What Do People Value When They Negotiate? Mapping the Domain of Subjective Value in Negotiation

Jared R. Curhan
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) – Sloan School of Management

Hillary Anger Elfenbein
Washington University in St. Louis, Olin School of Business

Heng Xu
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
MIT Sloan Research Paper No. 4544-05
Marketing Science Institute Report
IACM 18th Annual Conference
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 493-512, 2006

Abstract:

Four studies support the development and validation of a framework for understanding the range of social psychological outcomes valued subjectively as consequences of negotiations.

Study 1 inductively elicited and coded elements of subjective value among students, community members, and practitioners, revealing 20 categories that theorists in Study 2 sorted into four underlying sub-constructs: Feelings about Instrumental Outcomes, the Self, Process, and Relationship.

Study 3 proposed a new Subjective Value Inventory (SVI) and confirmed its 4-factor structure.

Study 4 presents convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity data for this SVI. Indeed, subjective value was a better predictor than economic outcomes of future negotiation decisions.

Results suggest the SVI is a promising tool to systematize and encourage research on subjective outcomes of negotiation.

What Do People Value When They Negotiate? Mapping the Domain of Subjective Value in Negotiation