Handshaking promotes deal-making by signaling cooperative intent.

Abstract

Harvard Business SchoolWe examine how a simple handshake-a gesture that often occurs at the outset of social interactionscan influence deal-making. Because handshakes are social rituals, they are imbued with meaning beyond their physical features. We propose that during mixed-motive interactions, a handshake is viewed as a signal of cooperative intent, increasing people's cooperative behavior and affecting deal-making outcomes. In Studies 1a and 1b, pairs who chose to shake hands at the onset of integrative negotiations obtained better joint outcomes. Study 2 demonstrates the causal impact of handshaking using experimental methodology. Study 3 suggests a driver of the cooperative consequence of handshaking: negotiators expected partners who shook hands to behave more cooperatively than partners who avoided shaking hands or partners whose nonverbal behavior was unknown; these expectations of cooperative intent increased negotiators' own cooperation. Study 4 uses an economic game to demonstrate that handshaking increased cooperation even when handshakes were uninstructed (vs. instructed). Further demonstrating the primacy of signaling cooperative intent, handshaking actually reduced cooperation when the action signaled ill intent (e.g., when the hand-shaker was sick; Study 5). Finally, in Study 6, executives assigned to shake hands before a more antagonistic, distributive negotiation were less likely to lie about self-benefiting information, increasing cooperation even to their own detriment. Together, these studies provide evidence that handshakes, ritualistic behaviors imbued with meaning beyond mere physical contact, signal cooperative intent and promote deal-making.

What's Sex Got to Do with It? Questioning Research on Gender & Negotiation

“…Key elements of nonverbal communication include eye contact, facial expressions, 33 body language (e.g., arms crossing, gestures, leaning in, fidgeting, etc. ), physical contact (particularly in greeting, like handshakes 34 ), and proximity of the parties (i.e., seating arrangement). 35 5/28/2019 11:21 AM…”

“…Far less often do we study the possibility of integrative outcomes. Even when we set up studies that focus on repeated interactions, they are often 4 See Jae Yun Kim 34 PSYCHOL. WOMEN Q.…”

Show me the … family: How photos of meaningful relationships reduce unethical behavior at work

“…This study sought additional evidence of the causal role of an economic schema in the relationship between the presence of photos of close others and financial transgressions by directly manipulating economic schema salience. Although researchers often investigate the mechanism responsible for an effect by measuring the proposed intervening variable and running statistical tests of mediation (as in Study 3), experiments that manipulate a proposed psychological process also can provide evidence of a causal mechanism (Bullock, Green, & Ha, 2010;Sigall & Mills, 1998;Schroeder, Risen, Gino, & Norton, 2019;Spencer, Zanna, & Fong, 2005). In the current context, we expected that participating in an initial task that emphasized rather than diminished the salience of economic considerations would increase financial transgressions on an unrelated expense report task.…”

“…Study 4 sought additional evidence of the mechanism responsible for the effect of photos of close others on unethical behavior by directly manipulating the extent to which viewing photos of close others would enhance or diminish the salience of an economic schema. Although researchers often investigate the mechanism responsible for an effect by measuring the proposed intervening variable and running statistical tests of mediation (as in Study 3), experiments that manipulate a proposed psychological process also can provide evidence of a causal mechanism (Bullock, Green, & Ha, 2010;Sigall & Mills, 1998;Schroeder, Risen, Gino, & Norton, 2019;Spencer, Zanna, & Fong, 2005). To the extent that a given mechanism plays a critical role in an effect of an independent variable on a dependent variable, researchers should be able to increase or decrease the magnitude of the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable by exerting experimental control over the mechanism.…”

Breaking Bread Produces Bigger Pies: An Empirical Extension of Shared Eating to Negotiations and a Commentary on Woolley and Fishbach (2019)

“…Our findings have implications for the psychology of ritual. Research suggests that rituals can increase cooperation (Brooks et al, 2016; Fischer, Callander, Reddish, & Bulbulia, 2013; Schroeder, Risen, Gino, & Norton, 2019). Eating with another person, whether from a shared plate or separate plates, can be construed as a form of ritual.…”