Relief Versus Regret: The Effect of Gender and Negotiating Norm Ambiguity on Reactions to Having One's First Offer Accepted

Abstract

We conducted three experiments to examine the relationship between gender and reactions to having one's first offer accepted in negotiations. Building on past research demonstrating that having one's first offer accepted reduces satisfaction through the generation of upward counterfactual thoughts (Galinsky, Seiden, Kim, & Medvec, 2002), we examined whether gender moderates the impact of first offer acceptance on negotiators' emotions. Consistent with the idea that women experience anxiety about negotiating due to the social risks they face at the bargaining table, Experiment 1 demonstrates that women experience more relief after having their first offer accepted than men. Experiment 2 suggests one reason that women experience more relief following a first offer acceptance is that they value the relationship with their partner to a greater extent than do men. Experiment 2 also shows that this gender difference is limited to situations in which behavioral norms regarding negotiating are ambiguous. Consistently, Experiment 3 shows that men and women have comparable reactions to having their first offer accepted when negotiating norm ambiguity is low. Overall, women's emotional reactions to negotiations appear to be more contextually determined than men's.