The role of teleworkers’ appearance in videoconferencing: towards circumstantial minimalism?
Abstract
In an increasing teleworking environment, this exploratory research examines the role of appearance
in videoconferencing in a professional context. At the intersection of the social dramaturgy approach
and the theory of social comparison, this work is based on the collection of 51 narratives ’life stories’
from a varied population of employed individuals using teleworking. It then focuses on the analysis of
10,497 online reviews of videoconferencing platforms by teleworkers. An analysis of these data sets, using
automated similarity analysis in particular, reveals a three-period evolution in the role of appearance
in the appropriation of these tools. If individuals first appropriate the tools technically, they then take
an interest in the social dimension underlying videoconferencing and the actors involved, to ultimately
focus on themselves, with a more sober role spontaneously evoked for appearance, and a circumstantial
minimalism evoked in the context of home teleworking. More generally, this research questions the role
of appearance in a professional digital environment, associated with a trend towards greater sobriety
in this context.
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