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The aim of this paper was to assess the main and interactive effects of job applicant conscientiousness, and nurturing job demands on ratings of overweight female applicants on job suitability and a hiring recommendation. It also examined relations between rater ethnicity and ratings of the job suitability of normal and overweight applicants.

The study used a 2×2×2 experimental design and data from 400 individuals (201 Anglos and 199 Hispanics) with hiring experience to test the study's hypotheses. Participants were randomly assigned to conditions, and asked to review a resume and picture of a normal or overweight applicant. Then, they were asked to rate the applicant's job suitability and make a hiring recommendation.

The results revealed that: overweight female applicants were rated as more suitable for jobs and more likely to be recommended for hire when they had high rather than low conscientiousness; Hispanics were more likely to recommend overweight applicants for hire than Anglos; and there was a three-way interaction among applicant weight, rater ethnicity, and nurturing job demands for the hiring recommendation criterion.

The study was conducted in a simulated hiring context. Thus, research is needed to determine if the results generalize to actual work settings.

The results suggest that organizations should provide decision makers with detailed information about applicants' conscientiousness, and the nurturing demands of jobs. When these types of information are presented, raters are less likely to display weight-based bias.

Previous research on weight-based bias was not based on a theoretical model, but the present study used a theoretical framework to guide the development of hypotheses (Stone and Colella, 1996; Stone et al., 1992). In addition, it is the first study to examine the effects of overweight applicant conscientiousness and stereotype-job fit on ratings of job suitability, and differences between Hispanic and Anglo views of overweight applicants.

Given the prevalence of obesity in society at large and ensuing weight discrimination in the workplace, the purpose of this paper is to bring to light the social stigma attached to obesity, stimulate the discussion around enacting better legislation to alleviate weight-based discrimination in the workplace and highlight the role of human resource (HR) departments in preventing such discriminatory actions.

This paper reviews current perceptions, trends, laws and consequences related to obesity and weight discrimination and discusses the implications for organizations and HR professionals.

Weight discrimination is a real problem in society as a whole and workplaces in particular. HR professionals have a key role to play in removing weight discrimination and creating a more inclusive and equitable workplace.

Although weight discrimination has significant professional and personal consequences, there is a lack of explicit laws and policies that provide strong protection to impacted individuals. This paper brings the issue to light and discusses the role of HR in eliminating such bias and discriminatory practices in the workplace.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and chronic job discrimination. Additionally, the authors explore the contribution of various forms of social support to that relationship.

The data for this study were obtained from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the USA (MIDUS). Only those who reported being employed participated in the study (n = 1,150). The variables of interest included BMI, supervisor support, coworker support, family support, friend support, religious support and chronic job discrimination. Analysis included correlations, ANOVA’s and hierarchical linear regression.

BMI was positively associated with chronic job discrimination. Respondents in the obese and morbidly obese categories reported higher job discrimination compared to normal weight respondents. Family support, supervisor support and coworker support were associated with less reported chronic job discrimination.

Organizational leaders should acknowledge that obesity is associated with discrimination. Organizations should thus create anti-discrimination policies covering weight-based discrimination, conduct sensitivity training for all employees and train and coach supervisors on effective ways of offering support to employees.

This study contributes to the understanding of the role various forms of social support can play in reducing perceptions of chronic job discrimination. The paper is unique in that it considers several sources from which people draw support in managing for stressors.

The purpose of this paper is to use data from the 2008 and 2012 US Senate elections to examine the relationship between candidate size (obese, overweight, normal weight) and candidate selection and election outcomes.

Using pictures captured from candidate web sites, participants rated the size of candidates in the primary and general US Senate elections. χ2 analyses, t-tests and hierarchical multiple regressions were used to test for evidence of bias against overweight and obese candidates and whether gender and election information moderate that relationship.

Obese candidates were largely absent from the pool of candidates in both the primary and general elections. Overweight women, but not overweight men, were also underrepresented. Supporting our hypothesis that there is bias against overweight candidates, heavier candidates tended to receive lower vote share than their thinner counterparts, and the larger the size difference between the candidates, the larger the vote share discrepancy. The paper did not find a moderating effect for gender or high-information high vs low-information elections on the relationship between candidate size and vote share.

Further research is needed to understand the process by which obese candidates are culled from the candidate pool and the cognitions underlying the biases against overweight candidates.

Because of the bias against obese political candidates, as much as one-third of the adult US population are likely to be excluded or being elected to a major political office.

This study is the first to use election data to examine whether bias based on size extends to the electoral process.

