http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R201108190900
Most of us implicitly feel or observe this, but a team of business professors recent published a paper showing data that being more disagreeable at work is correlated with higher pay (especially for males, supposedly in order to fit the dominant, aggressive gender role), when controlling for industry, worker age, timing, and job level. "Agreeable" people are characterized by 6 facets: trust, compliance, altruism, straightforwardness, modesty, tender-mindedness, so I guess disagreeble would be opposite. A person 1 SD more disagreeable than the mean of their data set made on average $10K/18% more than a person 1 SD more agreeable than the mean. I believe the data was collected by self and peer reported surveys, so they're not fully objective and quantitative.
But this type of disagreeable personality is also correlated with less success in relationships, more stress, and generally less life satisfaction. And as you would expect, the "jerks" are less likely to manage others and receive promotions they are qualified for; they only seem good at negotiating raises. They are also fired more often, but find new jobs quicker. We know that women and minorities unfairly trail white men in terms of compensation, and the "advantage" for being disagreeable is diminished for them (probably due to backlash over the stereotypes of being a bitch or an uppity minority).
But this is a paradox. Jerks only succeed if they can differentiate themselves from and take advantage of nicer, more submissive coworkers. A company entirely staffed by jerks would likely fail. And if a nice guy reads this study and wants to get meaner in order to make more money, the rapid temperament change would probably be met with negative reactions. That person would lose the capital he has accumulated from being nice, and his "forced jerkiness" would probably be interpreted as phony or weak by his true jerk peers. And of course there are many other ways to try to get recognized and make more money at work besides being meaner. Though there's no guarantee that any of these measures will bear fruit; it depends on your org, bosses, economy, etc.
One hybrid solution is to be a jerk at work and nice in your personal life, but most of us know that it's hard to wear multiple hats and keep separate personalities totally separate. Plus salary is not the only measure of a person's worth and life satisfaction. We would probably agree that the most talented actors and artists are not the highest paid, and being a jerk and "winning" all the time isn't the last word for life (and clearly it costs you in other areas). Or if that is all you need to be happy, you probably have bigger problems.
Of course this stuff is just the tip of the iceberg and it's an age-old labor issue, or human social issue in general. We know that the workplace is generally a harsh, soul-crushing hell, and getting more so with time and economic pressures. We have to get mean at times to avoid being a doormat. Maybe it's all about picking our spots, and fighting when it will pay off most.
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