The Caretaker Effect: How Seller Attachment Shapes Seller-Buyer Interactions

Authors:

Abstract: In negotiations, sellers’ attachment to their possessions varies: some objects are beloved and meaningful, others are simply things. Prior work on “endowment” suggests that attachment may shape offers and reservation prices. Our research documents a novel set of effects. Across three studies surveying over 800 sellers and over 500 real estate agents capturing natural variance in seller attachment across a range of real-world transactions, we find that a seller’s attachment affects how they engage with and evaluate buyers. Highly-attached sellers show “caretaker” effects, seeking information to gauge buyer suitability and selecting buyers based on non-financial attributes. Across all studies, we do not find evidence of the alternative possibility that attachment manifests solely or even primarily in higher financial concerns, confirming that caretaker effects hold when accounting for financial factors. Taken together, our results suggest attachment deserves a more prominent place in models of negotiation behavior.

Track: NEG

Keywords: attachment; negotiation; persuasion; decision-making; negotiation process; caretaker