Physical attractiveness of the service worker in the moment of truth and its effects on customer satisfaction

This study assesses if the service worker's physical attractiveness has an impact on customer satisfaction in the moment of truth. An experimental approach, involving two different service settings (visiting a bookstore and traveling with an airline), was used to manipulate the level of the service worker's physical attractiveness. The results, for both experiments, show that a high level as opposed to a low level of physical attractiveness of the service worker produced a higher level of customer satisfaction. In addition, the results indicate that exposure to an attractive service worker set in motion a process in which an attractiveness appraisal affected the attitude toward the service worker, which in turn had a positive impact on customer satisfaction. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.