Friends without Benefits? Distributive Strategies among Friends

Abstract: The negotiation literature often regards distributive strategies as necessary for securing satisfactory outcomes, and relational strategies as suboptimal. However, this and other common findings arise from studies of strangers. Our five studies show that, when friends negotiate, they typically achieve better objective and subjective outcomes. However, distributive strategies eliminate, while relational strategies reinforce, the benefits of friendship.

Keywords: Negotiation, Friends, Distributive Strategies