Is Beauty Beastly?

Abstract

While attractiveness has many positive effects in everyday life, it has been shown to negatively affect selection of female leaders, the so-called “beauty is beastly” effect. Yet, an impact on more profound variables, such as followers’ trust in and loyalty toward female leaders, remains unclear, as does its interaction with different leadership styles: transformational (characterized by charismatic behavior aimed at inspiring and motivating followers) versus transactional (characterized by a strong focus on task completion and respective rewards or punishments). We have therefore made the first empirical attempt to test the interaction effects of leader gender, leader attractiveness, and leadership style on followers’ trust and loyalty. Results from a laboratory experiment provide clear empirical support for the negative effects of attractiveness for female (but not male) leaders with a transformational leadership style. Attractiveness did not influence trust and loyalty toward male and female leaders with a transactional leadership style. The negative influence of leader attractiveness on trust and loyalty toward female transformational leaders was mediated by ascribed leader communion.