Effects of helper sex, recipient attractiveness, and recipient femininity on helping behavior in organizations

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the effects of sex, attractiveness, and sex role of helping behavior in a simulated work situation. Design/methodology/approach – A 2 × 2×2 randomized experimental design was used, in which 81 participants worked on cooperative task building models. Male or female participants were asked for help from a female confederate who was either high or low in attractiveness and high or low in femininity. Findings – A three‐way interaction indicated that male participants provided equal levels of help across femininity and attractiveness conditions, but female participants provided more help to low attractive‐high feminine confederates than to high attractive‐high feminine confederates. Research limitations/implications – The external validity of the study may be limited, due to sample and experimental setting. Care should also be used in generalizing to situations in which the participants have longer‐term relationships. Practical implications – Differences in helping related to sex, sex role orientation, and attractiveness do occur, and may be related to social roles and expectations. This may help predict patterns of helping in work settings. Originality/value – The study demonstrated that sex role orientation can be experimentally manipulated, and that this does combine with other variables to influence helping behaviors. It also indicated that attractiveness effects are not as consistent as may be expected.