A study finds that, women who flirt in negotiations are more effective than those who don’t. However, this tactic doesn’t work for men. Researchers set up experiments to measure the effects of female charm within negotiations. They defined this elusive quality as a management technique available to women combining warmth, friendliness and affiliation with flirtation, including playfulness, flattery and a certain sex appeal. Research director Dr. Laura Kray remarked: “Feminine charm is a strategic behavior aimed at making the person you are negotiating with feel good in order to get them to agree to your goals.” In their experiments with nearly 300 people, “feminine charm” — which is defined as flattery, warmth, body language (the classic hair toss, eyelashes batting move), playfulness and sex appeal in this case— helped female participants create better impressions and improve their economic outcomes.
In one experiment, researchers asked women to report the degree of social charm they used in their negotiations and then asked their partners to rate the women’s effectiveness, according to a Haas School news release on the study. Those rated more effective were those who said they used more social charm.In the same experiment men who employed more charm were not rated higher.
Another experiment asked subjects to imagine they were selling a car for $1,200 and then engaging in negotiations with a potential buyer: either “serious Sue” or “playful Sue.” As you can guess, “playful Sue” was flirtatious and touched the sellers arm while “serious Sue” was perfectly polite, but she was all business. Guess which Sue got the better deal on the car?
“Women are uniquely confronted with a tradeoff in terms of being perceived as strong versus warm,” Kray said in a comment quoted by the Haas School. “Using feminine charm in negotiation is a technique that combines both.”
This research also reemphasizes the belief that acting masculine doesn’t help women either. Macho behavior comes off as demanding and unattractive on a woman but that perfect blend of sauciness and allure conveys the power women they need without losing their feminine touch. In one experiment with 100 students in an MBA negotiation course, males and females were equally likely to rely on personal charm in their bargaining style. But where males neither benefited nor were harmed by the technique, females who used it to seek compliance were evaluated as more effective by their negotiating partners.
Kray also found that women who flirt can come across as less trustworthy. “We discovered both an upside and a downside to flirting at the bargaining table,” Kray explains “Although flirtation appears to be positively related to women’s likability, negotiators who flirted were judged to be less authentic than those who refrained from exercising their sexual power.” Flirtation, unlike simple friendliness, was perceived as connected to self-interest and competitiveness. But flirtation is also associated with traditionally feminine qualities like warmth and attentiveness, which could explain the apparent paradox of flirts being seen as both likable and untrustworthy.
I told you this research was interesting, sorry fellas I guess you can sin-a-long with me to Beyonce's song "Who run the world" lol I hope you know the rest.
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