This Is How "Likability" Might Be Affecting You In The Workplace

We may all strive to be liked, at least sometimes, but does it really affect our work lives if we are? According to a new study, for women it really does.

The report was based on a series of experiments. The first involved one partner rating an assigned partner on their "likability" based on a photo and then being told how they were rated in turn. The pairs were then set tasks that were rewarded based on how well the pair cooperated.

The report used financial contribution as a means for judging cooperation. Participants were asked to contribute up to 6 euros for the initial endowment of a project, and while, in general, women contributed slightly less overall, researchers also found that women in low mutual likability teams contributed 37% less, suggesting less cooperation between partners who didn't like each other at first glance.

In interactions, the researchers found that likability had no impact in same-gender male pairs, but when those men were paired with women, likability did play a role. Men contributed around the same amount when paired with other men, regardless of how "likable" their partner was but tended to contribute more to pairings when they viewed the woman they were paired with as more likable. Thus, men were more cooperative with "likable" women but equally cooperative with all men.

"While likeability matters for women in every one of their interactions," said Leonie Gerhards, Ph.D., the paper's lead author, "it matters for men only if they interact with the opposite sex."

According to this paper, previous research has indicated that "women earn lower wages than men, are less likely to be promoted1 to top management positions, and are underrepresented in higher levels2 of the corporate hierarchy."

The results of this study show that women fare worse in the face of perceived likability (or lack thereof), which may contribute to these other economic and job market trends. A direct link can be seen based on the fact that in their experiment, women earned an average of 4.36% less.

This study points to concrete evidence of the way gender can sway our interactions, and simply by being aware of this, we can make an effort to prevent it. The researchers suggest that while the knowledge is enough, workplaces should attempt "to implement and promote what we would call 'likeability neutral' work cultures," identifying placing emphasis on performance and professional behavior over personal perceived likability.

For future studies, the researchers want to see how letting people adjust their likability ratings after interacting with a partner may change the results of the study, as in this study they were rated at first sight based on an image. They also suggest that changing the form of interaction (such as having people talk on the phone versus in person) may show interesting sub-trends.