No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
From Preparation to Performance: Conscientiousness Predicts Negotiation Planning and Value Claiming
Abstract
Individual difference researchers observe that conscientiousness predicts job but not negotiation performance. This may reflect a genuine absence of this trait's impact on negotiation. But this could also be due to methodological choices in studies to date. Most studies relied on small sample sizes and highly structured negotiation problems that limit opportunities for preparation. This paper takes a novel approach to examining conscientiousness in negotiation by (1) deploying a complex simulation that demands considerable planning effort, (2) examining variation in planning behavior, and (3) using dyadic data analysis methods with an adequately powered sample. In the two samples comprising Studies 1A and 1B (combined N = 566), higher conscientiousness predicted more value claimed, and counterpart conscientiousness predicted less value claimed in settlements. Follow‐up studies examined planning behavior. Study 2 ( N = 301) demonstrated that conscientious negotiators spent more time planning and placed greater import on information relevant to the negotiation. Conscientiousness correlated positively with peer ratings of distributive efficiency. Study 3 ( N = 153) not only replicated the positive relationship between conscientiousness and greater time spent planning but also identified a U‐shaped relationship between the trait and effortful planning behaviors. The results suggest that conscientiousness represents a previously underappreciated contributor to effective negotiation. By loosening the constraints on bargaining present in most negotiation studies, we observed a pattern consistent with many prior studies of job performance—conscientiousness predicts individual outcomes and planning behavior. These studies highlight a need to expand the empirical and theoretical exploration of negotiation processes beyond the bargaining phase.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.
Research has shown that negotiators sometimes misrepresent their emotions, and communicate a different emotion to opponents than they actually experience. Less is known about how people evaluate such negotiation tactics. Building on person perception literature, we investigated in three preregistered studies (N = 853) how participants evaluate negotiators who deceptively (vs. genuinely) communicate anger or happiness, on the dimensions of morality, sociability, and competence. Study 1 employed a buyer/seller setting, Studies 2 and 3 employed an Ultimatum Bargaining Game (UBG). In all studies, participants learned a negotiator’s (the target’s) experienced and communicated emotions (anger or happiness), before evaluating the target. Across studies, targets were evaluated lower on morality if they deceptively (vs. genuinely) communicated anger or happiness. Notably, negotiators deceptively communicating anger were evaluated lower on morality and sociability but higher on competence than those deceptively communicating happiness. Studies 2 and 3 investigated behavioral consequences by examining whether in a future negotiation participants chose the target to be their opponent or representative. Results showed that for opponents, participants preferred targets who genuinely communicated happiness (vs. anger), which was associated with their perceived morality or sociability. For representatives, participants not only preferred targets who had genuinely communicated happiness (vs. anger), but also targets who had deceptively communicated anger (vs. happiness), which was associated with their perceived competence. These findings show that when evaluating deceptive (vs. genuine) communication strategies, people distinguish between morality, sociability, and competence. The importance they attach to these dimensions is also contingent on the behavioral decisions they face.
Negotiation researchers theorize that individual differences are determinants of bargaining processes and outcomes but have yet to establish empirically the role of individual differences. In 2 studies the authors used bargaining simulations to examine the roles of personality and cognitive ability in distributive (Study 1) and integrative (Study 2) negotiation. The authors hypothesized and found evidence that Extraversion and Agreeableness are liabilities in distributive bargaining encounters. For both Extraversion and Agreeableness there were interactions between personality and negotiator aspirations such that personality effects were more pronounced in the absence of high aspirations. Contrary to predictions, Conscientiousness was generally unrelated to bargaining success. Cognitive ability played no role in distributive bargaining but was markedly related to the attainment of joint outcomes in a situation with integrative potential.
Planning is critical for negotiation success as it facilitates obtaining superior outcomes. However, little empirically is known about this topic. We argue that individual differences are important to understanding planning behavior because planning affords greater opportunities for individual differences to manifest compared to other phases of negotiation. We conducted a series of studies with the aim of understanding how the Big Five factors and gender predict information search and preference while planning. In Study 1, we examined information search behavior using the Mouselab paradigm. When the search space was large, agreeableness predicted persistence in search, and women spent significantly more time on the task, and looked for value creating and relationship related information to a greater extent than men (Study 1a). In a more constrained situation or with a smaller search space, few associations between individual differences and search behavior emerged (Studies 1b and 1c). In Study 2, we used a survey design to elicit preferences for information type. In this task, multiple personality factors predicted preferences. Conscientiousness and openness predicted preferences for value claiming information, and women preferred value creating information. Conscientiousness predicted preference for value claiming choice of information through the preference for value claiming information. How individual differences manifest in information search and preference in negotiation planning is a function of both task type and complexity.
