A pawn in someone else's game?: The cognitive, motivational, and paradigmatic barriers to women's excelling in negotiation

Abstract

Within a framework of inequality the existence of conflict is denied and the means to engage openly in conflict are excluded. -Jean Baker Miller, M. D. The New Psychology of WomenWomen in organizations are succeeding to a lesser degree than men. Women still hold only 5% of CEO positions (Catalyst, 2015), 19% of Board Directorships (Catalyst, 2015 and are estimated to earn only $0.82 for every dollar paid to men (Hegewisch, Ellis, & Hartmann, 2015). When women are under-represented in high status positions, it becomes more difficult for other women to succeed in the organization (Ibarra, 1992(Ibarra, , 1993Kanter, 1977). The female gender group is seen more negatively in firms with fewer senior women (Ely, 1994) and women's skills go unrecognized (Joshi, 2014) 1 .Despite similar career aspirations, the trajectories of high-achieving men and women in MBA programs vary in important ways. A recent survey of Harvard Business School alumni showed that women were less likely than men to hold senior management positions, less likely to Women's relatively worse performance in negotiation is often cited as an explanation for gender differences in advancement and pay within organizations. We review key findings from the past twenty years of research on gender differences in negotiation. Women do underperform relative to men in negotiation, but only under limited circumstances, which means the performance gap is unlikely due to lesser skills on their part. The barriers between women and negotiation excellence are of three types: cognitive, motivational, and paradigmatic. Cognitive barriers stem from negative stereotypes about women's negotiating abilities. Motivational barriers stem from desire to prevent women negotiators from excelling in a masculine domain. Paradigmatic barriers stem from how negotiation is currently studied. We call for greater attention to motivational barriers and for changes to the negotiation paradigm. Women negotiators are not incompetent, and training them to negotiate more like men is not obviously the solution. In fact, women have greater concern for others than men do, and their cooperativeness elevates collective intelligence and enables ethical behavior. Under a new paradigm of negotiation, the value of these strengths could become more readily apparent. In particular, we advocate for greater attention to long-term relationships, subjective value, and relational capital, all of which may have important economic implications in real world negotiations. ß

A social-cognitive approach to understanding gender differences in negotiator ethics: The role of moral identity

“…It is an empirical question whether such outcomes would translate into economic gains over time, by attracting cooperative counterparts or repeat business. Although our research recognizes a potential and largely unappreciated (Kennedy & Kray, 2015) ethical advantage possessed by women negotiators, we have ironically risked providing datadriven justifications for antiquated gender roles. Too often, favorable female stereotypes have been used to exclude women from high-status roles that are associated with toughness or aggressiveness (Eagly, 1995) and to lend scientific prestige to politically charged differences between women and men (Baumeister, 1988).…”

“…Practically, because unethical tactics can help negotiators to claim value (O'Connor & Carnevale, 1997;Schweitzer, DeChurch, & Gibson, 2005), gender differences in negotiator ethics may provide a novel explanation for why women have worse negotiation outcomes than men under some conditions (Mazei et al, 2015;Stuhlmacher & Walters, 1999). Alternatively, to the extent that women negotiators have ethical strengths, women may have a negotiating advantage over men under certain conditions, such as when relational capital and subjective value are important (Kennedy & Kray, 2015).…”

Interpersonal assertiveness: Inside the balancing act

“…Overtly signaling relational concerns may also be helpful for women, such as stressing the value they place on relationships (Bowles & Babcock, 2013) and framing themselves as negotiating on behalf of others (e.g., Amanatullah & Tinsley, 2013a). Women may also benefit from addressing their own cognitive barriers about their negotiation capabilities by adopting a growth mindset (see Kennedy & Kray, 2015, for further discussion of this and numerous other correctives).…”

Salary Negotiation Patterns between Women and Men in Academic Libraries

“…Such studies and the views they portray can actively work against women's best interests. 21 Given this final point by Kennedy and Kray, which argues that flawed studies might be partly to blame for perpetuating the stereotype of the undernegotiating female job candidate, a growing body of literature suggests that, under certain circumstances, women will negotiate as often as men. For instance, the sex of the person with whom the job candidate is negotiating may play a role in gendered negotiation behavior, with studies finding that both men and women are less likely to attempt bargaining when their negotiation counterpart is female.…”