Pain Or Gain? - The Tactical Use of One-Sided Preferences and Its Effect On Negotiation Outcomes

The targeted introduction of additional issues that are only important to the negotiation partner is a widespread negotiation tactic. Specifically, it is assumed that certain types of those issues are associated with negative effects for the negotiation partner. Siebert/Herbst (2021) call such negotiation issues “pain points”. However, we posit that the introduction of pain points poses several risks, for example with regards to the quality of ongoing business relationships. Consequently, the question arises as to whether it would be more effective to introduce targeted "gain points" into the negotiation, i.e., those negotiation items that are only important to the negotiation partner but are associated with positive effects for him. Therefore, this contribution aims to investigate the effects of such gain points. For this pur-pose, we plan to conduct an experimental study. First results will be expected Spring 2023.