Effective negotiation rests in part on generating integrative agreements, or agreements advancing parties’ interests through generating joint gains. Theorists have outlined multiple possibilities to achieve integrative agreements (Pruitt in Negotiation behaviour, Academic Press, New York, 1981; Carnevale in: Deutsch, Coleman, Marcus (eds) Handbook of conflict resolution: theory and practice, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 2006), but negotiation research relies disproportionately on studies of one method of integration—making efficient tradeoffs on existing issues. The current studies examine integration through redefinition—modifying the issues under discussion. Doing so encourages revisiting the role goals play in negotiation. Study 1 found that positive and negative bargaining zones are not just indicators of agreement rates, but also cues to consider redefining issues. Specifically, negative bargaining zones spurred attempts to create value that positive bargaining zones did not. Study 2 found that focusing on interests was useful for redefining issues, whereas focusing on ambitious targets was no better than focusing on reservation points. Implications for negotiation theory are discussed.
Establishing reliable predictors of health behavior is a goal of health psychology. A relevant insight from personality psychology is that facets can predict specific behaviors better than broad traits do. We hypothesized that we could predict physical activity with a facet of conscientiousness related to goal pursuit—planfulness. We measured the relationship between Planfulness Scale scores and physical activity in 282 individuals over a total of 20 weeks, using a piecewise latent growth curve model. We additionally tested whether planfulness uniquely relates to activity when compared with related constructs. Finally, ratings of participants’ written goals were correlated with these personality traits and physical activity. We found that planfulness was positively associated with average visits to a recreational center, that planfulness explained unique variance in activity, and that planfulness correlated with the descriptiveness of written goals. We conclude that the Planfulness Scale is a valid measurement uniquely suited to predicting goal achievement.
Dyadic similarity effect hypotheses state that the (dis)similarity between dyad members (e.g. the similarity on a personality dimension) is related to a dyadic outcome variable (e.g. the relationship satisfaction of both partners). Typically, these hypotheses have been investigated by using difference scores or other profile similarity indices as predictors of the outcome variables. These approaches, however, have been vigorously criticized for their conceptual and statistical shortcomings. Here, we introduce a statistical method that is based on polynomial regression and addresses most of these shortcomings: dyadic response surface analysis. This model is tailored for similarity effect hypotheses and fully accounts for the dyadic nature of relationship data. Furthermore, we provide a tutorial with an illustrative example and reproducible R and Mplus scripts that should assist substantive researchers in precisely formulating, testing, and interpreting their dyadic similarity effect hypotheses. © 2018 European Association of Personality Psychology
Goal pursuit outcomes are partly caused by the way people think about goals. Specific patterns of thought can increase the likelihood of goal achievement, such as generating heuristics to automate goal-related decision making, orienting present-moment attention to the future to increase the salience of a distal goal, and contrasting the anticipated enjoyment of an achieved goal with the progress required to complete it. However, it is unknown whether there are stable individual differences in the tendency to deploy particular meta-cognitions during goal pursuit. A tool to assess such differences would help to identify and intervene on personal barriers to goal progress. Here, we define a new construct within the conscientiousness domain—planfulness—that captures a person’s proclivity to adopt efficient goal-related cognition in pursuit of their goals. We hypothesize that planfulness consists of three interrelated facets representing distinct mental processes, temporal orientation (TO), cognitive strategies (CS), and mental flexibility (MF), and that planfulness predicts goal achievement on an individual basis. We developed a 30-item Planfulness Scale with three subscales tested and refined across 5 studies and 10 samples (total unique N = 4,318) using iterative exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis on data collected from both student and on-line samples. The Planfulness Scale demonstrated both convergent and discriminant validity when compared to other measurements, and scale scores predicted goal progress in a longitudinal study. We find that planfulness is a useful new construct for self-regulation research, and the 30-item Planfulness Scale to be a valid and reliable measurement of real-world goal achievement.
