An Examination of the Good-cop/Bad-cop Role Strategy on Value-Claiming and Value-Creating in Team-on-Team Negotiations

Team negotiations allow the possibility for team members to take on different roles. This study examines the effect of the good-cop/bad-cop role strategy on outcomes in a negotiation with integrative potential (i.e., creating a larger pie at the table). We argue and find that the good-cop/bad-cop role differentiation strategy can influence both how value is created, as well as claimed in an inter-team negotiation. Results from a laboratory experiment show that when one team uses the good-cop/bad-cop negotiation strategy, the greater joint gain is created and a greater portion of this value is claimed by the good-cop/bad-cop team than the other party. We discuss the insights that this work has into understanding how the good-cop/bad-cop role differentiation strategy can influence both integrative and distributive outcomes.