Beard Liberation Front
17th December
New Study shows Beard Power is good for business
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that a new study by two US academics just published in the Journal of Business Research, bust pogonophobic myths in the world of work and demonstrates that beards are good for business
The study ‘It grows on you: Perceptions of sales/service personnel with facial hair’ is by SarahMittal and David H.Silvera
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0148296320307840?via%3Dihub
It looks at how much gravitas a beard can add in a sales environment and has a number of headline conclusions:
Facial hair on male sales personnel drives increased perceptions of expertise.
Increased ratings of expertise drive perceptions of trust and purchase likelihood.
Five studies conducted using a variety of male ethnicities and sales contexts.
Sporting a beard in a sales/service role may be beneficial to sales outcomes.
The study suggests that:
Sales personnel with a beard are perceived as having more expertise across various industries; furthermore, increased perceptions of expertise predict higher ratings of trustworthiness and, subsequently, increase consumers’ purchase likelihood.
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, normally we don’t take these kind of studies too seriously but the conclusions here seem obvious to us. Beards are viewed in a positive light and in a business context enhance sales.
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