The Influence of Race and Sexual Orientation On Negotiation Outcomes For Men

Authors:

Abstract: We test how race (Black vs. Asian vs. White) and sexual orientation (gay vs. straight) influence negotiation outcomes for men in a field experiment. We conducted a preregistered audit experiment (n=3,000) involving (fictitious) buyers negotiating for cars on Craigslist. Sellers were 7.7 percentage-points less likely to respond to gay versus straight White men. Sellers were also less polite in responses to Black and Asian men (of any sexual orientation) than to straight White men. In a follow-up study (n=600), we show that impoliteness in negotiation responses reduces positive expectations about negotiations and behavioral intentions to negotiate in the future, suggesting that differences in politeness may have consequences for racial minorities’ willingness to initiate future negotiations. Our work illuminates how identity-based biases manifest in negotiations, offers insights into theories of intersectionality, and underscores how demand-side biases can lead to supply-side differences in negotiation propensity.

Track: NEG

Keywords: negotiation, race, sexual orientation, intersectionality, diversity