Diversity in High-Stake Negotiation Teams: A Field Study

Abstract: A field study among 118 executives working in sales, procurement or management in industry and service companies with yearly revenues ranging from 1 Million to 256 Billion Euro investigated the effects of team diversity on negotiation success. Results showed that gender diversity, age diversity, and hierarchical diversity appear to have a positive effect on satisfaction with the outcomes and the extent to which people perceive they have reached their target. Cultural diversity and functional background diversity are not related to these outcomes. Specific characteristics of the negotiations (stakes, time pressure, one-time vs long-term, gender of lead negotiator, power differences) were not related to negotiation success.

Keywords: Diversity, Team Negotiation, High-stake negotiation