Effects of Relative Status and Relationship on Negotiation Expectations and Joint Outcome

Most organizational behavior research in general, and negotiation research in particular,have paid little attention to the role of relative status between social exchange parties. In this paper, we note that while past research and theory on status tends to assume a competitive relationship between parties of different status and a fixed-sum pool of status resources, such assumptions do not apply to exchange between parties of different status in cooperative relationships. Accordingly, we hypothesized an interactive effect between status differential (unequal vs. equal) and relationship (cooperative vs. competitive). The negative impact of status differential on interactions and outcomes between exchange parties of different status would be reduced in cooperative relationships, but not so in competitive relationships. Theoretical implications to research in negotiation, status, and social exchange are discussed.