E-perceptions and Business 'Mating': The Communication Effects of the Relative Width of Males' Faces in Business Portraits

Eveline van Zeeland; Jörg Henseler

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.605926

E-perceptions and Business 'Mating': The Communication Effects of the Relative Width of Males' Faces in Business Portraits

Front Psychol. 2021 Apr 16:12:605926. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.605926. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Eveline van Zeeland^{1

2}, Jörg Henseler^{1

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Design, Production & Management, University of Twente, Enschede, Netherlands.
² Faculty of Business and Communication, HAN University of Applied Sciences, Nijmegen, Netherlands.
³ NOVA Information Management School, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.
⁴ Department of Business Administration and Marketing, University of Seville, Seville, Spain.

Abstract

This study investigates the relative impacts of the facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR) on the first impressions business professionals form of business consultants when seeing their photographs on a corporate website or LinkedIn page. By applying conjoint analysis on field experiment data (n = 381), we find that in a zero-acquaintance situation business professionals prefer low-fWHR business consultants. This implies that they prefer a face that communicates trustworthiness to one that communicates success. Further, we have investigated the words that business professionals use to describe their preferred consultant. These approach motivations help practitioners to improve the picture-text alignment. The results underline the necessity to critically assess the pictures and text used on websites and media platforms such as LinkedIn for business purposes, and to see them as a key element of business and self-communication that can be altered in order to improve business 'mating.'

Keywords: business mating; conjoint analysis; facial metrics; non-verbal cues; online impression management.