When deciding whether to negotiate, individuals typically assess any potential costs of negotiation. We propose that one major cost that individuals are concerned about, particularly in the context of job offers, is an offer being withdrawn from the bargaining table—losing out on a deal entirely. We refer to this heretofore unexamined concern as the perceived likelihood of jeopardizing a deal by negotiating. We investigate job candidates’ perceived likelihood of jeopardizing a deal, as compared to hiring managers’ reports, across seven studies (total = 3,338), including surveys of academic job candidates and members of academic hiring committees, managers and hiring professionals, and experimental studies with interactive, incentivized negotiations conducted both in person and online. We consistently document that job candidates’ perception of the likelihood of jeopardizing a deal is exaggerated, i.e., discrepant with that of the hiring side. In some cases, this perception is associated with negotiation avoidance. We also theorize and find support for two underlying psychological mechanisms: zero-sum perceptions and psychological power. We further document contextual factors that decrease candidates’ zero-sum perceptions or increase their perceived power, which, in turn, diminish (but do not fully eliminate) the discrepancy between candidates’ and managers’ perceptions of the likelihood of jeopardizing a deal.

中文翻译：

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但如果我失去了这个offer怎么办？谈判者夸大了他们可能会危及达成协议的可能性

在决定是否进行谈判时，个人通常会评估谈判的任何潜在成本。我们认为，个人担心的一项主要成本，尤其是在工作机会方面，是工作机会从谈判桌上撤回——完全失去了一笔交易。我们将这种迄今为止未经审查的担忧称为通过谈判损害协议的可能性。我们通过七项研究（总计 = 3,338），调查了求职者认为危害交易的可能性，并与招聘经理的报告进行比较，其中包括对学术求职者和学术招聘委员会成员、经理和招聘专业人员的调查以及实验研究通过面对面和在线进行的互动、激励性谈判。我们一致证明，求职者对于交易失败的可能性的看法被夸大了，即与招聘方的看法不一致。在某些情况下，这种看法与回避谈判有关。我们还对两种潜在的心理机制进行了理论分析并找到了支持：零和感知和心理力量。我们进一步记录了降低候选人零和认知或增加其感知权力的背景因素，这反过来又减少（但并没有完全消除）候选人和经理对危及交易的可能性的看法之间的差异。