Who Negotiates? The Political Psychology of Price Negotiations
Abstract
Price negotiation is often a zero-sum interaction where one party’s gain is another’s loss. In such contexts, a buyer’s willingness to negotiate can depend on the perceived justifiability of negotiation. This research examines how political ideology shapes these perceptions. Two archival studies (N = 56,615) and four preregistered studies (N = 3,157) show that conservative buyers are more likely to negotiate prices for houses and used cars. Conservatives also hold stronger beliefs that buyers should negotiate prices regardless of the seller’s identity—be it a professional dealer, an ordinary seller, a stranger, or a friend. This heightened propensity to justify price negotiation is rooted in conservatives’ endorsement of free-market ideology, which motivates and even moralizes the pursuit of economic self-interest in marketplace interactions. These findings offer a nuanced account of interactions in the marketplace, demonstrating that marketplace behaviors are influenced not only by economic considerations but also by ideological beliefs.
