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International Association for Conflict Management 33rd Annual Conference

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Getting off to a “Hot” Start: How the Timing of Expressed Anger Influences Relational Outcomes in Negotiation

Many scholars have found that expressing anger in a negotiation can have positive effects on a focal negotiator’s economic outcomes (e.g., Van Kleef, De Dreu, & Manstead, 2004a) but adverse effects on relational outcomes (e.g., Allred, Mallozzi, Matsui, & Raia, 1997). However, little is known as to how the temporal positioning of expressed anger during the negotiation may influence relational outcomes. This is an important omission in the literature because negotiation is a dynamic social process in which an emotion such as anger expressed at different stages of a negotiation may signal different intentions and elicit different responses. Using the theory of Emotion as Social Information (EASI) as a foundation, we hypothesized that anger expressed toward the later stages of a negotiation would hurt one’s relationship with his or her counterpart more than anger expressed at an early stage because a common expectation in negotiation is that negotiators would transition from a competitive stance to a more cooperative approach. Three studies provided consistent empirical support for this hypothesis. Practical implications and future directions are discussed.

David Hunsaker
NYU Shanghai
China

Teng Zhang
Penn State Harrisburg
United States

 


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