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Does your skin color matter in buyer–seller negotiations? The implications of being a Black salesperson

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Abstract

Despite the evidence in other domains that Black individuals can experience discriminatory treatment, marketing research offers few insights into how Black salespersons (as compared to White salespersons) are perceived and treated within buyer–seller negotiations. We address this limitation in the literature by conducting three studies. First, our findings show that White buyers with a higher social dominance orientation expect Black salespersons to bargain (i.e., negotiate) less than White salespersons. Second, White buyers with a higher social dominance orientation perceive Black salespersons to have bargained more than White counterparts (who have bargained the same). Third, when negotiating with White buyers with a higher social dominance orientation, Black salespersons receive lower product prices than White salespersons. Fourth, when negotiating with White buyers with a higher social dominance orientation, Black salespersons are less likely to be referred to other prospective buyers than White salespersons. Interestingly, no differences exist for White buyers lower on social dominance orientation. Combined, these findings offer insight into the type of discrimination that Black salespersons can encounter within buyer–seller negotiations by revealing how White buyers perceive (i.e., expect them to negotiate less; perceive them to have bargained more than they actually did), behave (i.e., offer them lower prices) and intend to behave (i.e., less willing to refer them to other buyers) toward Black salespersons as compared to White salespersons.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Yvonne and Clyde Edwards Professor and Associate Professor, University of Mississippi, 236 Holman, Oxford, MS, 38655, USA

    David Gligor

  2. P.M.B. Self Chair of Free Enterprise and Associate Professor of Marketing, University of Mississippi, 238 Holman, Oxford, 38655, USA

    Christopher Newman

  3. Mr. and Mrs. James E. King Chair and Associate Professor, University of Mississippi, 336 Holman, Oxford, MS, 38655, USA

    Saim Kashmiri

Authors
  1. David Gligor
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  2. Christopher Newman
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  3. Saim Kashmiri
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Correspondence to David Gligor.

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Appendices

Appendix 1

Table 13 Industries included in the studies
Full size table

Appendix 2: Vignettes for Study 1

Imagine you are the buyer manager for your company. Your objective is to purchase the component your firm needs at the lowest price possible as your firm needs 100,000 units. After evaluating different vendors, you decide to purchase the product from JW Group, a large publicly traded multinational corporation and a long-term vendor of your company’s. You’ve also personally interacted with the seller’s salesperson before on other business transactions

Over the years of doing business with your firm, JW Group has developed a good reputation by offering competitive prices and good quality products. Below you will find an overview of JW Group’s operation and ratings by other buyers in your industry

JW Group has an asking price for this product of $20. Your market research indicates that this is a fair market price, however you decide to offer JW Group’s salesperson, Mr. James Smith, $16/unit (20% less than the asking price). Please review the seller’s information below, think about this scenario for 2–3 min, then proceed to the next page

figure a

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Gligor, D., Newman, C. & Kashmiri, S. Does your skin color matter in buyer–seller negotiations? The implications of being a Black salesperson. J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci. 49, 969–993 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-021-00768-0

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