Être méchant plus pour gagner plus

It may not pay to be nice in the workplace.

A new study finds that agreeable workers earn significantly lower incomes than less agreeable ones. The gap is especially wide for men.

Il n’est pas dit que cela paie de se montrer agréable au travail.

Une nouvelle étude dévoile que les employés agréables gagnent significativement moins que les moins agréables. L’écart est particulièrement important pour les hommes.

The researchers examined "agreeableness" using self-reported survey data and found that men who measured below average on agreeableness earned about 18% more—or $9,772 more annually in their sample—than nicer guys. Ruder women, meanwhile, earned about 5% or $1,828 more than their agreeable counterparts.

Les chercheurs on examiné le degré « d'agréabilité » à travers les résultats d'un sondage à choix multiple, ont déterminé que les hommes situés sous la moyenne, gagnaient environ 18% de plus — ou environ 6800€ de plus annuellement pour cet échantillon — que les hommes plus agréables. Dans le même temps, les femmes rudes, gagnaient environ 5% ou 1300€ de plus que leurs collègues femmes plus agréables.

A self-report study is a type of survey, questionnaire, or poll in which respondents read the question and select a response by themselves without researcher interference. A self report is any method which involves asking a participant about their feelings, attitudes, beliefs and so on. Examples of self reports are questionnaires and interviews; self reports are often used as a way of gaining participants responses in observational studies and experiments.

"Nice guys are getting the shaft," says study co-author Beth A. Livingston, an assistant professor of human resource studies at Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

« Les hommes gentils se prennent un manche dans la figure » rapporte la co-auteur Beth A. Livingston, une professeur assistante en études des ressources humaines à l'Université des rapports sociaux aux travail et dans l’industrie, de Cornell

The researchers analyzed data collected over nearly 20 years from three different surveys, which sampled roughly 10,000 workers comprising a wide range of professions, salaries and ages. (The three surveys measured the notion of "agreeableness" in different ways.) They also conducted a separate study of 460 business students who were asked to act as human-resource managers for a fictional company and presented with short descriptions for candidates for a consultant position. Men who were described as highly agreeable were less likely to get the job.

Les chercheurs ont analysé des données collectée pendant près de 20 ans, au cours de trois enquêtes distinctes, pour un panel d’environ 10,000 employés, comprenant un large éventail de professions, salaires, et âges (les trois enquêtes ont mesuré le degré « d’agréabilité » de plusieurs manières). Ils ont également mené une étude séparée de 460 étudiants en école de management des entreprises, à qui il était demandé de jouer le rôle de directeurs des ressources humaines pour une entreprise fictive, et à qui étaient présentés de courtes descriptions de candidats postulant au poste de consultant. Les hommes décrits comme agréables, avaient des chances moindres d’obtenir le poste.

For men being agreeable may not conform "to expectations of 'masculine behavior,'" the researchers write in the study. People who are more agreeable may also be less willing to assert themselves in salary negotiations, Dr. Livingston adds.

Pour les hommes, être agréable, peut ne pas correspondre à « ce qu’il est attendu d’une “attitude masculine” », les chercheurs ont‑ils rapporté dans l’étude. Les plus agréables, sont peut‑être aussi moins susceptibles de s’affirmer lors des négociations salariales, ajoute le docteur Livingston

Other research shows that rudeness may not always benefit employees or their firms. A paper presented earlier this month at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association found that 86% of 289 workers at three Midwestern firms in the manufacturing and health-care industries reported incivility at work, including public reprimands and making demeaning comments. Incivility was bad for the organizations as a whole, though, increasing employee turnover, found the researchers, Jeannie Trudel, a business professor at Indiana Wesleyan University-Marion, and Thomas Reio, a professor at Florida International University.

