Gender effects in negotiation: Constituent surveilance and contentious behavior

Abstract

This experiment examined the influence of constituent surveillance, constituent gender, and negotiator gender on negotiation behavior and outcome. (Constituents are the people represented by negotiators.) Surveillance by a male constituent made negotiators more contentious and produced relatively unequal final outcomes. Surveillance by a female constituent made negotiators less contentious and resulted in relatively equal final outcomes. These findings can be interpreted as negotiator efforts to impress a constituent who is watching by acting in accordance with sex-role stereotypes about how he or she would expect them to behave. In the absence of constituent surveillance, there was more contentious behavior with female than with male constituents, regardless of the sex of the negotiator. This suggests the existence of a unisex “chivalry” norm, involving greater concern for female than male outcomes. Male and female negotiators did not differ in behavior or outcome and did not react differently to constituent surveillance.