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Does It Pay to Be a Jerk?

September 7, 2011, 10:48 am

By Allison M. Vaillancourt

Do consider yourself quarrelsome, difficult, and stubborn? If so, congratulations; you may be earning more than your more cooperative and well-mannered colleagues. That’s the conclusion revealed in “Do Nice Guys — and Gals — Really Finish Last?,” a study soon to be released in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Timothy Judge of the University of Notre Dame, Beth Livingston of Cornell University, and Charlice Hurst of the University of Western Ontario looked at who makes the most money and found that disagreeable men win out over everyone else.

I fell into a funk for several days after reading their paper because while I may not consistently practice kindness (as Chronicle blog commenters seem to delight in reminding me), I admire it in others very much. That made it all the more depressing to learn that nasty men earn up to 18 percent more than other men and the premium for cantankerous women is about 5 percent. Time to paint a big “s” for sucker on my forehead for spouting off about the importance of civil behavior? Maybe, maybe not.

If making more money than your colleagues is important, then being rude seems to be a good strategy. If having friends and collaborators, reducing stress, and not getting fired matters at all, then this study (mercifully) indicates that you might want to demonstrate a little human decency. But wait! How many tenured faculty members lose their jobs over being rude? Hmmm … parts of this research may not apply to academe.

The researchers offer several hypotheses to explain why people who are aloof, hypercritical, and dismissive of others make more money. One possibility is that pay decision makers believe warmth is negatively correlated with competence. Another is that disagreeable people value money over relationships and family harmony and are willing to throw colleagues under the bus or move from job to job to job in order to increase their pay. Having both inherited and accidentally hired rude people in the past, I have an additional theory. I think it’s quite possible that managers cave into the salary demands of pushy people because it is easier than arguing with them.

After thinking about this research for a bit, I’m feeling a little more optimistic about how to use these research findings to make the academic workplace a bit more humane. Rather than rewarding the jerks, what if we empowered the pay decision makers to be “conflict comfortable?” Instead of bowing to demands and bullying, what if managers felt strong enough to say, “We don’t reward your kind of behavior. If you want a raise, maybe it’s time for you to move along.” Naïve, on my part?

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  • dpmccain

    Although I have a developed reputation for being aloof, I do not view myself as a jerk.  Remaining aloof has protected me from becoming involved in campus gossip, although I am still quoted when I have said nothing…so I suppose nothing is gained. 

    Unfortunately, I make significantly less (being an adjunct) than those folks who wander around pretending to be friendly and cordial, when they are simply seeking a soft underbelly to be used against you later. 

    My intent is not to be rude to people, I simply come to work to work…and my students and the assigned curricula come before someone wanting to gossip about who is leaving, left, or what he/she is wearing. 

    I have to admit…I am oftentimes tired of being polite, because it seems the screamers, whiners, bullies, and criers get more classes…and having watched Mr. Roberts the other day, I am tempted to walk into the Dean’s office, slap my fist on the desk, and bellow, “What’s all this crap about no printer paper upstairs?”  My polite emails from well off campus (before the beginning of the Quarter) have resulted in…no resolution. 

    Maybe being a jerk would be fun…at least we might have supplies without being subjected to the Spanish Inquisition about our intent for their use.  I doubt there is a big market on ebay for cheap whiteboard markers and even cheaper (not to be confused with less expensive) paper. 
    Nope…I will buy my own markers, and continue to ask politely for paper. 

    Darn…I sure would like to make more money though…but to whom is an adjunct a jerk?  A student….hahahahaha…that would result in no classes at the college at which I teach. 

  • 11299051

    When did rude suddenly become the acceptable behavior? Or has what counts as rude been changed among those defining such things?  I’ll remain hopelessly quiet when the screaming starts.  I’m saving my voice for when the others lose theirs. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/char.mentor Char Psi Tutor Mentor

    I’m not a jerk~ but people do find me stubborn and disagreeable at times. Perhaps its my autism~ but I find that some people too much put their feelings before getting the job done~ they want to take stuff personally and get defensive or retaliate for some perceived slight in an indirect way that brings the focus back to them, not the work. I am task focused, I rarely not like a person though behaivours may frustrate me~ I just do not understand the motivation to attach strings that some people do to load words and actions~ if I disagree its for a reason to do with the goals of the project, not because I want to ‘be on top’ or have things my way.

  • goodeyes

    No one thinks they are a “jerk” so don’t even try to self-identify as not one.  At the lowest level, some people view that those that disagree with them to be “Jerks” in life.   

