[Research Seminar] ICON: “Which strategies to mitigate gender differences in economic negotiation outcomes are acceptable for women (and may work)?” J. HÜFFMEIER – TU Dortmund University

Speaker: Joachim HÜFFMEIER
TU Dortmund University

Date and Location – Tuesday May 23th 2023 from 14:00 to 15:30
in Lille campus (R217) and on Zoom

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ABSTRACT

Women achieve on average worse economic negotiation outcomes than men. This difference is relevant because it relates to pervasive inequalities in the workplace, such as the gender pay gap or the underrepresentation of women in leadership positions. To mitigate this gender difference in compensation negotiations, scholars have developed various negotiation strategies. However, many of these strategies incorporate feminine attributes and, thereby, heighten or at least maintain the salience of the female gender role in negotiations.

In my talk, I will first present the current evidence on gender differences in negotiation behavior and outcomes. I will then present a series of quantitative studies that test whether women are willing to use strategies specifically developed to improve their economic negotiation outcomes. Using a social role theory lens, I will specifically show that women are not inclined to use any of these strategies (i.e., an implementation gap) for the following reasons: Women perceive them (i) as not economically promising, (ii) as disadvantageous concerning social evaluations by the negotiation counterpart, and (iii) as perpetuating gender roles. To address the implementation gap, I will finally present two qualitative studies on strategies that women with negotiation experience report to use in their compensation negotiations. These strategies are promising because they make meritocratic norms salient in the beginning of a negotiation—instead of heightening the salience of gender roles. I will close by showing first quantitative results, which suggest that other women are more inclined to use these meritocratic than the specifically developed strategies.