The authors articulate a model specifying links between (a) individuals and the physical environments they occupy and (b) the environments and observers' impressions of the occupants. Two studies examined the basic phenomena underlying this model: Interobserver consensus, observer accuracy, cue utilization, and cue validity. Observer ratings based purely on offices or bedrooms were compared with self-and peer ratings of occupants and with physical features of the environments. Findings, which varied slightly across contexts and traits, suggest that (a) personal environments elicit similar impressions from independent observers, (b) observer impressions show some accuracy, (c) observers rely on valid cues in the rooms to form impressions of occupants, and (d) sex and race stereotypes partially mediate observer consensus and accuracy. Consensus and accuracy correlations were generally stronger than those found in zero-acquaintance research.
Purpose
After a hiatus in the research on individual differences in negotiation, there has been a surge of renewed interest in recent years followed by several new findings. The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects that personality, as structured by the five-factor model, have over negotiation behavior and decision making in order to create new knowledge and prescribe advice to negotiators.
Design/methodology/approach
This study replicates observations from earlier studies but with the innovation of using a different methodology, as data from a sample of volunteer participants were collected in regard to their personality and behavior during two computerized negotiation simulations, one with the potential for joint gains and the other following a more traditional bargaining scenario.
Findings
Significant results for both settings were found, with the personality dimensions of agreeableness, conscientiousness, and extraversion systematically reoccurring as the most statistically relevant, although expressing different roles according to the type of negotiation and measure being registered. The findings thus suggest a multidimensional relationship between personality and situational variables in which specific traits can either become liabilities or assets depending upon whether the potential for value creation is present or not.
Originality/value
The new findings on the impacts of personality traits on both distributive and integrative negotiations allow negotiators to improve their performance and to adapt to specific distributive or integrative negotiation situations.
Organizational scholars have systematically studied the negotiation process to guide the development of general descriptive and prescriptive theory. Descriptive research conducted by scholars from anthropology, law, and international relations converge on the features required for a general theory. This includes a multiphase process comprising planning, bargaining, and implementation, as well as multiparty process between actors organized within a multilevel structure. We examine to what extent negotiation scholars in management have incorporated such complexities into their empirical work. In a survey of empirical studies, we observe concentrated efforts to model and measure dyadic interactions in just one phase—bargaining—and the near exclusive use of experimental methods. By contrast, we survey prescriptive theory generated by specialized experts from various negotiation contexts and find that they place greater focus on the preparation and implementation phases. From this review, we recommend that scholars (a) theorize and measure negotiation as a multiphase process with possibilities for recursion, (b) incorporate a multiparty and multilevel structure in which actors beyond negotiating parties can influence the process, and (c) consider agreements as action commitments separate from actually realizing outcomes. In doing so, we discuss the value of integrating analogous work to furnish negotiation theory. We also provide recommendations for novel empirical approaches that move beyond experimental designs of multi-issue bargaining.
The Big Five Inventory–2 (BFI-2) uses 60 items to hierarchically assess the Big Five personality domains and 15 more-specific facet traits. The present research develops two abbreviated forms of the BFI-2—the 30-item BFI-2-S and the 15-item BFI-2-XS—and then examines their measurement properties. At the level of the Big Five domains, we find that the BFI-2-S and BFI-2-XS retain much of the full measure’s reliability and validity. At the facet level, we find that the BFI-2-S may be useful for examining facet traits in reasonably large samples, whereas the BFI-2-XS should not be used to assess facets. Finally, we discuss some key tradeoffs to consider when deciding whether to administer an abbreviated form instead of the full BFI-2.
