Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

acceptedVersion

Publication Date

1-2020

Abstract

Integrative value generation through negotiated business deals is a fundamental way in which organizations and economic systems attain economic benefits. It is also an important way in which individuals can improve their financial situation. We propose that individuals most in need of improving their financial standing, those in a financially vulnerable situation, are least likely to reap the benefits of integrative value generation. We theorize that financial vulnerability induces a more zero-sum construal of success, or a view that success for one person must come at another person’s success. A more zero-sum construal of success, in turn, hampers negotiators’ ability to realize integrative potential in negotiations. In a large archival dataset (N 191,648), we found evidence that various proxies of financial vulnerability are associated with a more zero-sum construal of success. In two subsequent face-to-face negotiation studies, we found that financial vulnerability, whether measured or induced experimentally, undermined integrative value generation. The final two-part study found evidence of the hypothesized psychological process. Taken together, our studies uncover a fundamental pathway through which the disadvantage of financially vulnerable people is reproduced through economic exchanges.

Keywords

negotiation, integrative value generation, financial vulnerability, low-income workers

Discipline

Finance and Financial Management | Organizational Behavior and Theory

Research Areas

Organisational Behaviour and Human Resources

Publication

Journal of Applied Psychology

Volume

105

Issue

1

First Page

80

Last Page

96

ISSN

0021-9010

Identifier

10.1037/apl0000427

Publisher

American Psychological Association

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000427

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