Influence of Shirt Colors of Job Interview Suits on Impression Formation

Abstract

We evaluated the effects of female shirt colors for job interview suits on the clothing message A basic dark gray suit and an open-collar shirt were used Twelve shirt colors were examined (10 pale tone and 2 achromatic colors). The subjects were 166 female students who were job-hunting, and 157 bank recruiters who were interviewing job applicants. The females selected the colors they would like to wear and the bank recruiters selected colors that impressed them favorably. Concerning the color, the subjects performed image assessment by the SD method using 25 pairs of adjectives. The colors preferred by the female students and those that favorably impressed the bank recruiters were white and blue. Factor analysis showed that the female students sought refinement and intelligence in colors they would like to wear, while the bank recruiters sought sincerity in colors that impressed them favorably. The clothing message differed with the shirt color worn.