Studying gender bias and social backlash via simulated negotiations with virtual agents

Abstract

This research investigates whether (female and male) virtual negotiators experience a social backlash during negotiations with an economical outcome when they are using a negotiation style that is congruent with the opposite gender. An interactive turn-based negotiation using a virtual agent as employee is used in an experiment with 93 participants. Results show that the effect of gender on negotiation outcome and social backlash was less pronounced in this experiment than expected based on existing literature. Nevertheless, the results found provide several interesting pointers for follow-up research.