The effects of appropriateness of service contact personnel dress on customer expectations of service quality and purchase intention: The moderating influences of involvement and gender

There is a paucity of empirical research that systematically examines the meaning of contact employee dress cues in commercial service settings. We conduct an experiment to test the effects of the appropriateness of service personnel dress on customer expectations of a firm's service quality and intent to purchase banking services. We also explore the moderating effects of involvement and customer gender on the aforementioned relationships. Results show that appropriate (vs. inappropriate) dress resulted in higher service quality expectations and purchase intent. These effects were stronger in low involvement situations and for female customers. The implications of the findings are discussed and future research directions proposed. (C) 2002 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.