Negotiation Research You Can Use: Are Women More or Less Likely than Men to Use Deceptive Tactics in Negotiation

Research points out that men may be more likely than women to use deceptive tactics in negotiation. Here's why that may not matter.

By — on / Business Negotiations

Civic mindset

Men tend to claim more resources than women in negotiation. Why? Gender discrimination and men’s greater propensity to negotiate are two explanations backed up by research. In a study, University of North Carolina professor Jason R. Pierce and Northwestern University professor Leigh Thompson identified another reason: men are more willing than women to resort to deceptive tactics in negotiation.

Claim your FREE copy: Business Negotiation Strategies: How to Negotiate Better Business Deals

Discover step-by-step techniques for avoiding common business negotiation pitfalls when you download a copy of the FREE special report, Business Negotiation Strategies: How to Negotiate Better Business Deals, from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.


What research says about gender and deceptive tactics in negotiation

In their first experiment, the researchers asked 172 Chilean undergraduate students questions designed to assess their competitiveness, their level of empathy, and their attitudes toward using unethical and deceptive tactics in negotiation. The men surveyed were more likely to condone unethical tactics, a result explained by their greater competitiveness; the men and women surveyed were similarly empathic.

In a second experiment, 129 students at a U.S. university were asked to imagine themselves in a negotiation scenario where they had an opportunity to lie to earn more money without the fear of being caught. About 50% of male participants said they would lie in such a situation, as compared to only about 29% of female participants.

Men also ranked as more competitive and less empathic than women, differences that contributed to their greater willingness to deceive. Similar results were reached in an online experiment conducted on 252 adult U.S. residents. (About 44% of men and 37% of women lied when given the chance.)

Taken together, the results suggest that men’s greater competitiveness and lower empathy relative to that of women plays a role in their greater willingness to use deceptive tactics in negotiation. But because many female participants in the experiments also were willing to behave unethically, the researchers caution that it’s more important to pay attention to the other side’s disposition—namely, how competitive and empathetic the other side seems— than to his or her sex when trying to predict whether he or she will behave unethically. To ward off unethical behavior from a counterpart, model a collaborative approach and highlight opportunities for value creation.

Have you experienced deceptive tactics in negotiation? How did you recognize the unethical behavior?

 

The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School
501 Pound Hall
1563 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138

pon@law.harvard.edu
tel 1-800-391-8629
tel (if calling from outside the U.S.) +1-301-528-2676
fax 617-495-7818