Empowered or informed? Seeking to mitigate gender differences in first-offer assertiveness through pre-negotiation interventions
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In: Journal of Economic Psychology, Vol. 105, 102775, 01.12.2024.
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Empowered or informed? Seeking to mitigate gender differences in first-offer assertiveness through pre-negotiation interventions
AU - Kokić, Erna
AU - Wagner, Laure
AU - García López del Amo, Ana
AU - Giering, Charlotte L.
AU - Ly Truong, Van
AU - Petrowsky, Hannes M.
AU - Husen, Onno M.
AU - Loschelder, David D.
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024
PY - 2024/12/1
Y1 - 2024/12/1
N2 - Gender differences in negotiation behavior—for instance, men's vs. women's likelihood to make (assertive) first offers—contribute to the globally prevalent gender pay gap (GPG). In an attempt to mitigate the social and economic consequences of this gender disparity, we first empirically validated two pre-negotiation message interventions in a pilot study (N = 203). In the main experimental intervention study (N = 585), male versus female participants randomly received this (1) informative message about the GPG, or (2) gender-specific empowering message, or (3) no message in the control condition. In a subsequent negotiation task on the starting salary for a new job, we assessed participants’ (a) likelihood-to-initiate a first offer and (b) first-offer assertiveness. Results showed a remarkably robust behavioral gender disparity: across all conditions, men were more likely to make the first offer (d = 0.178) and made them more assertively (d = 0.339). Importantly, compared to the control condition, the informative (dinform = 0.304) and the empowering (dempower = 0.255) pre-negotiation interventions increased women's first-offer assertiveness. Similar intervention benefits emerged for men (dinform = 0.259; dempower = 0.284), however, yielding an overall remarkably robust gender difference. To explore the underlying reasons for this gender disparity, we tested four competing psychological mechanisms (i.e., self-esteem, positive and negative affect, GPG awareness, and self-efficacy). Our results highlight the impact that even short, minimal interventions can have on gender differences in negotiation behavior and illustrate which psychological mechanisms explain the emergence of gender disparity in the first place.
AB - Gender differences in negotiation behavior—for instance, men's vs. women's likelihood to make (assertive) first offers—contribute to the globally prevalent gender pay gap (GPG). In an attempt to mitigate the social and economic consequences of this gender disparity, we first empirically validated two pre-negotiation message interventions in a pilot study (N = 203). In the main experimental intervention study (N = 585), male versus female participants randomly received this (1) informative message about the GPG, or (2) gender-specific empowering message, or (3) no message in the control condition. In a subsequent negotiation task on the starting salary for a new job, we assessed participants’ (a) likelihood-to-initiate a first offer and (b) first-offer assertiveness. Results showed a remarkably robust behavioral gender disparity: across all conditions, men were more likely to make the first offer (d = 0.178) and made them more assertively (d = 0.339). Importantly, compared to the control condition, the informative (dinform = 0.304) and the empowering (dempower = 0.255) pre-negotiation interventions increased women's first-offer assertiveness. Similar intervention benefits emerged for men (dinform = 0.259; dempower = 0.284), however, yielding an overall remarkably robust gender difference. To explore the underlying reasons for this gender disparity, we tested four competing psychological mechanisms (i.e., self-esteem, positive and negative affect, GPG awareness, and self-efficacy). Our results highlight the impact that even short, minimal interventions can have on gender differences in negotiation behavior and illustrate which psychological mechanisms explain the emergence of gender disparity in the first place.
KW - Empowering messages
KW - First offers
KW - Gender differences
KW - Gender pay gap
KW - Informative messages
KW - Negotiation behavior
KW - Management studies
KW - Business psychology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85207701183&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/cc40e93f-20a0-386a-a5b6-53a5ea0e7615/
U2 - 10.1016/j.joep.2024.102775
DO - 10.1016/j.joep.2024.102775
M3 - Journal articles
AN - SCOPUS:85207701183
VL - 105
JO - Journal of Economic Psychology
JF - Journal of Economic Psychology
SN - 0167-4870
M1 - 102775
ER -