Gender and trust

Academic interest in the role of trust in negotiation has increased in recent years, complementing the long-espoused view from the practitioner-oriented literature that trust is crucial to maximizing value at the bargaining table. Though research directly exploring potential influences of gender in this context remains scarce, work on gender and trust in other areas suggests that whether and how trust develops and subsequently affects negotiation outcomes may differ substantially for men and women. This chapter begins by describing the status of the literature on trust and negotiation, highlighting the current focus on understanding the basic relationship between trust and important bargaining outcomes. It next discusses research on gender and trust from related domains (e.g., behavioral economics, leadership), and argues that negotiator gender is a critical aspect of understanding when and how trust makes a difference at the bargaining table. In the remainder of the chapter, a framework to guide future research is outlined, emphasizing the need to move beyond the consideration of trust as a static construct. Focusing instead on trust dynamics, or when and how trust changes throughout a negotiation, is expected to highlight important gender differences that might not otherwise be apparent.