Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Scholars’ physical appearance, research performance, and feelings of happiness

  • Published:
Scientometrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Our study aims to analyse whether former feelings of happiness and/or physical appearance are significantly correlated with the subsequent observable research performance of scholars. To the best of our knowledge, both has not been analysed previously. To do so, we photographed 49 persons attending the 72nd annual conference of the German Academic Association for Business Research (VHB), which took place in Bremen in 2010. We interviewed them about their feelings of happiness. Later we asked students to evaluate the photographed persons’ attractiveness, competence, trustworthiness, likeability and their feelings of happiness. To determine the academics’ research performance we compiled a list of their recent journal publications, considering different journal weights and dividing them by the number of authors. Regression analyses reveal significant relationships between feelings of happiness in 2010 and research performance in 2011/2012. Conversely, we cannot observe significant relationships between previous research performance and subsequently reported feelings of happiness. Even though at first glance one would not expect that physical appearance is relevant for research output we find significant relationships. While previous studies show that scholars’ evaluations of teaching are influenced by attractiveness, our results suggest that research performance is not influenced by attractiveness but especially by (perceived) trustworthiness. Our data also reveal a weakly significant correlation between scholars’ perceived feelings of happiness and their reported feelings of happiness.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Graham et al. (2010) also considered four of these dimensions: beauty, competence, trustworthiness, and likeability.

  2. The main function of this system is to collect student evaluations of teaching.

  3. None of the contacted students participated in more than one of the three lectures.

  4. Variants of the models presented in Table 3, which can be send on request, either consider reported feelings of happiness in 2010 or one of the physical appearance scores. The modified models show the same significant relationships between research performance and feelings of happiness respectively research performance and physical appearance. The significance levels are the same or even higher. In two models using ref.Journal as dependent variable the physical appearance scores for likeability and the overall physical appearance (which are insignificant in the original models) reaches the significance level 0.05 (likeability) respectively 0.10 (overall).

  5. Tobit regressions without control variables for the academic position, which can be send on request, reveal a significant (or at least weakly significant) correlation between feelings of happiness in 2010 and research performance in 2011/2012 in 13 out of our 18 models. In nine of these models the variable feelings of happiness (2010) is significant on the level of 0.05; in 4 other models on the 0.10 level. Removing the control variables for the academic position does not change, and in many cases even increases the significance levels of the physical appearance scores. Without these control variables we can observe some more significant correlations between research performance and physical appearance scores, such as attractiveness when Handelsblatt2012 is the dependent variable, competence when either Handelsblatt2012 or JQ2.1 is the dependent variable and the overall physical appearance score when ref.Journal is the dependent variable.

References

  • Bauer, H. P. W., Schui, G., von Eye, A., & Krampen, G. (2013). How does scientific success relate to individual and organizational characteristics? A scientometric study of psychology researchers in the German-speaking countries. Scientometrics, 94(2), 523–539.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Biddle, J. E., & Hamermesh, D. S. (1998). Beauty, productivity, and discrimination: Lawyers’ look and lucre. Journal of Labour Economics, 16(1), 172–201.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boehm, J. K., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2008). Does happiness promote career success? Journal of Career Assessment, 16(1), 101–116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bosquet, C., & Combes, P. (2013). Are academics who publish more also more cited? Individual determinants of publication and citation records. Scientometrics, 97(3), 831–857.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., Nickerson, C., Lucas, R. E., & Sandvik, E. (2002). Dispositional affect and job outcomes. Social Indicators Research, 59(3), 229–259.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dilger, A., & Müller, H. (2012). Ein Forschungsleistungsranking auf der Grundlage von Google Scholar. Zeitschrift für Betriebswirtschaft (ZfB), 82(10), 1089–1105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dziuban, C. D., & Shirkey, E. C. (1974). When is a correlation matrix appropriate for factor analysis? Some decision rules. Psychological Bulletin, 81(6), 358–361.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Felton, J., Koper, P. T., Mitchell, J., & Stinson, M. (2008). Attractiveness, easiness and other issues: Student evaluations of professors on Ratemyprofessors.com. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 33(1), 45–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fukuzawa, N. (2014). An empirical analysis of the relationship between individual characteristics and research productivity. Scientometrics, 99(3), 785–809.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goebel, B. L., & Cashen, V. M. (1979). Age, Sex, and Attractiveness as Factors in Student Ratings of Teachers: A developmental study. Journal of Educational Psychology, 71(5), 646–653.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gonzalez-Brambila, C., & Veloso, F. M. (2007). The determinants of research output and impact: A study of mexican researchers. Research Policy, 36(7), 1035–1051.

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Graham, C., Eggers, A., & Sukhtankar, S. (2004). Does happiness pay? An exploration based on panel data from Russia. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 55(3), 319–342.

    Google Scholar 

  • Graham, J. R., Harvey, C. R., & Puri, M. (2010). A corporate beauty contest. Discussion Paper, online at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1571469. Last request on October 1, 2014.

