Effect of Men’s Shirts on Impressions of Wearers’ Motivation and Performance

Abstract

We investigated the effect of men’s dress shirts on impressions of wearers’ motivation and performance in the workplace, and appearance. A ready-made commercial shirt was used as a reference. Four types of shirts associated with high status (a high-priced ready-made shirt, a custom-made shirt, a high-end brand shirt, and a luxury brand shirt) were presented either alone or with neckties, on identical mannequins. Fifty-one Japanese university students in their 20s and 85 office workers in their 20s to 60s evaluated their impressions of the shirts. We provided no information about the shirts. Compared with the standard shirt, the evaluations of some shirts associated with high status were higher in both groups of participants. However, the presence of wrinkles was associated with lower evaluations, even for luxury brand shirts. Wearing a necktie improved participants’ evaluation of appearance and impression for all shirts. Overall, the results revealed that dress shirts affected participants’ impression of wearers’ motivation and performance.