What's a Masculine Negotiator? What's a Feminine Negotiator? It Depends on the Cultural and Situational Contexts

Abstract Gender‐related categorization is a key feature of the literature on gender in negotiation. While previous literature focused on context‐free traits such as warmth and competence, we examine how people categorize specific negotiation goals and behaviors as masculine and feminine across the U nited S tates and C hina in different negotiation contexts , illustrating the role of cultural and situational contexts in gender‐related categorization. Two studies found that while A merican participants categorized competitive goals and behaviors as masculine and cooperative ones as feminine across business‐to‐consumer ( B 2 C ) and business‐to‐business ( B 2 B ) negotiation contexts, C hinese participants' patterns depended on the negotiation context. In B 2 C contexts, C hinese participants categorized competitive goals and behaviors as feminine and cooperative ones as masculine; in B 2 B contexts, they made further distinctions, categorizing competitive goals and behaviors that are socially inappropriate as feminine, but competitive ones that are socially appropriate, and cooperative goals and behaviors, as masculine. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.