New Harvard Research Extols Benefits of Non-Conformist Dress: MBA News

A forthcoming Harvard research paper has investigated the way in which people react to non-conformist behavior to produce some intriguing results. 

‘The Red Sneakers Effect: Inferring Status and Competence from Signals of Nonconformity’ is the work of Harvard Business School faculty members, Francesca Gino and Anat Keinan, and doctoral student, Silvia Bellezza.

They conclude that non-conformist dress in a professional setting can make a positive impression of status and competence in the eyes of others – largely brought on by the way it makes people stand out.

Examples given are Harvard Business School professor, Francesca Gino, giving seminars in the eponymous ‘red sneakers’ rather than more formal footwear to find that executives were more likely to assume her role was more senior and that a higher fee was required to secure her as a speaker. The implication being, that she was important enough to make such a statement and to have the confidence to do so.

In addition, university professors wearing t-shirts gave their students an impression of a higher standing than those wearing suits – in perhaps the clearest indication that non-conformist behavior was being rewarded.

Harvard Business School findings come with conditions

The Harvard research paper, which is due to be published in the Journal of Consumer Research, does not suggest that a more casual appearance comes with a guarantee of enhanced reputation.

The benefits found hinge on a couple of conditions. Firstly, observers have to be aware that the perpetrator is breaking with a convention of expected dress – as indeed may have been the case when Gino gave seminars in red trainers.

Secondly, the Harvard Business School team found that observers have to feel that the non-conformist has done this intentionally – i.e. that the university professor has chosen to eschew a suit in favor of the humble t-shirt, rather than this being seen as accidental.    

A report in the UK’s Metro took the Harvard research findings as a starting point for a general discussion with fashion experts on the subject of dress in the workplace.

One conclusion was that non-conformist dress was a lot easier to pull off in some office-based roles than in others, such as the legal profession. However, an interesting point was raised that confidence in expressing one’s individuality in the clothes one wears seemed to be returning after the financial recession had made many people forgo this so as not to stand out at a time when roles may be questioned.

Fashion experts were agreed that on the whole it was necessary to strike a balance. Wearing clothes that bring comfort can improve performance, others simply make a person feel good and hence bring confidence. But the importance of not taking this too far, especially when making a first-impression, should not be underestimated.

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