sales. This will give a reasonably accurate picture of the productivity of the sales associates and will help in achieving the objectives of the study. Dependent Variable: As stated in the research question, the dependent variable in the proposed study will be the employee productivity. However, this is a broad and general concept which needs to be specified through an operational definition and an appropriate metric for its measurement. Thus, the dependent variable may be represented as the operational definition ‘the value of revenue generated by a sales associate over the past year through the sales of cars in the showroom.’ The appropriate measure for the dependent variable will be dollars since it is an objective and easily quantifiable measure of the sales revenue generated by an employee. Independent Variable: The independent variable as identified in the research question is the personal appearance of the sales associates. This is a very subjective concept and hence it is necessary to create an operational definition and objective measure for the variable. The independent variable can thus be defined as ‘the cleanliness, attractiveness, and grooming demonstrated through clothing, hair, and skin of the individual.’ The objective measure for the independent variable will be the rating awarded to the sales associate on the rating scale developed by the researcher/interviewer for the study. This measure will yield the data to be used for analysis. External Validity: External validity relates to the extent to which the results of a particular study can be generalized to the wider population. In other words, a study with strong external validity represents the relationships between dependent and independent variables in the general population as they do in the study sample. Hence, it is important for the sample to be representative of the population if the study is to be relevant and useful. To achieve this, the proposed study will select a sample with a diverse population by selecting participants engaged in selling diverse automobile brands. Stratified sampling will be done to ensure that the sample represents the diversity in geographical distribution, age, experience, and gender. Internal Validity: Internal validity is concerned with the extent to which the study realizes its objectives. For the proposed study, the internal validity would involve the determination of correlation between the dependent and independent variables. Trochim & Donnelly (2008) discuss the importance of causation in internal validity of a study. Therefore, in order to secure the internal validity of a study, it is important to ensure that the causation between the two can be clearly established. However, causation is beyond the scope of the proposed study as the research question is concerned with the correlation between the two. Data Analysis Strategy: This section explains how the data will be analyzed after it has been operationalized. Basically, a correlation analysis will be performed. Once these two sets of data have been obtained, these will be analysed to determine the nature of any correlation that exists between them. Thus, the appearance scale rating and the revenue generated by the sales associate will be plotted using statistical software. After the data has been processed by the software, it will present results for the direction and strength of correlation between personal appearance and productivity. It will show firstly, whether the two are significantly correlated, and secondly, whether the correlation is positive or negative. On the basis of these results, the conclusions for the study will be drawn. Assumptions and Risks: Certain assumptions will underlie the research strategy and the data collection process. One of the assumptions will be that other factors behind selection for employment and productivity will be similar across all employees. For instance, it will be assumed that the sales associate will have similar education, experience and skills and will differ only in their personal appearance. It is also important to recognize and guard against factors that could distort the data collection and analysis. One of these is the potential for interviewer bias in that the subjective perceptions of the researcher/interviewer could interfere with objective rating of sales associate on the basis of personal appearance. III. Data Collection and Work Schedule The data collection will depend on the determination of population size and composition. The scope of the study is limited to sales associates in the automobile sales industry. First, data about the size of the population will be collected from industry reports and various employers in the region. The data will inform the researcher about the diversity in age, experience, and gender of the population. On the basis of this data, stratified sampling will be conducted to ensure that a representative sample possessing external validity is constructed. The advantage of the stratified sampling approach is that it allows a more representative sample of the population to be selected compared with the random sampling approach (Stamatis, 2012, p. 158). Furthermore, it also helps to restrict the sample size to a manageable level while retaining the diversity of the population (Stamatis, 2012, p. 158). Primary data from the sample will be obtained through the use of surveys. Personal visits will be undertaken during which a brief interview with the sample participants will be conducted in order to assess their personal appearance. A personal appearance rating scale developed for the study will be used by the researcher to rate the participants from 1 to 10 on the scale. In addition to the personally generated data, the records of the sales will be requested from the employer and sales figures for each associate for the past 12 months will be collected. The data collection process is illustrated in detail in the Gantt chart below: IV. Conclusion The proposed research aims to identify and explore the correlation between personal appearance and productivity of employees. The scope of the study will be limited to the automobile sales industry. Data for the quantitative, explanatory study will be obtained by a survey and interview method, which will be analyzed with the help of statistical software. The findings of the study will determine whether a correlation between personal appearance and productivity exists, and the nature of the correlation. The findings will help to articulate explicitly the influence of personal appearance on how sales staff are evaluated by customers. It will help to enhance the effectiveness of staff recruitment and training processes in sales organizations. Moreover, employers will be able to develop a fair and objective assessment of how far personal appearance of their employees contributes to revenue growth. References Davis, M. S. (1971). That’s interesting: Towards a phenomenology of sociology and a sociology of phenomenology. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 1(4), 309-344. Dean, D. H. (2014). A ‘halo’ effect for inference of managerial ability from physical appearance. American International Journal of Contemporary Research, 4(10), 15-23. Dion, K. K., Berscheid, E. & Walster, E. (1972). What is beautiful is good. Journal of Personal and Social Psychology, 24, 285-290. Engemann, K. E. & Owyand, M. T. (2005). So much for that merit raise: The link between wages and appearance. The Regional Economist, April 2005, pp. 10-11. Jackson, (2012). Research methods and statistics: A critical thinking approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Katz, R. L. (1974). Skills of an effective administrator. Harvard Business Review, 52(2), 90-102. Khalil, B. & Mohammadrahim, N. (2014). The relationship between body image and employee productivity of youth and sport department, West Azerbaijan province of Iran. Indian Journal of Fundamental and Applied Life Sciences, 4(S3), pp. 1429-1434. Mahajan, R. (2007). The naked truth: Appearance discrimination, employment, and the law. Asian American Law Journal, 14(6), 165-203. Stamatis, D. H. (2012). Essential statistical concepts for the quality professional. Boca Raton: FL, Taylor & Francis. Trochim, W. M. & Donnelly, J. P. (2008). The research methods knowledge base (3rd ed.). Mason, OH: Cengage Learning. Read More