Effects of the opponent's initial offer, concession magnitude and concession frequency on bargaining behavior.

Abstract

Two laboratory experiments were conducted to determine how a bargainer's aspiration level, offers, and perception of the opponent are affected by a programmed opponent's initial offer, concession magnitude, and concession frequency. Several discrepancies in the research literature relevant to the aspiration level hypothesis of bargaining were also investigated. The results indicated that subjects had lower aspirations and made a more favorable initial and final offer when the opponent made a hard initial offer than when the opponent made a soft initial offer. The subjects made a more favorable final offer, had lower aspirations, and perceived the opponent to be tougher when the opponent made small concessions than when the opponent made large concessions. The superiority of a small-concession strategy occurred only when opponent concessions were frequent and they allowed subjects to obtain positive payoffs from a settlement.