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Abstract:
Four studies support the development and validation of a framework for understanding the range of social psychological outcomes valued subjectively as consequences of negotiations. Study 1 inductively elicited and coded elements of subjective value among students, community members, and practitioners, revealing 20 categories that theorists in Study 2 sorted into four underlying sub-constructs: Feelings about Instrumental Outcomes, the Self, Process, and Relationship. Study 3 proposed a new Subjective Value Inventory (SVI) and confirmed its 4-factor structure. Study 4 presents convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity data for this SVI. Indeed, subjective value was a better predictor than economic outcomes of future negotiation decisions. Results suggest the SVI is a promising tool to systematize and encourage research on subjective outcomes of negotiation.

Negotiation, social psychological outcomes, subjective value, conflict resolution, dispute resolution, affect, emotions, satisfaction, self-image, relationships, impressions, justice, fairness

Abstract:
Highly relational contexts can have costs as well as benefits. Researchers theorize that negotiating dyads in which both parties hold highly relational goals or views of themselves are prone to relational accommodation, a dynamic resulting in inefficient economic outcomes yet high levels of relational capital. Previous research has provided only indirect empirical support for this theory. The present study fills this gap by demonstrating the divergent effects of egalitarianism on economic efficiency and relational capital in negotiation. Dyads engaged in a simulated employment negotiation among strangers within a company that was described as either egalitarian or hierarchical. As hypothesized, dyads assigned to the egalitarian condition reached less efficient economic outcomes yet had higher relational capital than dyads assigned to the hierarchical condition. Negotiations occurring between females resulted in lower joint economic outcomes than negotiations occurring between males. Results are consistent with the theory of relational self construal in negotiation.

Negotiation, egalitarianism, hierarchy, power distance, gender, relational self-construal, relational satisficing, organizational culture, relational capital, economic outcomes, joint value, O. Henry Effect

Abstract:
This study examines the dynamics of preference change in the context of face-to-face negotiation. Participants playing the role of "student" or "financial aid officer" exchanged proposals regarding the terms of a student loan. In accord with dissonance theory, participants increased their liking for proposals they offered and/or ultimately accepted. The reactance theory prediction that participants would devalue proposals received from their counterparts was confirmed for loan officers, but not for students. A pair of experimental manipulations involving pre-rating of proposals and the opportunity for participants to engage in brief discussions prior to the initial exchange of offers mediated these effects and influenced subsequent rates of agreement and post-settlement satisfaction. Underlying attributional mechanisms and implications of these findings for facilitating agreements are discussed.

Dynamic Valuation, Negotiation, Conflict Resolution, Reactive Devaluation, Reactance, Dissonance, Self-perception, Attribution Theory, Preference Change

Abstract:
In this research we examine whether conversational dynamics occurring within the first five minutes of a negotiation can predict negotiated outcomes. In a simulated employment negotiation, micro-coding conducted by a computer showed that activity level, conversational engagement, prosodic emphasis, and vocal mirroring predicted 30% of the variance in individual outcomes. The conversational dynamics associated with individual success among high-status parties were different from those associated with individual success among low-status parties. Results are interpreted in light of theory and research exploring the predictive power of "thin slices" (Ambady & Rosenthal, 1992). Implications include the development of new technology to diagnose and improve negotiation processes.

Negotiation, thin slices, conversational dynamics, speech features, nonverbal, communication, artificial intelligence

Abstract:
Results from previous research suggest that individuals change their preferences during negotiations (J. R. Curhan, M. A. Neale, & L. Ross, forthcoming). Consistent with dissonance and self-perception theories, negotiators enhance their valuation of offers they make. Consistent with reactance theory and rational inference, negotiators devalue offers they receive. Each of these dynamic valuation processes could be explained by informational mechanisms alone, or additionally by motivational mechanisms. The present investigation examines negotiator preference change in a context where informational mechanisms can be controlled for, and hence motivational mechanisms could be measured independently. Results of this investigation will potentially have important implications for theory and practice.