Anti-bullying legislation has been adopted in every state to prevent the victimization of youth, but the focus on deterring and criminalizing individual behavior can obscure the contextual factors that contribute to aggression. This theoretical paper engages sociological literature to understand the impact of recent anti-bullying legislation on students’ experiences.

We discuss stigma and account-making theory to theorize the ways students become particularly vulnerable to victimization and may or may not be sufficiently protected under the law. We also engage criminological theories to understand how punishment may not be sufficient for preventing aggressive behavior but may instead lead students to employ strategies to avoid being caught or punished for their behaviors.

We argue that the majority of current anti-bullying definitions and protocols in use are ambiguous and insufficient in protecting vulnerable groups of students, particularly students with disabilities, overweight students, and LGBT +  students.

Our findings suggest that schools should seek to understand and alter the school-wide cultures and norms that permit aggressive behavior in the first place, in turn creating more inclusive school environments.

The thin feminine body ideal in Western society has persisted, despite becoming less representative of the female population, with obesity rates consistently rising since the 1980s. Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated obesity rates, due to curtailed interventions, restricted mobility/enforced physical inactivity and increased reliance on processed food with a longer shelf life due to social isolation (World Obesity Foundation, n.d.). Individuals with obesity report weight discrimination in a broad range of settings, including employment, where researchers have documented weight discrimination in relation to hiring, job assignment, promotion, remuneration and work stability. Weight discrimination may be worse for jobs involving public interaction, particularly for women, because heavier women do not conform to societal body ideals, leading to weight stigmatisation such as anti-fat attitudes and beliefs (e.g. negative stereotypes) and prejudice. This chapter presents a systematic literature review of studies that have examined weight discrimination against women with obesity in jobs involving public interaction, i.e. ‘customer-facing roles’.

Cross‐selling is an important issue for contemporary marketing practice, as this facilitates offering the right product to the right customer. Relevant for cross‐selling of financial products is the order in which consumers acquire such products. Previous research shows that most consumers acquire financial products used for asset accumulation purposes in similar orders. However, the literature does not report studies on acquisition patterns of products for facilitating financial transactions (e.g. chequebooks, credit cards). In this paper we propose a consumer need hierarchy, influencing consumer acquisitions of transactional products. Consecutively Mokken scale analysis is applied to investigate acquisition patterns of six transactional products in 17 European countries. The final section of the paper presents a discussion on the relevance of our results in terms of marketing purposes, emphasising cross‐selling applications.

This study aims to examine the impact of applicant weight and sex, job type and employer attitudes on employee screening decisions.

Participants rated one of four job applicants on their hiring suitability for four different entry‐level jobs with high or low visibility and physical demands. Applicants varied in sex and weight as depicted in a photograph, but their job applications were identical.

Results showed that overweight women experienced weight discrimination when applying for a job that was high in both visibility and physical demands.

Future research should examine weight discrimination in other racial and ethnic groups and with higher‐level jobs. Future research could also examine hiring decisions using a within‐subjects design to allow comparison across job applicants.

Employers' perceptions of applicant weight may lead them to make biased decisions about individuals who are overweight during the hiring process particularly for jobs that are high in visibility and physical demands.

There has been an alarming increase in obesity rates in the USA, but there is limited legal protection against weight discrimination. Employers who make stereotyped assumptions about individuals who are overweight may be missing out on valuable workforce talent. Similarly, individuals who are overweight may face discriminatory obstacles in finding work.

This study systematically manipulated two important job characteristics: visibility and physical demands and used a sample of adults as raters.

Race and ethnicity, BMI and other factors can affect ratings of one’s experiences in school, work and other settings. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of BMI, race and ethnicity and body satisfaction on the experiences of victimization in a work or academic setting. Additionally, experiences of weight/appearance-based perpetration were explored within the context of prior victimization, perpetration, BMI, race and ethnicity and body satisfaction.

A diverse sample of 1,161 female undergraduates completed a series of questionnaires online. A series of hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to examine the association between body satisfaction, BMI and race and ethnicity and weight/appearance-based teasing perpetration and victimization.

Results indicated that lower body satisfaction was significantly related to an increase in weight/appearance-based victimization. Additional analyses examining the perpetration of weight/appearance-based teasing were conducted. Participants who reported experiencing victimization were also more likely to perpetrate weight/appearance-based teasing, although BMI was not associated with perpetration.

Implications of these findings and future research directions are discussed. In particular, academic settings provide a landscape for reducing and preventing victimization because of the resources available for students in addition to policies and procedures that can be implemented.

The findings of this study provide evidence that various identities and beliefs, such as race and ethnicity, BMI and body satisfaction, play a role in victimization and perpetration. This study used a novel, emerging adulthood population.