Is Physical Attractiveness More Important than Professional Competency?

Abstract

The international tourist hotel industry that focuses on quality of the “tangible” service is a typical high-contact service. To survive in the recent competitive work environment, many enterprises enhance their competitiveness in the process of service employee selection and emphasize the importance of physical attractiveness. This study uses self-confidence as a moderator which is rare relevant empirical evidence to confirm the relationships between physical attractiveness, professional competence and service attitude. The results show that confidence of the service personnel, physical attractiveness and professional competence have positive significant correlation relationships with service attitude. Service personnel's “self-confidence” is the most important variable towards service attitude. The study borrows selection and training functions of human resource management to integrate the knowledge of psychology, marketing management to expand the theory.