Market forces, negotiator frames and transaction outcomes

Abstract

Although implicit framing differences have been advanced as an explanation of the buyers advantage, two necessary preconditions must be met to sustain this model: a demonstration that negatively‐framed negotiators are advantaged in negotiations and that buyer role labels invoke a negative frame. A modification of Neale, Northcraft, Magliozzi and Bazerman s (1986) simulation created a role‐neutral setting in which positively‐framed negotiators bargained against negatively‐framed negotiators, thus testing the first of these preconditions. Experiment 1 found no differences in the outcomes of positively‐ and negatively‐framed negotiators, a finding that could be attributed to relatively low mark..