We build on the small but growing literature documenting personality influences on negotiation by examining how the joint disposition of both negotiators with respect to the interpersonal traits of agreeableness and extraversion influences important negotiation processes and outcomes. Building on similarity-attraction theory, we articulate and demonstrate how being similarly high or similarly low on agreeableness and extraversion leads dyad members to express more positive emotional displays during negotiation. Moreover, because of increased positive emotional displays, we show that dyads with such compositions also tend to reach agreements faster, perceive less relationship conflict, and have more positive impressions of their negotiation partner. Interestingly, these results hold regardless of whether negotiating dyads are similar in normatively positive (i.e., similarly agreeable and similarly extraverted) or normatively negative (i.e., similarly disagreeable and similarly introverted) ways. Overall, these findings demonstrate the importance of considering the dyad's personality configuration when attempting to understand the affective experience as well as the downstream outcomes of a negotiation. (PsycINFO Database Record
The image of a brand provides a key driver of brand equity. To build and control a strong brand image though, brand managers require a valid procedure to measure it. This article empirically compares the predictive validity of two measurement techniques to assess brand image: First, a brand-anchored discrete choice experiment (BDCE) which is based on a brand-anchored conjoint approach where brands serve as the levels for any attribute and which was originally introduced as ranting-based approach by Louviere and Johnson Journal of Retailing, 66, 359–382 (1990) and further extended to a BDCE by Eckert et al. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 29, 256–264 (2012). Second, a direct attribute rating (DAR) approach which is commonly used for commercial applications of brand image measurement. An empirical study using a representative sample of the German beer market shows that BDCE shows significantly higher levels of predictive validity (i.e., higher correlations with the actual market shares of the brands under investigation) than the widely used DAR method.
Traditionally, most business negotiation-related studies have focused primarily on the actual face-to-face negotiation, and not on what occurs prior to the negotiation encounter. Thus, a void exists concerning how business negotiators plan and how opponent behavior influences pre-negotiation planning and preparation. This paper has two objectives: 1) introduce and define a pre-negotiation planning and preparation component to the traditional negotiation model, and 2) develop a series of propositions relating to the future testing of the pre-negotiation phase.
Purpose: We examine how negotiators’ self-evaluated emotion perception is related to value-claiming under two incentive schemes. Adopting an ability-motivation interaction perspective, we hypothesize that the relationship will be stronger in the contingent (upon value-claiming performance) versus fixed (non-contingent upon value-claiming performance) pay condition.
Design and methodology: Multilevel analysis of data (120 participants, 60 dyads) from a laboratory study provided evidence supporting our hypothesis.
Findings: Emotional perception was indeed more strongly related to value-claiming in the contingent pay condition than in the fixed pay condition. Negotiators’ emotion perception also had a direct, positive linkage with relationship satisfaction regardless of the incentive scheme.
Research limitations: The limitations of the current research include self-report measures of emotion perception, a U.S. student sample, and a focus on value-claiming as the instrumental outcome. We urge future research to address these limitations in replicating and extending the current findings.
Originality and value: The present research is the first to explicitly test the moderating role of incentive schemes on the linkage between negotiators’ emotion perception and performance. The findings not only show the context-dependent predictive value of negotiators’ emotion perception, but also shed light on both negotiation and emotional intelligence (EI) research.
In this study, we propose that culture provides scripts and schemas for negotiation. The implications for negotiation of two cultural values, individualism/collectivism and hierarchy/egalitarianism, are discussed. The primary hypothesis, that joint gains will be lower in intercultural negotiations between U.S. and Japanese negotiators than in intracultural negotiations between either U.S. or Japanese negotiators, was confirmed with data from 30 intercultural, 47 U.S.-U.S. intracultural, and 18 Japanese-Japanese intracultural simulated negotiations. Tests of secondary hypotheses indicated that there was less understanding of the priorities of the other party and the utility of a compatible issue in inter-than in intracultural negotiations. When information about priorities was available, intercultural negotiators were less able than intracultural negotiators to use it to generate joint gains.
This meta-analysis investigates gender differences in economic negotiation outcomes. As suggested by role congruity theory, we assume that the behaviors that increase economic negotiation outcomes are more congruent with the male as compared with the female gender role, thereby presenting challenges for women's negotiation performance and reducing their outcomes. Importantly, this main effect is predicted to be moderated by person-based, situation-based, and task-based influences that make effective negotiation behavior more congruent with the female gender role, which should in turn reduce or even reverse gender differences in negotiation outcomes. Using a multilevel modeling approach, this meta-analysis includes 123 effect sizes (overall N = 10,888, including undergraduate and graduate students as well as businesspeople). Studies were included when they enabled the calculation of an effect size reflecting gender differences in achieved economic negotiation outcomes. As predicted, men achieved better economic outcomes than women on average, but gender differences strongly depended on the context: Moderator analysis revealed that gender differences favoring men were reduced when negotiators had negotiation experience, when they received information about the bargaining range, and when they negotiated on behalf of another individual. Moreover, gender differences were reversed under conditions of the lowest predicted role incongruity for women. In conclusion, gender differences in negotiations are contextually bound and can be subject to change. Future research is needed that investigates the underlying mechanisms of new moderators revealed in the current research (e.g., experience). Implications for theoretical explanations of gender differences in negotiation outcomes, for gender inequalities in the workplace, and for future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).
