City Research Online

Abstract

This article investigates the impact of obesity stereotypes on angel investment decisions. Drawing from the stereotype literature and expectancy violation theory, we propose that angel investors tend to evaluate founders with obesity worse because they perceive them as high in warmth but low in competence (and competence matters more for angel investors’ evaluations). However, we also suggest that founders with obesity who violate low-competence stereotypes through high-competence displays can offset negative obesity stereotypes without affecting positive ones, leading to overall higher evaluations. The results from two field studies show that angel investors penalize founders with obesity but that the effect is ameliorated for those presenting high-tech ventures. A follow-up experiment using AI-generated, photorealistic manipulations of founders’ body types identifies perceived competence and warmth as mechanisms that explain the effects. Collectively, these findings contribute to the literature streams on appearance in entrepreneurial finance, stereotypes and their violations, and entrepreneurial research methods.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2025. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Publisher Keywords:	obesity, negative stereotypes, angel investment, expectancy violations, artificial intelligence
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management H Social Sciences > HM Sociology H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
Departments:	Bayes Business School Bayes Business School > Management
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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