Negotiation, Preference Changes, Self-perception, Dissonance, Reactance, Reactive Devaluation

Abstract:
Previous research suggests that negotiators inflate their valuation for offers they make and devalue offers they choose not to make due to the psychological process of cognitive dissonance reduction. Research outside of the negotiation context suggests that cognitive dissonance is induced either by being forced to choose among relatively equal options or by having to justify a counter-attitudinal position. A negotiation involves both choice and justification, so it is unclear which process is responsible for inducing cognitive dissonance or preference inflation. We present two studies in which the effect of choosing an opening offer is disentangled from the effects of justifying that choice. Findings indicate that choice and justification have an additive effect on negotiator preference change. We discuss implications of these results for cognitive dissonance theory and the practice of negotiation.

Cognitive dissonance, reactance, free-choice, counter-attitudinal justification, negotiation, conflict resolution

Abstract:
The authors address the long-standing mystery of stable individual differences in negotiation performance, for which intuition and conventional wisdom have clashed with inconsistent empirical findings. The present study used the Social Relations Model to examine individual differences directly via consistency in performance across multiple negotiations, and to disentangle the roles of both parties within these inherently dyadic interactions. Individual differences explained a substantial 25% and 46% of objective performance in distributive and integrative bargaining, respectively, and 19% of subjective performance. Previous work may have understated the influence of individual differences because conventional research designs require specific traits to be identified and measured. Exploratory analyses of a battery of specific existing traits revealed few reliable associations with consistent individual differences in performance. Limitations, areas for future research, and practical implications are discussed.

negotiation, bargaining, individual differences, personality, subjective value

Abstract:
Although negotiation experiences can affect a negotiator's ensuing attitudes and behavior, little is known about their long-term consequences. Using a longitudinal survey design, we test the degree to which economic and subjective value achieved in job offer negotiations predicts employees' subsequent job attitudes and intentions to turnover. Results indicate that subjective value predicts greater compensation satisfaction and job satisfaction and lower turnover intention measured one year later. Surprisingly, the economic outcomes that negotiators achieved had no apparent effects on these factors. Implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

employment negotiation, social psychological outcomes, economic outcomes, subjective value, job satisfaction, compensation satisfaction, turnover, trust, relationships, longitudinal

Abstract:
A 2-round negotiation study provided evidence that positive feelings resulting from one negotiation can be economically rewarding in a second negotiation. Negotiators experiencing greater subjective value (SV) - that is, social, perceptual, and emotional outcomes from a negotiation - in Round 1 achieved greater individual and joint objective negotiation performance in Round 2, even with Round 1 economic outcomes controlled. Moreover, Round 1 SV predicted the desire to negotiate again with the same counterpart, whereas objective negotiation performance had no such association. Taken together, these results suggest that positive feelings, not just positive outcomes, can evoke future economic success.

negotiation, subjective value, objective value, economic outcomes, satisfaction, social psychological outcomes, relationships, attitudes, longitudinal, experiment

Abstract:
A series of studies found that the personality dimension of unmitigated communion (Fritz & Helgeson, 1998) leads negotiators to make concessions in order to avoid straining relationships. Results indicate that even within the population of successful business executives, this dimension of relational anxiety can be identified distinctly from more general relational orientations, such as agreeableness, and that it distinctly predicts accommodating tendencies in everyday conflicts. In economic games, unmitigated communion predicts giving in contexts where the relational norm of reciprocity applies, but not in contexts tapping instrumental or altruistic motives for cooperation. In distributive negotiations, the effect of unmitigated communion in lowering a negotiator's outcome is mediated by pre-negotiation anxieties about relational strain and plans to make large concessions if needed to avoid impasse (lower reservation points). In integrative negotiations, high unmitigated communion on both sides of the negotiation dyad results in relational accommodation, evidenced by decreased success in maximizing economic joint gain but increased subjective satisfaction with the relationship.

personality, negotiation, distributive, integrative, relational accommodating

Abstract:
The authors address the longstanding mystery of individual differences in negotiation performance. Using Kenny's (1994) Social Relations Model to examine the role of individual consistency in this dyadic process, analyses showed 52% of the variance in performance resulted from individual differences. Beyond demonstrating consistency, coding systems were used to examine transcripts, linguistic style, and nonverbal behavior in order to 'open the black box' and understand what makes some negotiators better than others. With hypotheses grounded in Behavioral Negotiation Theory and Interpersonal Theory, results showed that consistently great negotiators differed substantially from consistently poor negotiators in their behavioral profiles. Limitations and future directions for reinvigorating research in this area are discussed.

negotiation, individual differences, behavior, processes