According to a longstanding consensus among researchers, individual differences play a limited role in predicting negotiation outcomes. This consensus stemmed from an early narrative review based on limited data. Testing the validity of this consensus, a meta-analysis of negotiation studies revealed a significant role for a wide range of individual difference variables. Cognitive ability, emotional intelligence, and numerous personality traits demonstrated predictive validity over multiple outcome measures. Relevant criteria included individual economic value, joint economic value, and psychological subjective value for both the negotiator and counterpart. Each of the Big 5 personality traits predicted at least one outcome measure, with the exception of conscientiousness. Characteristics of research design moderated some associations. Field data showed stronger effects than did laboratory studies. The authors conclude that the irrelevance consensus was misguided, and consider implications for theory, education, and practice.
This study utilizes the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to examine the relationship between financial literacy, conscientiousness, and asset accumulation among young adults. Findings indicate that both conscientiousness and financial literacy are consistent predictors of asset accumulation among young Americans. A one-standard-deviation increase in conscientiousness is correlated with a 40% increase in net worth, a 53% increase in illiquid asset holdings, and a 33% increase in liquid asset holdings. A one-standard-deviation increase in financial literacy is correlated with a 60% increase in illiquid asset holdings and a 30% increase in liquid asset holdings. Financial literacy moderates the effect of conscientiousness on net worth. These findings suggest that conscientiousness and financial literacy are important factors and that policies and programming with a dual emphasis on increasing conscientiousness and financial literacy are likely to have a positive impact on consumer savings and asset-building.
We review, through meta-analysis, the effects of goals and goal attributes on the outcomes received by negotiators. Despite a long-standing interest in aspirations and goals in negotiation, researchers have not fully integrated aspiration theory and goal setting theory in group activities such as negotiation. Results of 22 research reports indicated that negotiators who held optimal (i.e. specific and challenging) goals consistently achieved higher profits than negotiators with suboptimal or no goals. Goal difficulty had a strong, positive influence on profit outcomes. More difficult goals led to higher outcomes than less difficult goals. The effect of goals was stronger in the cases where (a) the negotiator’s opponent did not have a strong goal, (b) there were rewards for performance, (c) negotiations were not face-to-face, and (d) the negotiator had task experience. Also, as predicted by goal setting theory, no effect was found for participation in goal setting. Additionally, it is proposed that the interactive and interdependent nature of the negotiation task provides grounds for further development of goal setting and aspiration theory.
Used 91 sales representatives to test a process model that assessed the relationship of conscientiousness to job performance through mediating motivational (goal-setting) variables. Linear structural equation modeling showed that sales representatives high in conscientiousness are more likely to set goals and are more likely to be committed to goals, which in turn is associated with greater sales volume and higher supervisory ratings of job performance. Results also showed that conscientiousness is directly related to supervisory ratings. Consistent with previous research, results showed that ability was also related to supervisory ratings of job performance and, to a lesser extent, sales volume. Contrary to expectations, 1 other personality construct, extraversion, was not related to sales volume or to supervisory ratings of job performance. Implications and future research needs are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
We explored some of the factors affecting individuals' decisions to persist with a course of action. A total of 60 graduate students of varying levels of chronic self-esteem worked at a task that contained several insoluble problems (unbeknownst to the participants). One half were informed beforehand that the nature of the task was such that persistence was a wise strategy for task completion (continuous condition), whereas the remaining half were informed that the nature of the task was such that persistence was a less prudent strategy (discrete condition). Also, one half were told that their task performance was very revealing of their personality and aptitude levels (high-involvement condition), whereas the remaining half were informed that their task performance was nonrevealing of themselves (low-involvement condition). Subjects exhibited greater persistence in the continuous than discrete condition; the continuous–discrete difference was much greater in the high-involvement than low-involvement condition; and the continuous–discrete information had a greater impact on the degree of persistence exhibited by high than low self-esteem subjects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This article examines the customs of conflict management among executives at the tops of two large business organizations. The argument advanced here derives from the notion that conflict management varies with the informal norms that govern interpersonal networks. Ethnographic, social network, and perceptual data collected in the present investigation suggest that where executives experience fragmented and atomized interpersonal networks, they are more likely to manage conflict without confrontation than in networks of strongly and densely connected individuals. The results of this study carry implications for the relationship between attitudes and behaviors among corporate managers regarding conflict management, for the normative bases of decision making, and for the “fit” between social context and routine conflict management.
