Attractive rivals may undermine the expectation of career advancement and enhance jealousy. An experimental study

Abstract

This experiment with 119 adult females examined the effect of a rival’s attractiveness on jealousy and career advancement expectations in a simulated work setting where individuals had to compete for a job promotion. We hypothesized that an attractive rival would evoke relatively more jealousy and lower career advancement expectations, especially in individuals high in Intrasexual Competitiveness (ISC). In addition, we examined the moderating effects of characteristics attributed to the rival in terms of popularity, professionalism, and unfriendliness. The results showed that, overall, an attractive rival induced more jealousy and lower career advancement expectations than an unattractive rival. Especially among women who attributed unfriendliness to their rival, the attractiveness of the rival induced higher levels of jealousy and lower career advancement expectations. Among women high in ISC, the rival’s attractiveness induced lower career advancement expectations. It is recommended that managers and human resource officials pay particular attention to how physical attractiveness may interfere with female employees’ professional development, and to the important role of emotions in the workplace.