title: Constraints and triggers: situational mechanics of gender in negotiation.
abstract: The authors propose 2 categories of situational moderators of gender in negotiation: situational ambiguity and gender triggers. Reducing the degree of situational ambiguity constrains the influence of gender on negotiation. Gender triggers prompt divergent behavioral responses as a function of gender. Field and lab studies (1 and 2) demonstrated that decreased ambiguity in the economic structure of a negotiation (structural ambiguity) reduces gender effects on negotiation performance. Study 3 showed that representation role (negotiating for self or other) functions as a gender trigger by producing a greater effect on female than male negotiation performance. Study 4 showed that decreased structural ambiguity constrains gender effects of representation role, suggesting that situational ambiguity and gender triggers work in interaction to moderate gender effects on negotiation performance.
authors.affiliation: John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. hannah_bowles@harvard.edu
authors.forename: Hannah Riley
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Bowles
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Babcock
authors.forename: Kathleen L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: McGinn
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017008:Negotiating; D012737:Sex Factors; D012931:Social Environment