The Linking Gap in Negotiations

This paper investigates the concept of “the liking gap,” or the difference between how much someone perceives they are liked by another party and how much that other party actually likes them, specifically within the context of negotiations. Using data collected from simulated in-class negotiations during the Fall of 2020, this paper attempts to understand whether the party that “loses” a negotiation tends to have a larger or smaller liking gap than the party that “wins” the negotiation. It also investigates the direction of this gap, determining whether a win or loss impacts your likelihood to overestimate or underestimate how much your counterpart likes you. Analysis demonstrated that there is no significant correlation between negotiation outcome and liking gap, however, it did indicate that those who win an election tend to underestimate how much their counterparts like them following the negotiation’s conclusion. Since negotiations often take place in high-profile interactions and can affect relationships between high-ranking, powerful individuals, understanding the impact of a negotiation’s outcome can prove incredibly beneficial for relationship management over the long term.