Who’s better at negotiating, men or women?
We negotiate every day, from discussing a teen’s screen time to getting a better price when buying something. In all of these situations, we’re trying to find a solution that everyone can accept. Men are often more likely to negotiate aggressively, take risks, and ask for higher salaries or better deals. Women are usually considered stronger at listening, building relationships and finding compromises. Stereotypes aside, are men or women inherently better negotiators? In a paper published in ‘Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences’(opens in new window), a research team at Cornell University in the United States claims that one may have the edge over the other at the bargaining table.
Beyond the bottom line
In a series of five experiments with over 2 400 participants, people consistently preferred negotiating with women, scoring them higher on trust, fairness and communication. The researchers focused on subjective value, which accounts for the social and emotional side of a negotiation, such as whether parties feel treated fairly, trust one another and want to work together again. “So much of negotiation research has really focused on men’s advantages,” commented lead author Charlotte Townsend, a postdoc at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, in a news item(opens in new window). “But if women are creating better relationship outcomes in negotiations, it makes a lot of sense that their partners would like to negotiate with them more than with men.” “Early research from the 1970s and 1980s focused on gender as a stable predictor of negotiation outcomes, suggesting that women performed worse in negotiating, but that has changed over time,” Townsend explained. “Our data shows that women are achieving equivalent economic outcomes, and better relational outcomes, compared to men.” The financial results were comparable for both men and women, indicating that the benefit of negotiating with women was social, not financial. It wasn't about the money, but rather the experience itself. Because the social and emotional components of a negotiation, like trust and the desire to collaborate again, are what ultimately determine who gets asked back, this gave women a clear advantage. Overall, the findings showed that women hold a distinct advantage in subjective value during negotiations. By being more receptive to offers, they foster greater satisfaction and rapport, ultimately increasing the desire for future collaboration.
More than a deal
The researchers ran a computer simulation using these findings to project that, over time, this preference could lead to about 45 % more negotiation opportunities for women. Rather than being at a disadvantage, the research suggests women bring unique strengths to the table in negotiations – strengths that have been largely overlooked until now. “We don’t talk enough about the social consequences in negotiations, and the importance of how your partner makes you feel,” Townsend added. “We tried to show there are important downstream consequences. It’s really about building relationships with people. “When it comes to negotiations, people often think about getting the best deal in economic terms, but relationships have important consequences, and I think this work demonstrates that women have a real strength that we should be considering more, and that we can all learn from,” she concluded. So who would you want sitting on the other side of the table? If I’m well-prepared, backed by excellent communication skills and years of experience, it shouldn’t matter.
