A little chit-chat provides a nice boost for male but not female negotiators, study suggests
August 4, 2014
For more information, contact: Ben Haimowitz, +1 (718) 398-7642 or +1 (917) 903-9287, press@aom.org
A common feature of what may be the world's most fundamental
business activity -- participating in negotiations -- seems to be a
boon for men but not for women.
New research on negotiations to be presented at
the annual meeting of the Academy of
Management (Philadelphia, Aug. 1-5) finds that
men who engage in small talk before getting down to business,
compared to those who launch right into the matter at hand, not
only make a much more favorable impression but get better results
as well. In contrast, women negotiators seem to gain little if
anything from such niceties.
The study, entitled "Should We Chit-Chat?" finds, in the words
of the authors, that "engaging in small talk enhanced perceptions
of communality, liking, and satisfaction with the relationship in
men but not women. Men benefited from using small talk by receiving
more favorable final offers when they engaged in small talk than
when they did not."
Collaborating on the study were Alexandra A. Mislin of American
University, Brooke A. Shaughnessy of
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, and Tanja Hentschel and Claudia
Peus of Technische Universität München.
The findings may come as a bit of a surprise to some students of
business behavior, because earlier research has found small talk to
be a plus for negotiators in general -- a means of conveying an
impression of benevolence, trustworthiness, and cooperativeness and
of minimizing the likelihood of an impasse. Probing in a controlled
experiment how gender interacts with small talk, as the study for
the AOM meeting does, throws new light on the subject.
Comments Prof. Mislin: "It isn't as if women ought to shun small
talk: nothing we found suggests that it does any harm, and maybe
women just have to do it better than men. For men, the principal
message of this study is clear: you've got more to gain from a
small investment in chit-chat than you may realize."
What accounts for the gender variance that emerges from the new
research? Differing stereotypes and the expectations that derive
from them, the study concludes. In the words of the paper, "As
compared to women, men are described as less communal, and, thus,
for example, as less communicative, sociable, or concerned about
others... Because for men communality is not assumed, they may
profit a great deal from showing communal behaviors."
In contrast, the authors add, "research shows that too much
communal behavior from men -- for example, when taking on the role
of a stay-at-home parent -- may lead to social penalties. Men
appear to receive a bonus for smaller communal behaviors, while
they are penalized for more extensive [ones]. In negotiation
contexts, small talk would be perceived as a small communal
behavior, not expected from men and therefore yielding tangible
benefits."
As for women, although they are typically expected to behave
communally, "lack of small talk [in negotiations] is likely to be
perceived as a minor violation rather than a major violation of
social norms and thus unworthy of backlash." In sum, as long as
women don't negotiate "too forcefully or rigidly, [they] will not
have broken gender norms by omitting small talk...Therefore,
evaluations of women's communality may not differ whether they
actually show communal behavior (i.e, small talk) or not."
The study's findings emerge from an experiment involving 202
individuals from an online community where people participate in
studies in return for small monetary compensation. As part of a 2x2
experimental design, subjects were asked to read a transcript and
evaluate a negotiator named either JoAnna or Andrew who either does
or does not engage in small talk at the outset of a negotiation. At
issue is whether the department of parks (represented by
JoAnna/Andrew) or the department of libraries (represented by
someone of undisclosed gender named Riley McGee) will gain
possession of a parcel of town land. In half the transcripts
JoAnna/Andrew suggests the negotiators get right down to business,
while in the other transcripts, which were otherwise identical to
those in the first group, Joanna/Andrew initiates a small amount of
small talk about the quality of restaurants in town and a local
sports team.
After reading the transcripts, subjects were asked to respond to
a series of statements about JoAnna/Andew on the extent of their
communality (cooperativeness and willingness to compromise) and
likability. On a scale of 1 to 5, JoAnna was rated roughly
equal in terms of communality (3.22 versus 3.02) and likability
(3.43 versus 3.11) whether or not she engaged in small talk. But
Andrew was rated significantly higher in both when he chit-chatted
than when he didn't (a mean of 4.81 versus 3.21 on communality
and a mean of 3.82 versus 3.27 on likability).
In a further test, the researchers asked participants a
hypothetical question. Suppose, they asked, JoAnna/Andrew
provisionally agreed to let Riley's department have the parcel of
land in return for a payment to the parks department of $10,000 a
year. Suppose, further, that Riley's boss had previously assumed he
would have to pay $15,000 a year. If you were in Riley's shoes,
subjects were asked, how much would you offer to pay in the final
agreement with JoAnna/Andrew?
For JoAnna, the amounts subjects came up with were not
statistically significant -- $10,090 if she had engaged in small
talk and $10,195 if she had not. For Andrew it was a very different
story: the offer averaged $10,243 if he had gotten right
down to business and $10,872 if he had chit-chatted.
Comments Prof. Shaugnessy in conclusion: "The bottom line for
male negotiators is that small talk not only makes a good
impression but can result in a nice cash bonus. For women,
negotiations will always be socially risky, and it appears they
need to find other ways than small talk to cultivate a positive
regard in their counterparts."
Entitled "Should We Chit-Chat? Benefits of Small Talk for Male
but not Female Negotiators," the study will be among some
4,000 research reports to be presented at
the Academy of Management annual
meeting, in Philadelphia from August 1to 5. Founded in 1936,
the Academy of Management is the largest organization in the world
devoted to management research and teaching. It has about 19,200
members in 118 countries. This year's annual meeting will
draw some 10,000 scholars and practitioners for sessions on a host
of subjects relating to business strategy, organizational behavior,
corporate governance, careers, human resources, technology
development, and other management-related topics.