POWRE: Gender Stereotypes and the Gender Gap: A New Look at Female-Male Negotiations

University Of Arizona, Tucson AZ

Investigators

Abstract

This project seeks to gain a better theoretical understanding of the role of gender stereotypes in promoting and sustaining the gender gap in negotiations. The theoretical and methodological bases for this research are closely derived from research programs in social and cognitive psychology that have been developed by prominent researchers. By adapting these theoretical arguments to the negotiation domain, a promising and relatively unexplored area of investigation is revealed. The project will involve a series of controlled, experimental studies examining bargaining behavior between men and women. The applied or practical aspect of this research is to develop negotiating strategies that level the playing field upon which male-female negotiations are conducted. This research is important and timely because a significant gender gap exists in terms of work pay and advancement across all income brackets. For example, female professors earned on average 87.5 cents for every dollar earned by male professors in 1998. In addition, women comprised 43% of assistant professors at major research universities, but less than 14% of full professors. In many fields, this salary and advancement differential is even wider. Why does this gap exist? One place to start examining its roots is at the bargaining table, where many critical, career-related issues are decided. It may be the case that a woman and a man experience negotiations very differently based on a commonly shared awareness of "what it takes to succeed" at the bargaining table. One widely held stereotype about women is that they are less effective negotiators than men. For example, a typical negotiation scenario involves buying a new car. Popular wisdom suggests that women bring a man with them to the dealership so that they are "taken seriously" and given a fair shake. Indeed, evidence from one audit of new car dealerships reveals that salespeople quoted women significantly higher prices than men who used exactly the same scripted bargaining strategies as the women. But over and above any bias on the part of the dealer, does the woman carry an additional burden with her into the dealership, which is the fear that anything she says or does will be interpreted in light of this negative stereotype about her gender's negotiating ability? If so, is it this burden that ultimately affects her bargaining success? How can this burden be lifted to create gender equality at the bargaining table? Funding for this project under the POWRE guidelines is justified because the project goals are so closely aligned with goal of the POWRE program, which is to increase the prominence and influence of women in scientific fields in which they are currently underrepresented. Because the vast majority of tenured professors in business schools are white men (94%, according to one recent survey), and the investigator is just embarking on her tenure-track journey, facilitating her tenure pursuit will help to achieve this stated goal of the POWRE program.