Thinking Beyond the Bargaining Table: Negotiators’ Perceptions, Behaviours and Outcomes in Negotiations Affecting External Parties
Publikation: Beiträge in Zeitschriften › Zeitschriftenaufsätze › Forschung › begutachtet
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in: European Journal of Social Psychology, 2025.
Publikation: Beiträge in Zeitschriften › Zeitschriftenaufsätze › Forschung › begutachtet
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Thinking Beyond the Bargaining Table
T2 - Negotiators’ Perceptions, Behaviours and Outcomes in Negotiations Affecting External Parties
AU - Zhang, Kai
AU - Zhang, Hong
AU - Aaldering, Hillie
AU - Majer, Johann M.
AU - Trötschel, Roman
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2025 The Author(s). European Journal of Social Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
PY - 2025
Y1 - 2025
N2 - Although many negotiations affect external parties, prior research has often overlooked how negotiated agreements shape the outcomes of those who are dependent on–but absent from–the bargaining table. Across one scenario and three interactive, face-to-face negotiation experiments (N = 458), we investigated how, when and why negotiators consider the outcomes of external parties. Using a novel experimental paradigm, we introduced the proximity effect–the tendency for negotiators to achieve higher joint outcomes with their direct counterparts than for affected external parties. Experiments 1 and 2 provided consistent evidence for this effect, even though improving outcomes for external parties did not come at a cost to negotiators’ own joint gains. Experiment 3 showed that the proximity effect was moderated by the interdependence structure: It disappeared under positive interdependence but persisted under negative interdependence. In Experiment 4, prompting an interdependence mindset reduced the proximity effect and improved outcomes for all involved parties. An internal meta-analysis confirmed the robustness of these findings, offering theoretical and practical insights for future research on negotiations affecting external parties.
AB - Although many negotiations affect external parties, prior research has often overlooked how negotiated agreements shape the outcomes of those who are dependent on–but absent from–the bargaining table. Across one scenario and three interactive, face-to-face negotiation experiments (N = 458), we investigated how, when and why negotiators consider the outcomes of external parties. Using a novel experimental paradigm, we introduced the proximity effect–the tendency for negotiators to achieve higher joint outcomes with their direct counterparts than for affected external parties. Experiments 1 and 2 provided consistent evidence for this effect, even though improving outcomes for external parties did not come at a cost to negotiators’ own joint gains. Experiment 3 showed that the proximity effect was moderated by the interdependence structure: It disappeared under positive interdependence but persisted under negative interdependence. In Experiment 4, prompting an interdependence mindset reduced the proximity effect and improved outcomes for all involved parties. An internal meta-analysis confirmed the robustness of these findings, offering theoretical and practical insights for future research on negotiations affecting external parties.
KW - external parties
KW - interdependence
KW - mindset
KW - negotiation externalities
KW - proximity effect
KW - Psychology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=105009725037&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/ejsp.3178
DO - 10.1002/ejsp.3178
M3 - Journal articles
AN - SCOPUS:105009725037
JO - European Journal of Social Psychology
JF - European Journal of Social Psychology
SN - 0046-2772
ER -