The Science of Negotiation Propensity: Why Not Asking Is Costing You More Than You Think

TEST_YOURSELF · How well do you know this science?

1. 01 According to Babcock and Laschever's survey data, how much more often do men initiate salary negotiations compared to women?

   About twice as oftenAbout four times as oftenAbout the same — the gap is in outcomes, not initiationAbout ten times as often

   Babcock and Laschever found men initiate salary negotiations roughly four times as often as women. This initiation gap — not just discriminatory pay — is one of the documented contributors to the lifetime earnings gap between men and women. source ↗

2. 02 What did Bowles, Babcock, and Lei find about how evaluators respond to female versus male salary negotiators?

   Evaluators rated both male and female negotiators as less likeableFemale negotiators were rated as more competent but less warmFemale negotiators were rated as less likeable and less hirable, while equivalent male negotiators faced no such penaltyMale evaluators penalized women but female evaluators did not

   Bowles, Babcock, and Lei's controlled experiments found the backlash is not universal — it is specifically asymmetric. Both male and female evaluators rated female salary negotiators as less likeable and less hirable, while equivalent male negotiators faced no comparable social penalty for the same behavior. source ↗

3. 03 In the experiments by Small, Bowles, Babcock, and Amanatullah, what happened to the gender gap in negotiation initiation when women negotiated on behalf of others rather than themselves?

   The gap widened — women became even less likely to initiateThe gap narrowed substantially — women were much more likely to negotiate for othersThere was no change — context did not affect negotiation propensityWomen became more assertive but achieved worse outcomes

   When women negotiated on behalf of others rather than for themselves, the initiation gap narrowed substantially. This context-sensitivity shows the barrier to asking is not a fixed personality trait but is driven by felt entitlement and social roles — specifically, women feeling less entitled to advocate for themselves than for others. source ↗

4. 04 What did Leibbrandt and List's field experiment find when job ads explicitly stated that wages were negotiable?

   There was no effect — explicit permission did not change behaviorWomen's initiation rates rose sharply, closing most of the gap with menMen's initiation rates dropped to match women'sBoth genders negotiated more, but the gap stayed the same

   Leibbrandt and List found that explicit information about salary negotiability caused women's initiation rates to rise sharply, closing most of the gap. This confirms that structural ambiguity — not knowing whether asking is acceptable — is itself a key mechanism suppressing negotiation propensity. source ↗

5. 05 According to Babcock and Laschever's compound-interest analysis, what happens to the earnings gap from a single un-negotiated starting salary over the course of a career?

   It stays constant — later negotiations tend to correct the initial gapIt closes — high performance eventually overrides the starting disadvantageIt widens — each raise and promotion compounds the original gap, potentially exceeding $500,000 over a lifetimeIt reverses — women who don't negotiate tend to be promoted faster to compensate

   Babcock and Laschever's analysis shows that because raises are calculated as percentages of existing salary, each raise and promotion cycle builds on the un-negotiated lower base. The compounding effect means the gap widens over a career rather than closing, with projected lifetime losses exceeding $500,000. source ↗