An Experimental Inquiry of Gender Differences in Negotiation Strategy and Outcomes: Agricultural Market Implications

The number of women in agricultural management positions and as business owners is increasing. A critical part of agricultural managers’ success is negotiating profitable sales, which depends on negotiation strategy. We use laboratory market experiments to measure gender differences in negotiation strategy and related outcomes in three market contexts common to agricultural product sales. Results show that women tend to choose a negotiation strategy that focuses on trading a higher quantity but at a lower per trade profit than men. Our results further show that women will be disproportionately hurt as agricultural markets move away from traditional market environments toward privately negotiated contracts.