Ask and You Might Receive: Gender Dynamics and Workplace Negotiations

This thesis explores negotiation processes for remuneration in the workplace. Drawing on a survey of 97 respondents and interviews with employees at a large private university on the East Coast of the United States, it analyzes the impact of gender on negotiation outcomes. It demonstrates that gender-based disparities persist, even when women enter into negotiation processes. The survey and interviews investigate six consequential aspects of workplace negotiation: (1) fear and assumptions in early career negotiations, (2) penalization and deviance, (3) the role of an advocate in the negotiation process, (4) generational differences in approaches to negotiation and in sharing information about remuneration, (5) drivers of negotiation, and (6) tactics and approaches to advance successful negotiation outcomes. In compiling shared experiences and identifying patterns in negotiation outcomes, constructive strategies for successful negotiation in the workplace are developed