Using meta-analysis, we find a consistent positive correlation between emotion recognition accuracy (ERA) and goal-oriented
performance. However, this existing research relies primarily on subjective perceptions of performance. The current study
tested the impact of ERA on objective performance in a mixed-motive buyer-seller negotiation exercise. Greater recognition
of posed facial expressions predicted better objective outcomes for participants from Singapore playing the role of seller,
both in terms of creating value and claiming a greater share for themselves. The present study is distinct from past research
on the effects of individual differences on negotiation outcomes in that it uses a performance-based test rather than self-reported
measure. These results add to evidence for the predictive validity of emotion recognition measures on practical outcomes.
The authors developed and tested a model proposing that negotiator personality interacts with the negotiation situation to influence negotiation processes and outcomes. In 2 studies, the authors found that negotiators high in agreeableness were best suited to integrative negotiations and that negotiators low in agreeableness were best suited to distributive negotiations. Consistent with this person-situation fit argument, in Study 1 the authors found that negotiators whose dispositions were a good fit to their negotiation context had higher levels of physiological (cardiac) arousal at the end of the negotiation compared with negotiators who were "misplaced" in situations inconsistent with their level of agreeableness, and this arousal was in turn related to increased economic outcomes. Study 2 replicated and extended the findings of Study 1, finding that person-situation fit was related to physiological (heart rate), psychological (positive affect), and behavioral activation (persistence) demonstrated during the negotiation, and these measures in turn were related to the economic outcomes achieved by participants.
The influences on children's success in education remain a profoundly important topic of enquiry. The dominant view is that socioeconomic background (SES) is critical. This study examines the influences on student performance in the General Certificate of School Education (GSCE) taken at age 16 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland analysing data from the Millennium Cohort Study. The GSCE results of 8303 students were converted to a numerical score. Two psychological factors – cognitive ability and their level of conscientiousness – could explain almost as much of the variation in exam attainment as all measures, and far more than a model of socio-economic factors. The power of psychological traits in influencing key educational outcomes is underestimated.
Objective:
The connection between personality traits and performance has fascinated scholars in a variety of disciplines for over a century. The present research synthesizes results from 54 meta-analyses (k = 2028, N = 554,778) to examine the association of Big Five traits with overall performance.
Method:
Quantitative aggregation procedures were used to assess the association of Big Five traits with performance, both overall and in specific performance categories.
Results:
Whereas conscientiousness yielded the strongest effect (ρ = 0.19), the remaining Big Five traits yielded comparable effects (ρ = 0.10, 0.10, -0.12, and 0.13 for extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, and openness). These associations varied dramatically by performance category. Whereas conscientiousness was more strongly associated with academic than job performance (0.28 vs 0.20), extraversion (-0.01 vs 0.14) and neuroticism (-0.03 vs -0.15) were less strongly associated with academic performance. Finally, associations of personality with specific performance outcomes largely replicated across independent meta-analyses.
Conclusions:
Our comprehensive synthesis demonstrates that Big Five traits have robust associations with performance and documents how these associations fluctuate across personality and performance dimensions.
Purpose
The medium negotiators choose for communication will influence both process and outcome. To understand how medium influences power expression, this paper aims to compare value claiming by asymmetrically powerful negotiators, using face-to-face and computer-mediated messaging across two studies. Following up on long-standing conjectures from prominent coalition researchers, the authors also directly tested the role of the apex negotiator's personality in coalition formation and value expropriation.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted two laboratory experiments which manipulated communication medium (computer-mediated vs face-to-face) in three- and four-person bargaining. They also varied asymmetry of power so the apex negotiator either could not be left out of a winning coalition (Study 1) or could be (Study 2). The authors measured trait assertiveness along with multiple indicators of hard bargaining behavior.
Findings
Communicating using instant messages via a computer interface facilitated value claiming for powerful negotiators across both studies. Trait assertiveness correlated with hard bargaining behavior in both studies. An index of hard bargaining behavior mediated the effect of assertiveness on value expropriation but only in the context where the powerful negotiator held a genuine monopoly over coalitions.