  • Hamermesh, D. S., & Biddle, J. E. (1994). Beauty and the labor market. American Economic Review, 84(5), 1174–1194.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamermesh, D. S., & Parker, A. (2005). Beauty in the classroom: Instructors’ pulchritude and putative pedagogical productivity. Economics of Education Review, 24(4), 369–376.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harris, G., & Kaine, G. (1994). The determinants of research performance: A study of Australian university economists. Higher Education, 27(2), 191–201.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hedjazi, Y., & Behravan, J. (2011). Study of factors influencing research productivity of agriculture faculty members in Iran. Higher Education, 62(5), 635–647.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hom, H. L., & Arbuckle, B. (1988). Mood induction effects upon goal setting and performance in young children. Motivation and Emotion, 12(2), 113–122.

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Kaiser, H. F., & Rice, J. (1974). Little Jiffy, Mark Iv. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 34(1), 111–117.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kanazawa, S., & Kovar, J. L. (2004). Why beautiful people are more intelligent. Intelligence, 32(3), 227–243.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • King, A., & Leigh, A. (2009). Beautiful politicians. Kyklos, 62(4), 579–593.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klein, M., & Rosar, U. (2005). Physische Attraktivität und Wahlerfolg: Eine empirische Analyse am Beispiel der Wahlkreiskandidaten bei der Bundestagswahl 2002. Politische Vierteljahresschrift, 46(2), 263–287.

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Landy, D., & Sigall, H. (1974). Beauty is talent: Task evaluation as a function of the performer’s physical attractiveness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 29(3), 299–304.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lyubomirsky, S., & King, L. (2005). The benefits of frequent positive affect: Does happiness lead to success? Psychological Bulletin, 131(6), 803–855.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mobius, M. M., & Rosenblat, T. S. (2006). Why beauty matters. American Economic Review, 96(1), 222–235.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pannells, T. C., & Claxton, A. F. (2008). Happiness, creative ideation, and locus of control. Creativity Research Journal, 20(19), 67–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patzer, G. L. (1983). Source credibility as a function of communicator physical attractiveness. Journal of Business Research, 11(2), 229–241.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Postma, E. (2014). A relationship between attractiveness and performance in professional cyclists. Biology Letters, 10(2). doi:10.1098/rsbl.2013.0966.

  • Puuska, H. (2010). Effects of scholar’s gender and professional position on publishing productivity in different publication types: Analysis of a Finnish university. Scientometrics, 82(2), 419–437.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ramsden, P. (1994). Describing and explaining research productivity. Higher Education, 28(2), 207–226.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Riniolo, T. C., Johnson, K. C., Sherman, T. S., & Misso, J. A. (2006). Hot or not: Do professors perceived as physically attractive receive higher student evaluations? Journal of General Psychology, 133(1), 19–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosar, U., & Klein, M. (2009). Mein (schöner) Prof.de: Die physische Attraktivität des akademischen Lehrpersonals und ihr Einfluss auf die Ergebnisse studentischer Lehrevaluationen. Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie, 61(4), 621–645.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosar, U., Klein, M., & Beckers, T. (2008). The frog pond beauty contest: Physical attractiveness and electoral success of the constituency candidates at the north rhine-westphalia state election of 2005. European Journal of Political Research, 47(1), 64–79.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rule, N. O., & Ambady, N. (2008). The face of success: Inferences from chief executive officers’ appearance predict company profits. Psychological Science, 19(2), 109–111.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schläpfer, J., Storbeck, O. (2012). BWL-Ranking 2012: Methodik und Zeitschriftenliste. Handelsblatt 15.06.2012. online at http://www.handelsblatt.com/politik/oekonomie/bwl-ranking/bwl-ranking-2012-bwl-ranking-2012-methodik-und-zeitschriftenliste/6758368.html. Last request on October 1, 2014.

  • Todorov, A., Mandisodza, A. N., Goren, A., & Hall, C. C. (2005). Inferences of competence from faces predict election outcomes. Science, 308(5728), 1623–1626.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Torgler, B., Antić, N., & Dulleck, U. (2008). Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the happiest of them all? Kyklos, 61(2), 309–319.

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Woods, C. (2012). Exploring emotion in the higher education workplace: Capturing contrasting perspectives using Q methodology. Higher Education, 64(6), 891–909.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors are very grateful to the participants of our study at the 72nd annual conference of the German Academic Association for Business Research (VHB) in Bremen 2010 and to Johanna Metker for taking photos of them. We also thank the participants of the annual meeting of the Section of Academic Management of the VHB in Duisburg 2013 as well as the participants of the 2013 EAIR Rotterdam Forum and two anonymous reviewers for valuable suggestions.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Organisational Economics, University of Münster, Scharnhorststr. 100, 48151, Münster, Germany

    Alexander Dilger, Laura Lütkenhöner & Harry Müller

Authors
  1. Alexander Dilger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Laura Lütkenhöner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Harry Müller
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alexander Dilger.

Appendices

Appendix 1

See Table 4.

Table 4 OLS regressions using physical appearance scores as dependent variables
Full size table

Appendix 2

See Table 5.

Table 5 Female versus male scholars
Full size table

Appendix 3

See Table 6.

Table 6 Correlation analyses for relations between gender, age, feelings of happiness, physical appearance and research performance
Full size table

Appendix 4

See Table 7.

Table 7 Tobit regressions for feelings of happiness in 2010 considering research performance in 2008/2009
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Dilger, A., Lütkenhöner, L. & Müller, H. Scholars’ physical appearance, research performance, and feelings of happiness. Scientometrics 104, 555–573 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-015-1623-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-015-1623-5

Keywords

Mathematics Subject Classification

JEL Classification

Search

Navigation