It has been known that the preferred direction of the nematic director forp‐azoxyanisole in a low‐audiofrequency electric field is not always perpendicular to the field as predicted from the dielectric properties, and this unusual effect is associated with the ionic conductivity. Molecular alignment is related to the conductivity anisotropy by comparing the relative effectiveness of electric and magnetic fields to produce molecular alignment for different values of the ratio of the conductivities parallel and perpendicular to the nematic director.