Business Commons^™

Sticky Doors And Crusty Floors: Zooming In On Messiness And Parenthood In Virtual Work Meetings, Katherine A. Karl, Joy V. Peluchette, Andrea R. Neely

Faculty Scholarship

This study examines how the condition of an employee’s home background setting (messy vs. tidy) and the presence of a child on screen (present vs. not present) impact observer judgments of the target’s professionalism, competence, and career success. Participants (N=711) were randomly assigned to one of 16 experimental conditions with two levels for performance (high or low), target gender (male or female), background (messy or tidy), and child (present or not present). The results show that messiness alone results in less favorable perceptions of the target employee’s professionalism and career outcomes, but not competence. Having a child present did not …