Originality/value
The authors contribute to the literature on multiparty negotiations by demonstrating persistent media effects on power utilization and by finally confirming the conjectures of prominent coalition researchers regarding personality. Though personality traits generate consistent effects on behavior, their influence on negotiation outcomes depends on the power structure. Negotiation theory needs to incorporate structural and situational factors in modelling effects of enduring traits. Negotiation research should move beyond a rigid focus on dyads.
Many psychological theories predict U-shaped relationships: The effect of x is positive for low values of x, but negative for high values, or vice versa. Despite implying merely a change of sign, hypotheses about U-shaped functions are tested almost exclusively via quadratic regressions, an approach that imposes an arbitrary functional-form assumption that in some scenarios can lead to a 100% rate of false positives (e.g., the incorrect conclusion that y = log(x) is U shaped). Estimating two regression lines, one for low and one for high values of x, allows testing for a sign change without a functional-form assumption. I introduce the Robin Hood algorithm as a way to set the break point between the lines. This algorithm delivers higher power to detect U shapes than all the other break-point-setting alternatives I compared with it. The article includes simulations demonstrating the performance of the two-lines test and reanalyses of published results using this test. An app for running the two-lines test is available at http://webstimate.org/twolines.
The present study sought to expand the literature on the relations of major dimensions of personality with integrative negotiation outcomes by introducing the HEXACO model, investigating both effects of the negotiators' and their counterparts' personality traits on objective and subjective negotiation outcomes, and investigating two interactions between the negotiators' and counterparts' personalities. One hundred forty‐eight participants completed the HEXACO‐100 measure of personality. Participants then engaged in a dyadic negotiation task that contained a mix of distributive and integrative elements (74 dyads). Measures of subjective experience and objective economic value were obtained, and actor–partner interdependence models were estimated. Personality was generally a better predictor of subjective experience than objective economic value. In particular, partner honesty‐humility, extraversion, and openness predicted more positive negotiation experiences. An actor–partner interaction effect was found for actor‐agreeableness by partner‐honesty‐humility on economic outcomes; agreeable actors achieved worse (better) economic outcomes when negotiating with partners that were low (high) on honesty‐humility. © 2018 European Association of Personality Psychology
The person-situation debate is coming to an end because both sides of the debate have turned out to be right. With respect to momentary behaviors, the situation side is right: Traits do not predict, describe, or influence behavior very strongly; the typical individual's behavior is highly variable; and a process approach is needed to explain that variability. With respect to trends (e.g., a person's typical way of acting), however, the person side of the debate is right: Traits predict and describe behavior very well over long stretches of time, behavior is highly stable, and a trait approach is needed to explain differences between people. Thus, proponents of both sides are right and should continue to conduct fruitful research, and both viewpoints are necessary for a full understanding of personality. The next exciting steps in personality psychology will include integrating these two approaches in the same research paradigm.
We show how to combine statistically efficient ways to design discrete choice experiments based on random utility theory with new ways of col-lecting additional information that can be used to expand the amount of available choice information for modeling the choices of individual decision makers. Here we limit ourselves to problems involving generic choice options and linear and additive indirect utility functions, but the approach poten-tially can be extended to include choice problems with non-additive utility functions and non-generic/labeled options/attributes. The paper provides several simulated examples, a small empirical example to demonstrate proof of concept, and a larger empirical example based on many experimental conditions and large samples that demonstrates that the individual mod-els capture virtually all the variance in aggregate first choices traditionally modeled in discrete choice experiments.
Debates about the utility of conscientiousness as a predictor of job performance have focused primarily on mean effect size estimates, despite theoretical and empirical reasons to expect variability across situations. The present study meta-analytically demonstrates that occupation-level situational strength is one important source of this variability. Consistent with theory, predicted uncorrected conscientiousness–performance correlations ranged from r = .09 to .23 (overall performance) and r = .06 to .18 (task performance), with stronger correlations observed in weak occupations. These results highlight the need for continued inquiry into the nature of situational strength, its impact on other predictor–outcome relationships, and the implications of these issues vis-à-vis theory and practice. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Situational strength pertains to the idea that various characteristics of situations have the ability to restrict the expression and, therefore, the criterion-related validity of individual differences. Despite situational strength's intuitive appeal, however, little information exists regarding its construct space. This review (a) categorizes extant operationalizations into four facets (constraints, consequences, clarity, and consistency), (b) examines the empirical literature on situational strength-relevant hypotheses, and, on the basis of the proposed taxonomy and literature review, (c) provides several avenues for future theoretical and empirical research. It is the authors' hope that these efforts will encourage additional research and theorizing on this potentially important psychological construct.
