The two sides of emotions in a negotiation: The role of process and outcome

Every emotion has two sides in a negotiation: what emotion is felt due to the negotiation and how that felt emotion impacts subsequent negotiations. First in a standardized setting then with negotiation professionals, we first demonstrate that the negotiation process and the negotiation outcome play a unique role in the emotional responses of happiness and sadness. In the second study, we showed that sadness experienced in a negotiation resulted in more favorable outcomes for less experienced negotiators in the subsequent negotiation, while for more experienced negotiators, happiness led to a better outcome in their subsequent negotiation. With this research, we offer a new perspective on distinguishing negotiation process vs. outcome via emotional responses. Furthermore, we advance and build on the limited research on felt emotions in negotiations to incorporate intrapersonal factors to explain how negotiators move from one negotiation to the next.