Abstract
Dress definition and history
Dress is a basic fact of social life and this is true for all human cultures. We know all cultures “dress” the body in some way [1]. As a significant component of appearance, dress is defined as body modifications and additions to the body that are worn daily [2]. It is defined as set of modifications of the body and/or adding relative supplements to the body [3]. Dress lies at the margins of the body and marks the boundary between self and other, individual and society [1]. There is a little difference between the words “dress” and “fashion”. Dress is mainly about appearance, the visual perception, while fashion includes the social meanings and functions of dress [4]. In sociological studies, the relationship we have with our clothes has mostly been analyzed in terms of fashion and identity, with a focus on the ways in which we use clothing to represent ourselves to and in the world [5].
Dress, identity and work identity
Nowadays, people play different roles in society and display unique identities in their everyday lives such as belonging to a particular community or working in a business [6]. By conscious and unconscious action, people adapt to different roles and new identities [7]. The workplace is an important context within which workers present their unique identity [8]. Work identity is particularly important in recent studies [7].
Dress is used by workers to both communicate and represent different identities within the workplace [8]. Professional/formal wear is influenced by the manner in which people play roles at work [9].
Dress and work dress impacts
Dress is considered as a phenomenon that reflects important processes and induces various outcomes [10]. Through diverse aspects, past studies addressed the issue of dress-Ergonomics in workplaces. Such research can be classified into different categories such as organizational image making, impact on efficiency and productivity, job satisfaction and so on.
Image in organization
Organizational image, identity, and identification are powerful concepts in terms of understanding members’ behaviors and beliefs [11]. Some studies have shown that individuals use clothing as part of how they create their image in the workplace[9]. In a study, dress is used to manage others’ perceptions in the occupational settings [8]. In this study, 49 American workers were questioned about the role of work dress in establishing work identity. The results indicated that workers were expected to achieve specific outcomes as a result of their work dress.
Performance and productivity
What one wears to work can have a vital impact on how a worker plays a work-defined role [12]. Evidence proposes that appropriate appearance facilitates effective role execution [13]. In a study, those who described themselves as properly dressed believed that their attire made them look outstandingly more responsible, competent, knowledgeable, professional, honest, reliable, intelligent, trustworthy, diligent, and efficient than when they were not dressed as such [14]. In this study, 132 male and 190 female students were surveyed on their perceptions of the work clothing on these occupational characteristics
Appearance in the workplace influences hiring, promotion, and credibility perceptions [15]. In a study by Kwon et al., 322 university students from United Stated believed that suitable clothing enhances responsibility and professionalism [14]. the role of their cloth on.
Self-perceptions and job performance of editors were shown in the result of Dellinge’s study that affect from clothing related behavior [16]. In another qualitative study, 35 registered nurses of a rehabilitation unit stated that they were casually clothed to be a mark of the environment outside the hospital and patients eventually comes back to life there. In contrast, acute care unit’s nurses expressed they wore scrubs to symbolize working competence [17]. In this study, nurses under went deep study as means of unstructured observations and semi-structured interviews.
Job satisfaction
The association of clothing related behaviors with job satisfaction, and occupational commitment has also been studied in recent years [12]. Gorden et al. analyzed the predispositions in women’s clothing as predictors of their perceived job satisfaction. In this study, 300 work women from 200 organizations located in United Stated were participants. The results of the study showed that women who were more conscious of their attire dressed more conservatively at work and were more satisfied with the results of their tasks [18].
Impression
Clothing has also been appointed for making a good impression and for getting ahead in the professional settings [19]. A study analyzed the business school of a university in the United States regards the effect of clothing on work performance. Interviews and unobtrusive observations were used in this study. Administrative staff (n = 20 women) in the Rafaeli et al. study chose their work clothes to influence the feelings of their co-workers. For instance, casual dress can facilitate connections with other employees [20]. Individuals use dress as an informative sign to engage in work and to relate the performance of roles to others [9].
Psychological impacts
It may be possible to claim that work clothes are less studied in terms of their psychological effects. In a study, male and female workers stated that the appropriate attire affected the quality of their mood [13].
Types of work dress and dress code
Attire which is a sign of clothing is characterized by (a) being task-oriented or instrumental; (b) having one primary meaning; and (c) being generally recognized as a sign by those who wear it. Most companies have not gathered data on the clothing preferences of their employees, anecdotal evidence indicates that employees have preferences for certain categories of attire [21]. There are various types of clothing that employees may wear in the workplace such as traditional, business casual, casual dress and fashion [22]. The traditional style was the most formal, consisting of suits, sports coats, jackets, ties and dress shoes. Business casual included khakis and polo shirts. The casual style consisted of jeans, flannel shirts, and sweatshirts [23, 24].
Since dress and attire has become an important component of organizational culture, first American and then European employers enforce dress restrictions on their workers such as conventional dress codes in the workplace [25-27]. Dress codes, contain rules imposed by the employer which regulate the workers’ appearance [28].
Special work dresses in special workers
The standardized code, which has been adopted by special personnel such as police officers and firefighters, requires the use of dress elements in a specific pattern to reflect a particular social status with its distinct rights and responsibilities. Those wearing this clothing give rise to a set of expectations for behavior in both the wearer and the audience. For instance in most countries police organizations utilize dark colors to show power [10]. Firefighters are another type form of workforce who, by the nature of their job, has to use a specific style of work dress. Ergonomic issues in firefighters protecting cloth mostly left behind functionality and thermo-physiological comfort of them. However, it has not been well studied in terms of other parameters such as aesthetics.
Local costume as a new type of work dress?
One important factor in selecting dress is the concept of culture with its obvious implications of cultural diversity. Culture, as an idea or theory, has been thoroughly scrutinized over the years [29]. Clothing used in different cultures may also be considered as a set of beliefs and cultural background for that group of people. Due to little number of peoples in these cultures, they don’t have much impact on the whole community. This distinct type of people, when selecting an outfit, may choose local costume. This is also true in affective (non-cognitive, perceptual, emotional) theories concerning the mind–body dualism; our relationship with clothing is mainly intellectual and it also prioritizes the extra-cognitive (emotional and/or affective) dimension of our relationship with garments, which plays an important part in the process of deciding what to wear [5]. Social science researchers often have considered workers’ appearance and related issues as a daunting and ongoing topic [30].
To date no research has been conducted on local costume (like Kurdish dress in Kurdistan provinces of some Asian countries or other local costumes of China and India) and its implications on ergonomics in their work such as job performance and productivity.
Consideration for further studies
Nowadays, local costumes are not officially implemented as working clothes in every workplace. The use of traditional clothing as a working attire could create new problems in the area of occupational ergonomics. Regarding future studies, the following questions are some of the main challenges of occupational ergonomics in the use of local costumes as a work outfit. Do employees feel friendlier with each other and with those who wear local costume in workplaces? Does adopting traditional clothing in workplaces reduce status barriers and improve communication and teamwork? Do certain types of local costumes make employees feel more productive, competent, or professional? Can the employee’s use of traditional costume, affect the organization’s productivity? Can local costume, such as traditional Kurdish clothing, reduce back pain due to wearing a special belt? Can using a local costume as a work dress, provide a different future for anthropometrics and work dress design? Can the use of local costume in the workplace, because of its loose fit, lead to convenience in workforce and thus improve their performance?