Business Schools Study Self-Assessment in Negotiating, Anger and Job Status, and the Effect Satisfied Customers Have on Profits

Hagglers, Get Over Yourself!
People tend to think highly of their own abilities, especially when it comes to negotiating over things like cars and houses. But should they, really? In Claiming a Large Slice of a Small Pie: Asymmetric Disconfirmation in Negotiation, appearing in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Richard Larrick of Duke University and George Wu of the University of Chicago argue that most people overestimate their negotiating prowess. The researchers asked a group of M.B.A. students to negotiate with each other over the price of a batch of headlamps. No matter what the final price turned out to be, both sides consistently felt that they'd won the day. Consider it haggling's Lake Wobegon effect. All negotiators aren't above average. They just think they are.

Ladies, Cool It If You Want Cash
When can a woman get a little angry at work, already?! Studies show men don't suffer any loss in status when they express emotion on the job, but for women, the rules seem different. In When Can Angry Women Get Ahead? Status Conferral, Gender, and Workplace Emotion Expression, Victoria Brescoll of Yale University asked a group of men and women to watch videotaped interviews of male and female job applicants, some of whom expressed anger while describing their past work experiences. Afterward, the viewers rated the subjects' competence and suggested target salaries. When male candidates expressed emotion, viewers chalked it up to a tough situation. Women's anger, though, was attributed to personality, and women were offered salaries 40 percent lower than those awarded to men. But when women mentioned a reason for their anger, the gender bias disappeared. Bottom line, ladies: If you're going to blow your top, be sure to blame it on the traffic.

Cheery Customers Spend More
Are stores with high customer satisfaction ratings more profitable? In The Moderating Role of Competition in the Relationship Between Nonfinancial Measures and Future Financial Performance, forthcoming in Contemporary Accounting Research, Raj Mashruwala of Washington University and Rajiv Banker of Temple University suggest a link, but only when competition is stiff. Using data from more than 800 stores within a department store chain, the researchers compared employee and customer satisfaction measures to the stores' profits. In urban areas (where competition for customers was strong), the higher the level of satisfaction, the more profitable the store. In rural areas, though, where customers didn't have the same number of choices, making customers and employees happy had no impact on profits. Here's to competition!