  • mbelvadi

    I think a lot of people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD)/adult Aspergers can relate to your explanation, Char Psi.  Sometimes I think of the difference as “P” people vs “J” people on the Myers-Briggs scale, with the J people trying to get things done, and the P people being more concerned about everyone’s feelings about the process than the outcome.  I wonder if there’s a correlation between ASD and J-ness?

  • marka

    Does it pay to be a jerk?  It depends …

    Running title:  

     AGREEABLENESS, SEX, AND INCOME  - “our research provides strong evidence that men earn a substantial premium for being disagreeable while the same behavior has little effect on women’s income.”

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Antsy-Kuhnwisse/100002159499682 Antsy Kuhnwisse

    A 5% premium is not *insubstantial* to me.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Antsy-Kuhnwisse/100002159499682 Antsy Kuhnwisse

    Everyone’s a jerk from time to time.  I often call myself a jerk for specific behavior (mostly while driving, although I think other drivers are even worse).  Maybe the best way to define a jerk is: one who (a) doesn’t recognize his or her own jerky behavior and (b) makes more money than you.

    Anyway, yes, A. Vaillancourt, naive.  And none of the above content surprises me.

  • philostitute

    The question is really whether 5% (women) or 18% (men) is enough to justify creating discord?  For some, the answer is affirmative, but there may be blow-back later on.  Gossip and discord don’t make for a good workplace.  Then again, there is a usually a management/admin team that controls workers through fear in these environments which is how these behaviors thrive despite the obvious downside.  Toxic people won’t innovate or share their work, so while negativity may pay off individually, it is not a socially viable way to build a great network.

  • mmullins

    It depends on how one defines these terms.  I have found that women are much more likely to be labelled as disagreeable if they are articulate and pose contrary views.  This goes against the cultural norms for women. It is much more acceptable for men to voice their opinions, even in academe. This may be why there is a gap in the percentage for pay between men and women.  Strong women need to continue to voice their opinions so that all women can be viewed as full human beings.  In my experience, being “nice” and “demure” equates to buying in to the power structure.  Most administrators will shy away from conflict with a female who is articulate and who understands the politics of the institution.

  • duppy_conqueror

    If you’re “Our (department’s/admin’s) Kind of Jerk”, then you’re up for raises and promotions. If you’re a Lone Wolf Jerk in the Wilderness, or an adjunct, better make a lunch date with Ms Vaillancourt soon. :)

  • sarahechinn

    It’s really important to me NOT to be a jerk. While I don’t shy away from difficult conversations with colleagues and students, I’ve shaped my career and my adult life in general around values that are important to me: collegiality, responsible mentoring, honesty, integrity, good humour, etc. I can’t say I always succeed, but it’s a lot more pleasant than being a jerk. In my experience, difficult people have more difficult lives — they’re constantly assuming that other people are incompetent idiots, or purposely undermining them, or are there to be manipulated.  This seems to me like a miserable way to live.

  • newyorkyankees

    I’m not sure I would agree with that. While it may be true that some people use rudeness to get ahead, I think any short term benefits will be matched by some negative karma down the road. “As you sow, so shall you reap.”

  • mxims

    It may pay a little bit financially to be a jerk, but you have to live with yourself.  Whatever you accumulate in $$ would likely end up going to health care costs for all the stress you’d accumulate.  I’d rather see healthy ol’ compassion come back into fashion.

  • minnesotan

    I found plenty of examples of passive-aggressive role models during grad school. I can cultivate a moderate level of jerkiness if it earns me an additional 5-18% per annum.

    For a new assistant prof in the humanities at the (nice, round, hypothetical) $50,000 pay rate, that’s a difference of $2500 to $9000! If you’re a real jerk and you’re lucky enough to be male, and thus earn the whole 18% bonus for the length of your career, let’s say 30 years, that’s an additional $270,000, not factoring in any pay rises at all for tenure and promotion, which are significant in most disciplines.

    Being nice could cost you half a million dollars or more over the course of your career. This could be important information. You know, if we cared about such things…

  • ibaidoo

    The study may be confusing correlation with causality.  I think people who get ahead ( and get paid more) have, perhaps, more ruthless ambition than average and succeed at rising up seniority ladders and pay scales more than others.  If they have to be rude to folks along the way, they are probably not bothered.

    Being a jerk doesn’t get you paid. But if getting paid is you primary goal, you’re probably more likely to be a jerk.

  • huntbull

    Hmm. I married my (same age) sugar-mama before starting graduate school and then switched roles after finishing my degree and have supported her music career and education since. How foolishly impractical of me…
    And no one has mentioned Breadfast at Tiffany’s yet.

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