A new study suggests likeability is an important factor in interactions between women and interactions between women and men.

For men, however, likeability is a nearly non-existent factor in interactions between men and somewhat important in interactions between men and women.

“Our results hint at the existence of a likeability factor that offers a novel perspective on gender differences in labor market outcomes,” said Leonie Gerhards, the lead author of a paper on the research, published in The Economic Journal. “While likeability matters for women in every one of their interactions, it matters for men only if they interact with the opposite sex.”

Researchers concluded that for women, likeability is an asset in all interactions. For men, likeability matters only in interactions with the opposite sex.

“The observed gender difference in social interactions has important negative implications on gender differences in economic outcomes: Women significantly suffer from the variation in likeability and achieve overall worse outcomes than men. Results suggest that the likeability factor leads to considerable advantages in terms of average performance and economic outcomes for men,” the paper reports.

According to the study authors, the likeability factor may play a role in women earning lower wages than men, why women are less likely to be promoted to top management positions and why women are underrepresented in higher levels of the corporate hierarchy.

Why the difference between men and women when it comes to likeability playing a role in social or work interactions?

The researchers point to studies in economics and social psychology that show women are generally more sensitive to details of the social interaction than men.

Further, according to research, “women form different networks and peer relationships than men. Evidence shows that women, on average, have fewer direct connections and their connections are more likely to be linked to each other. Thus, women’s networks are smaller and more clustered, while men’s networks are larger and looser,” the paper notes.

You can read more on the research and its conclusions here.