Who makes it to the top? Differential rewards to personality across gender and occupation in the UK

Who makes it to the top? Differential rewards to personality across gender and occupation in the UK | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Who makes it to the top? Differential rewards to personality across gender and occupation in the UK By Cecily Josten, Grace Lordan This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4959160/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Revision Version 1 posted 8 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This study tests whether personality traits are legitimately rewarded in the labour market or whether there are differing rewards across gender that cannot be explained with productivity. We investigate if personality traits affect the likelihood of making it to the top income quintile within an occupation differently by gender using UK Household Longitudinal data. We find that being agreeable hurts men more than women across a majority of occupations, which points at the role of gender norms for wages. Further, female legislators and senior officials who are conscientious, extraverted, neurotic and open are more likely to be among the top earners than men. Other than that, we find small gender differences in personality rewards. personality traits agreeableness Big Five labor market earnings gender wage gap Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Revision Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 11 Feb, 2025 Reviews received at journal 13 Jan, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 06 Oct, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 04 Oct, 2024 Reviewers invited by journal 04 Oct, 2024 Editor assigned by journal 28 Aug, 2024 Submission checks completed at journal 28 Aug, 2024 First submitted to journal 22 Aug, 2024 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4959160","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":361037494,"identity":"14073fe4-dd44-4144-831e-7868f2d88965","order_by":0,"name":"By Cecily Josten","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"London School of Economics and Political Science","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"By","middleName":"Cecily","lastName":"Josten","suffix":""},{"id":361037496,"identity":"f106c9c3-e8fe-457a-93ba-41f1d8f71a9c","order_by":1,"name":"Grace Lordan","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAzUlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFAC5gYGBjYGBn52mAAPQS2MEC2SzSRrMThMrBZ5B8bGxxVldnnGh9kfPmCosWMwOHMAvxbDA4zNhmfOJRebHeYxNmA4lsxgcLaBgJYGxjbJxjbmxG2HedgkGNgOMBicJ+AwqJb6xM3N7M9/MPwjQos8A1jL4cQNzAxmQPYBwg4zYAb6peHc8cQZQL9IJPYl80gS8r58e/PBhw1l1Yn97e0PP3z4ZifHdyaBgC2HkXkJxESkfANBJaNgFIyCUTDiAQDUmD97RUgzcQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"London School of Economics and Political Science","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Grace","middleName":"","lastName":"Lordan","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-08-22 15:34:01","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4959160/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4959160/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":65863370,"identity":"d651aee9-7187-495d-9a04-deef58b1a571","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-10-03 16:42:54","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":353925,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"JEIpersonalityrewardsacrossgenderandoccup.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4959160/v1_covered_b3dde776-1a5e-4a8a-8590-d5058748d71b.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Who makes it to the top? 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