D’autres études ont montré que la dureté ne profite pas toujours aux employés d’une entreprise. Un rapport présenté plus tôt ce mois‑ci [N.d.t. l’article date du 15 août 2011] au meeting annuel de l’Association Américaine de Psychologie, a révélé que 86% des 289 employés de trois firmes du Middle West américain, dans la manufacture et la santé, ont rapporté des incivilités au travail, incluant des réprimandes publiques et des commentaires dégradants. Ces incivilités avaient un impacte négatif pour ces organisations, dans l’ensemble, via l’augmentation du turnover [N.d.t. je ne traduis pas ce terme pour lequel je ne connais pas l’équivalent français], les chercheurs ont‑ils découvert, dont Jeannie Trudel, professeuse à l'Université Marion Wesleyan, et Thomas Reio, professeur à l'Univertisté Internationale de la Floride.

Rapport complet de l’étude : Do Nice Guys - and Gals - Really Finish Last? [pdf / 380 KB]

The hypotheses were supported across four studies. Study 1 confirmed the effects of sex and agreeableness on income and that the agreeableness – income relationship was significantly more negative for men than for women. Study 2 replicated these results, […]

[…]

Due to the association of agreeableness with strongly prescribed-and opposing-behavioral norms for men and women, the effect of agreeableness on income might be quite different for women than for men.

However, most disagreeable individuals are unlikely to suffer from clinical psychological disorders, and as evident in the myriad acts of corporate malfeasance reported in the literature (Balch & Armstrong, 2010), antisocial behaviors do not preclude earning higher incomes.

The aspiration toward harmonious social relationships may also lead highly agreeable people to adhere excessively to social norms (Paulhus & Trapnell, 2008). There is evidence that, although people high in agreeableness engage in more altruistic behaviors at work (LePine & van Dyne, 2001; Ilies, Scott, & Judge, 2006), they are less likely to enact voice behaviors that constructively challenge existing practice (LePine & van Dyne, 2001). Although altruistic behaviors are a facet of performance, they involve self-sacrifice and are often not rewarded (LePine & van Dyne, 2001). Voice behaviors may, on the other hand, attract rewards, particularly when they are directed toward persuading others of the value of one’s ideas.

From a demand-side perspective, it is perhaps counter-intuitive that employers may favor people low in agreeableness. People evaluate each other on the two basic dimensions of warmth communion and competence/agency (Able, Cuddy, Judd, & Yzerbyt, 2008). Generally, communion is privileged over competence in overall evaluations of people (Wojciszke & Abele, 2009). Based on this, one might expect for employers to value highly agreeable people more. But Wojciszke and Abele (2009) found that, when an individual’s goal achievement is entwined with the behavior of the person they are evaluating, as in the work environment, the ranking of communion and agency are flipped: perceptions of agency become more important. Thus, agreeable people would not necessarily reap advantages from being perceived as highly warm by their employer. Yet, less agreeable people might gain from not being perceived as warm.

[…]

People who are low in agreeableness may be perceived as more competent by virtue of their lack of warmth

Research on reactions to those who violate gender norms in employment contexts suggests that, although disagreeableness may advantage both men and women in their pursuit of extrinsic success, it should particularly do so for men because disagreeable men have the additional advantage of conforming to gender role expectations.

Likewise, because low agreeableness is at odds with norms for feminine behavior, disagreeableness will not likely be the same asset for women as it is for men. Thus, we would expect to see a greater difference in income between men high and low in agreeableness compared to the difference between women high and low in agreeableness.

A few studies have demonstrated that men, like women, could face backlash for behaving counter to gender norms.

Their experimental study revealed that men who succeeded at female gender-typed jobs were cast by study participants as more ineffectual and less deserving of respect than women in the same job

Thus, women may face a “no win” situation in the sense that, should they be agreeable, they are, like men, prone to exploitation by others (Barry & Friedman, 1998; Liu et al., 2005) and are less likely to be perceived as competent (Rudman & Glick, 1999, 2001). Should they be disagreeable, however, the income advantages of disagreeableness may be dampened because their behavior violates gender role norms (Brescoll & Uhlmann, 2008).