When extraversion and agreeableness help claim value: The role of personality, gender, and communication medium in multiparty negotiations

Success in exercising power depends on individual characteristics as well as the context in which power is exercised. Across two multiparty negotiation studies, we examined how extraversion and agreeableness related to value claiming for players in structurally powerful roles. In Study 1, powerful players could not be excluded from a coalition. In this context, extraverted negotiators claimed more value. In Study 2, powerful players could be excluded from a coalition with a joint coalition of the less powerful players. In this context, agreeable negotiators were able to claim more value. Communicating over a computer interface, relative to face-to-face situations, benefited the powerful negotiators’ ability to claim value by inhibiting coalitions forming between less powerful players. Across the two studies, there were no gender differences in value claimed. We discuss the importance of matching negotiators to the context in which they can best exercise their power.