Who Negotiates and When? Individual- and Group-level differences in Negotiation Behavior and Outcomes

Negotiation is a fundamental interpersonal tool and managerial skill, through which individuals and groups obtain some of their most consequential outcomes. This symposium focuses on how negotiators’ individual-level (e.g., personality) and group-level characteristics (e.g., gender, minority group) affect their expectations in the negotiation process and their relational and economic outcomes. In addition, the papers showcase how the negotiation context (e.g., issues, parties, training) influences the impact of these characteristics. We present research studies, using quantitative data from the field and the lab and qualitative data, that describe how the negotiation context interacts with negotiators’ individual- and group-level characteristics to affect the negotiation outcomes. We propose and test novel models that identify personality-, relationship-, and network effects in negotiation. The symposium aims to provide a broad perspective on the nature of the negotiation context, and to advance our understanding of what factors influence negotiators’ expectations and behavior before, during, and after the negotiation.