Study: Being nice doesn’t pay

>>> finally tonight, you you've heard that expression, nice guys finish last. leo derocher always got the credit for that one. well it turns out there is a new study from the university of notre dame that seems to back that up, where both men and women are concerned. it seems that being one of those people who gets a along with your co-workers gets you a smaller paycheck in the end than the other people who are not as agreeable. our report tonight from nbc's chris jansing .

>> there you are, emily, how many time does i have to scream your name?

>> reporter: they are the movie bosses we love to hate.

>> greed, for lack of a better word, is good.

>> reporter: now, it turns out in real life , being bad is good, for your bottom line.

>> a tendency to be a little bit more harsh, a little bit more arrogant, a little bit less likely to care so much about what other people's feelings are, and that tends to lead to more income for men.

>> reporter: researchers found that disagreeable men earn nearly $10,000 a year more than nice guys and difficult women earned more, too, but only $ 1800 more on average.

>> there's a jerk factor now?

>> reporter: lessee seymour was a self-proclaimed nice girl at "vogue" magazine who had to toughen up before becoming editor and chief at "more."

>> it took me a couple of years realize, like wait a minute, all these people who aren't so nice they moving ahead, i'm sitting back here.

>> reporter: but why does mean translate to greed in the study suggested something pretty simple that people who became managers were just more willing to step on others as they climbed up the ladder.

>> it would be really great if you could just sort of take care of the cockroach problem.

>> reporter: and let's face it we've all been there.

>> i knew a whole lot of jerks that make a whole lot more than i do.

>> what goes around comes around.

>> reporter: ah, car ma. software ceo lars dellguard admits's recovering workplace jerk sew banned bad behavior for all of his employees.

>> we have a policy people have to sign, a contract, an emotional contract, where they have to sign that they will not be a jerk in the workplace.

>> reporter: ceo of johnson publishing , desiree rogers prefers this interpretation. maybe it's just that in getting things done, people don't always have a great day.

>> but i wouldn't say the message to take from this is that if you're meaner, you're gonna make -- you're gonna make more money.

>> reporter: or that nice guys and girls have to finish last. chris jansing , nbc news, new york.