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We know our workplace clothing choices can affect what others think us and influence our success. Do those choices also shape productivity by affecting how we see ourselves?

Researchers conducted two experiments in the United States and a field study in South Korea to investigate the meanings employees associate with their dress. In the first experiment, participants viewed photos of different outfits (套装) and indicated what they thought each would convey in a “business-casual” office. In the second, participants first changed into business-casual clothing and then into new business-casual outfits they selected to correspond with one of three randomly assigned characteristics: aesthetics (美学), conformity (一致性).uniqueness. A control group was asked to select an outfit similar to their first one. All participants were told to imagine that they worked at a company where people could generally wear what they wanted to and where most choose business-casual dress. After each clothing change they reported on how they would feel going to work in what they had on, what they thought their clothing would convey, and their level of self-esteem (自尊).

The experiments showed that people associate clothing high in aesthetics with personal attractiveness conforming clothing with a sense belong, and unique clothing with distinctiveness. and revealed that each of the three qualities raised self-esteem.

The field study involved 84 white-col1ar employees who worked on-site and were free to choose their clothes They filled out three questionnaires daily for 10days, reporting on what they were wearing, their self-esteem, their interactions with colleagues and their productivity. Aesthetic and unique clothing boosted self-esteem, which in turn boosted progress toward job goals and decreased social avoidance. Dress conformity had similar effects, but only when employees frequently interacted with colleagues.

“Investing a little extra time in the morning to prepare an outfit that is aesthetically pleasing and unique-and, if interactions with others are expected, highly conforming to organizational standards—can have a meaningful impact on how an employee feels about themselves throughout the workday,” the researchers write.