Who Negotiates and When? Individual Differences and Context Effects in Negotiation

Negotiation is a fundamental interpersonal tool and managerial skill, through which individuals and groups obtain some of their most consequential outcomes. Developing a deeper understanding of negotiation behavior involves understanding both the mechanics of negotiation – which strategies are effective and what negotiators expect – and the broader context in which the negotiation occurs. The papers in this symposium investigate individual differences and group-level differences in negotiators’ expectations, the negotiation process, and negotiators’ subsequent outcomes. We present novel research studies with field and experimental data and qualitative investigations that describe how negotiators’ individual characteristics (e.g., personality, gender, and minority status) and the negotiation context (e.g., importance of issues or relationships, stereotype congruence) impacts negotiators’ expectations, behavior, and outcomes. This set of research papers provides a broad perspective on how factors outside the negotiation table shape negotiators’ expectations, the negotiation process itself, and the consequences for negotiators’ expectations and their long-term, post-negotiation outcomes.