The Effects of Emotional Expressions in Negotiation: A Meta-Analysis and Future Directions for Research

ABSTRACT

The rapidly growing body of research on the effect of emotional expressions in negotiation has been the subject of several narrative reviews. Through meta-analysis, we combine relevant findings, compare and integrate moderators, and examine the mediating mechanisms quantitatively. The analysis incorporates 64 published and unpublished studies conducted over three decades. The findings suggest that, generally, negotiators expressing negative emotions will increase counterparts’ concession-making, which presumably enables them to claim more individual value. Expressing negative emotions diminishes trust and other subjective outcomes. Relationships between negative emotions and negotiation outcomes are moderated by factors that are both theoretical (i.e., power, culture, emotion regulation) and methodological (i.e., characteristics of research design, phases of negotiation). Additionally, we tested theoretical frameworks from Emotions as Social Information theory, which describes the processes through which negative emotions influence negotiation outcomes. The effects for concessions are mediated by inference of limits, inference of toughness, and affective reactions. The effect of negative emotions on individual outcomes is mediated by complementary affective reactions. Based on the existing body of work, we make specific calls for further research.

Acknowledgments

We thank Prashant Bidhuri, Oluseyi Elliott, Apoorva Kanthwal, and Chaitaya Kusurkar for their assistance in the literature search. We are grateful to Associate Editor John P. Meriac and our anonymous reviewers for their insightful suggestions during the editorial process.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ The findings of other theoretical moderators and supplementary materials are available upon request.

² When c’ is opposite in sign to ab in the mediation, MacKinnon et al. (2007) refer such condition to as inconsistent mediation. In such a case, although Step 1 of the mediation may not meet, there is still mediation (Kenny, 2018). More specifically, the mediator acts as a suppressor variable in the mediation model.