Study of over 2,000 participants finds men and women achieve similar negotiation outcomes, but women are rated higher on trust, rapport, and willingness to negotiate again

PNAS) study conducted by researchers of Cornell University, and summarised in the article

Phys.org

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Most importantly, this study is not about which gender is superior in terms of negotiation skills. In fact, it differentiates between two distinct outcomes of negotiation.

How the research was designed



The research was conducted by a team of Charlotte Townsend (Cornell University), Laura Kray and Solene Delecourt (University of California, Berkeley) through five structured experiments.

Participants took part in a series of five studies involving different negotiation contexts, including an MBA course-based negotiation dataset, an online anonymous chat-based bargaining experiment, a third-party evaluation study using negotiation transcripts, a replication study with modified subjective value measures, and a behavioral analysis of negotiation transcripts using coding methods.

Across these experiments, researchers compared objective outcomes (such as deal value and number of deals) with subjective outcomes (such as trust, satisfaction, and willingness to negotiate again).

The crucial element of the design is the fact that economic results can be measured or kept similar across groups to allow concentrating on subjective and perceptual factors.

Economic success being equal, experience differs



An important point made by all the studies conducted is that there is no difference between the economic results of men and women in negotiation situations.

This contradicts older assumptions in negotiation studies, which often suggested that women performed worse than men in negotiations. Nevertheless, there was an important distinction in the way the process of negotiating was assessed.

According to the studies, negotiators rated women more positively in relation to various aspects such as fairness, trustworthiness, communication skills, listening, and meeting the needs of the other side.

Thus, the assessment of the experience of negotiating was more positive for the participants. It should also be noted that the participants were more willing to negotiate again with women despite similar economic results of the deal.

United Kingdom, are not usually isolated incidents. Negotiations involving salary, supplier deals, partnerships and other decisions usually entail relationships.

According to the study, interpersonal interactions in negotiations can affect future willingness to collaborate regardless of the outcome.

Nevertheless, it must be pointed out that the study does not imply an innate advantage of one gender in career progress. This only applies to experimental situations where interpersonal relations are easily observable.

The precise interpretation of the results



The evidence suggests that women and men are equally successful in economic negotiations in experimental settings. However, women are more likely to be perceived as trustworthy and fair, which makes others more willing to interact with them again. This differentiation between outcome and experience is what the research is all about. This research is not an attempt to redefine negotiation skills based on gender. Rather, it differentiates between two components of success, which are often intertwined.

On one hand, it is what is accomplished at the negotiating table. On the other hand, it is how the experience was perceived.

As shown by the PNAS study and reports from Cornell University, these two components don’t necessarily coincide, and that is where the most interesting result can be found.