Think women don’t fare so well in negotiations because they just don’t negotiate as well as men?
Well according to a study published in the Organisational Behaviour and Human Decision Process journal this month, it could actually come down to the fact that women are more likely to be lied to during negotiations than men.
The study, by researchers from the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Pennsylvania, finds that because of ingrained stereotypes and the “perceived ease of being misled”, women are perceived as less competent than their male colleagues and were therefore lied to more often.
Research lead author Laura Kray told Slate that the results of the study proved that people were significantly more likely to “blatantly” lie to a woman.
The research was carried out by asking a number of MBA students to role-play face to face negotiations using a real estate deal, with the faux seller agents instructed to sell the property to a faux buyer who was going to use it as a home, let the buyer’s agent both knew that the buyer planned to turn it into a hotel, and was told to keep this knowledge a secret. The buyer’s agent therefore had to decide whether to lie, or whether to come clean.
After the role playing, the research candidates revealed whether or not they lied. And unsurprisingly, both men and women reported to lying to women more often.
But according to the results, 24% of men said they lied to a female partner, while only lying to 3% of male partners and said they were more likely to reveal their secret to other men. Seventeen percent of women lied to other women and 11% of women also lied to men. Men were also more likely to be let in on secrets.
“Men were more likely to be given preferential treatment,” Kray told Slate. In several instances, buyer’s agents revealed their client’s true intentions to men saying, “I’m not supposed to tell you this, but … ” This sort of privileged information was never offered to women.
Though it won’t tell us everything about the disparity between men and women in negotiations, the study does highlight some issues. As the authors note, part of the reason women were so easily lied to is because they are perceived as less competent, but warmer than men in negotiations.
“People are aware of stereotypes, and use them to their advantage when they’re motivated to do so,” Kray said.
Kray suggests that one way to counteract this would be for women in negotiations to signal their competence and confidence, citing the Sheryl Sandberg Lean In method for results and to come prepared to scrutinise deals.