13/05/2026
In our next episode, we’re joined by David A. Hunsaker of the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University Indianapolis, Hong Zhang of the Institute of Psychology at Leuphana University, and Alice J. Lee of Cornell University’s ILR School, authors of “Beyond Propensity: Thresholds, Costs, and Interventions in Negotiation Avoidance” published in Negotiation and Conflict Mangement Research journal.
Their paper examines a familiar but underexplored question: why do people often choose not to negotiate, even when negotiation could benefit them?
The episode explores the authors’ five-study investigation of negotiation avoidance among 5,881 Americans. We discuss how common avoidance is, why people may decide a negotiation is not “worth it,” and the two new concepts the authors introduce: Threshold for Negotiation Initiation, or the point at which a person believes negotiating becomes worthwhile, and Willingness to Pay to Avoid Negotiation, which captures how much people may sacrifice simply to avoid the discomfort of negotiating.
We also talk about what drives negotiation avoidance, from anxiety, social discomfort, and fear of seeming inappropriate, to cognitive shortcuts like thinking in percentages rather than absolute dollar value. Finally, we explore the interventions tested in the paper, including comparing negotiation savings to one’s hourly wage and reframing negotiation as a common social norm.
Join us for a conversation about the money people leave on the table, the psychology behind choosing silence over bargaining, and what can help more people initiate the negotiations that matter.
