Does a tattoo affect other's judgment toward you? We'll find out. (Image via Workforce)

Study: Employee with tattoos is more reckless

Alfonsus Adi Putra
Business Tips in Indonesia
Labor & Employment
Sep 05, 2019
2660
It is an open secret that when applying for a job, a candidate with tattoos all over is most probably frowned upon by the employers. It is reasonable since the employers are being mindful of how it may affect their company’s image, especially when the role applied is customer-facing ones.

However, tattoos are never abandoned by its fans, despite its notoriety in job-hunting. However, research conducted by economics experts from McMaster University in Canada stated that people with tattoos tend to behave more recklessly and impulsively. The research took more than 1,000 people to answer the question of why they got a tattoo or tattoos on their bodies?

The motive of having tattoos itself is confusing. However, as the experiment commenced, the result slowly unveiled itself. From over 1,000 participants, 781 people were clean and 255 had tattoos on their bodies. The test was to choose whether they would take US$1.05 in 18 hours or US$2.50 in three weeks.

The result showed that people with no tattoo showed patience and instead chose to wait for three weeks for a greater amount. But, people with tattoos chose the first. In conclusion, the economics experts stated that people with tattoos showed an impulsive behavior and reckless attitude without further thinking. While quick thinking could benefit themselves in some occasions, mostly it is not preferable. The study was then published in the Journal of Economic Behaviour and Organisation.

A site called Kopywriting also experimented to see how people on different occasions see a man with or without tattoos. It does not necessarily have to be a man with tattoos. The researcher only used Photoshop to alter images of several people to have tattoos all over and compared them to the original, tattoo-less ones. The result was similar.

For social occasions, the images with tattoo won because it reflected funniness and confidence. While for dating occasion, although tattoo people were seen as dumb and untrustworthy, some people might find them attractive. However, here is the big part. For business occasion, people with tattoo were only seen as a competent individual, but less likable and influential. It all applied to the pictures with tattoos and without tattoos. Images without tattoos won by a big margin.

While nowadays, tattoos are slowly walking away from the taboo zone, most people still think that tattoo shows uncivilized quality. Some people might find it attractive and mesmerizing. However, still, for business and other occasions, tattoos will always be a big “No”.

Source: https://bit.ly/2jYp924

Work , Labor , Employment , HR , Tattoo , Performance