The study described in this paper explored the effects of non-linear preferences on negotiated settlements. The shape of negotiators' preferences (linear, increasing marginal utility, or decreasing marginal utility) was hypothesized to influence negotiated outcomes. Prior relationship between the negotiators (friends versus strangers) was hypothesized to moderate the effects of negotiators' preferences on negotiated outcomes by virtue of the influence of prior relationship on communication effectiveness within the negotiation dyad. Subjects participated in a buyer/seller negotiation role play. Results demonstrated a strong main effect for negotiators' preferences on negotiated outcomes. Results also supported a moderating role for prior relationship on these effects; this moderating role was not accounted for by communication effectiveness. Implications of these results for negotiation theory and practice are discussed.
Several conditions of prenegotiation experience were compared for their efficacy in facilitating conflict resolution between opposing team representatives. Participants played roles of union or company representatives in a simulation of the collective bargaining process. Prenegotiation experience that involved unstructured discussion, from a unilateral perspective, among teammates, or bilateral study with an opposing representative, irrespective of whether he was to be a bargaining opponent, facilitated resolution. Team consultation that included spelling out strategies and rationale produced resistance to resolution, but bargainers in this condition were no more resistant than those in a control condition consisting of essentially no prenegotiation experience. Other effects of formal strategy preparation before bargaining included more consensus, among teammates, on the ranked importance of the issues, more perceived commitment to the team positions, and a consideration of the debate as more of a “win-lose” competition than the other conditions. Also, the results indicate that the perception of the debate as a “win-lose” contest or as a “problem-solving” collaboration may be an intervening variable, linking prenegotiation experience with negotiation behavior.
In a series of four studies, we examined whether and how negotiators’ task-related self-efficacy affects their performance. In the first two studies, we identified two theoretically meaningful self-efficacy constructs—distributive self-efficacy (DSE) and integrative self-efficacy (ISE)—and provided evidence of construct validity. In the third study, task-congruent self-efficacy was positively associated with negotiators’ self-reports of tactical decision-making. In the fourth study, we measured negotiators’ tactics and found that ISE and DSE affected negotiators’ initial choice of tactics. We conclude that ISE and DSE predisposes negotiators to select certain tactics, which then guide the course of the negotiation, and, ultimately, affect the quality of deals.
A study to examine how learned industriousness, social values, and cooperative-versus-competitive goal structures interact to influence task persistence was carried out. The relative strengths of college students' cooperativeness, individualism, and competitiveness were assessed with an experimental game. The students later solved easy or difficult problems involving mathematics and perceptual discriminations. Next, the generalized effects of this effort training were tested by measuring persistence on a difficult anagram task with either a cooperative or competitive goal structure. Cooperators showed greater generalized persistence with the cooperative task, and Individualists showed greater generalized persistence with the competitive task. Competitors showed equivalent generalization of effort to both tasks. These results suggest that learned industriousness provides a dynamic mechanism through which rewarded effort is channeled into goal-oriented behavior.
Despite widespread agreement that multi-method assessments are optimal in personality research, the literature is dominated by a single method: self-reports. This pattern seems to be based, at least in part, on widely held preconceptions about the costs of non-self-report methods, such as informant methods. Researchers seem to believe that informant methods are: (a) time-consuming, (b) expensive, (c) ineffective (i.e., informants will not cooperate), and (d) particularly vulnerable to faking or invalid responses. This article evaluates the validity of these preconceptions in light of recent advances in Internet technology, and proposes some strategies for making informant methods more effective. Drawing on data from three separate studies, I demonstrate that, using these strategies, informant reports can be collected with minimal effort and few monetary costs. In addition, informants are generally very willing to cooperate (e.g., response rates of 76–95%) and provide valid data (in terms of strong consensus and self-other agreement). Informant reports represent a mostly untapped resource that researchers can use to improve the validity of personality assessments and to address new questions that cannot be examined with self-reports alone.
